Case law

Eaton v. Estabrook

District Court, D. Connecticut · Jan 26, 2023

By requiring the law to be clearly established to a particularized degree, qualified immunity “protects all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.” … Relevant to the second question, “even where the law is ‘clearly established’ and the scope of an official’s permissible conduct is ‘clearly defined,’ the qualified immunity defense also protects an official if it was ‘

Zieper v. Metzinger

392 F. Supp. 2d 516 · District Court, S.D. New York · Aug 22, 2005

Amendment, I must consider whether the defendants have established that they are entitled to qualified immunity. … I conclude that such an inquiry would be too narrow, and conflates the “clearly established” prong of the qualified immunity inquiry with the “reasonable officer” prong.

Haab v. East Bank Consolidated Special Service Fire Protection District of Jefferson Parish

13 La.App. 5 Cir. 954 · Louisiana Court of Appeal · May 28, 2014

Unlike the absolute immunity provided to the Parish and its departments by the HSA, the HSA provides only qualified immunity to individual Parish employees during a specific emergency event, as no immunity is afforded for … As such, we find that the Parish and its departments, officials and employees are entitled to absolute and qualified immunity pursuant to the HAS, and qualified immunity pursuant to the DIS.

Maldonado Maldonado v. Lausell

681 F. Supp. 111 · District Court, D. Puerto Rico · Jan 22, 1988

Before the Court can reach the merits of this claim, however, we must examine whether defendants are entitled to qualified immunity from suit, i.e., whether, at the time of Maldonado’s discharge, “clearly established law” … At a minimum, defendants further argue, they are entitled to qualified immunity on this fourteenth amendment claim because it was not clearly established in February 1985 that Maldonado would be entitled to a pretermination

State v. McInnes

Ohio Court of Appeals · Sep 10, 2026

“The doctrine of qualified immunity generally shields public officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages to the extent that their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory … to qualified immunity.

Thomas J. McDonnell v. Michael Cournia, Richard Menzel, Gary Moe, Thomas Christopher

990 F.2d 963 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Apr 7, 1993

To determine whether an official’s conduct violates clearly established law requires a two-step inquiry. First, the plaintiff must show that the law was clearly established when the challenged conduct occurred. … In this case, then, qualified immunity shields the defendant police officers from McDonnell’s damage action if “a reasonable officer could have believed [McDonnell’s arrest] to be lawful, in light of clearly established law

McCray v. Lee

963 F.3d 110 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Jun 18, 2020

They argued that the Complaint failed to state a claim under the 2 Eighth Amendment; that they were entitled to qualified immunity on the ground that 3 no such Eighth Amendment rights had been clearly established; … Qualified immunity shields 2 officials "from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate 3 clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person 4 would

John Allen Caldwell v. Woodford County Chief Jailer, James Moore, Harry Stephen Tracy Rick Adkins Daniel E. Clark W. Keith Broughton

968 F.2d 595 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jul 1, 1992

The question whether an official is protected by qualified immunity turns on “the objective legal reasonableness” of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were “clearly established” at the time the action … In Russo , we granted qualified immunity to the officers and noted that the use of a taser in order to avoid a dangerous situation or the resort to even greater force did not violate clearly established law.

Joseph Frasure v. City of Wyoming, Ohio

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · May 5, 2026

Qualified Immunity Frasure challenges the magistrate judge’s finding that qualified immunity barred all three excessive force claims. … Because Frasure has not demonstrated a clearly established right relevant to this claim, “we begin and end with the second prong” of the qualified immunity analysis. Gordon v.

Charles F. Finsel v. Thomas Cruppenink, in His Individual and Official Capacities as Vermilion County Deputy Sheriff

326 F.3d 903 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Apr 21, 2003

Cruppenink filed a motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity as to his entry into the motel room. … The deputy’s motion for qualified immunity was also denied. That decision is the *906 subject of this appeal.

Darryl Lunon v. Kathy Botsford

946 F.3d 425 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Dec 27, 2019

Discussion Qualified immunity shields public officials from liability for civil damages if their conduct does not “violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would … I agree with the court insofar as it holds that the appellants are entitled to qualified immunity because they did not violate any clearly established right of appellee Lunon.

Coffin v. Brandau

614 F.3d 1240 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Feb 24, 2010

the Deputies were entitled to qualified immunity.9 On August 7, 2007, the Coffins lodged this appeal challenging the district court’s holding that no clearly established law provided fair warning to the Deputies … Coffin made clear her intention to shut the garage door.15 Therefore, we conclude that their “conduct was not so clearly established as to justify stripping [them] of qualified immunity.”

Mendoza v. United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement

849 F.3d 408 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Feb 21, 2017

Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials are generally immune from civil liability so long as "their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … To determine whether a government official is entitled to qualified immunity, we must ask (1) whether the official's action violated a constitutional right; and (2) whether the violated right was clearly established.

Prater v. Catt

443 S.W.3d 6 · Court of Appeals of Kentucky · Feb 28, 2014

Even if an act is discretionary, there is no immunity if it violates constitutional, statutory, or other clearly established rights— or if it is done willfully or maliciously with intent to harm or if it is committed with … We agree that Officer Catt was entitled to qualified immunity with respect to the Praters’ negligence claims. Sgt. Sam was not in the vicinity of the accident, nor was she required to be.

Roes ex rel. Bazerman v. Florida Department of Children & Family Services

176 F. Supp. 2d 1310 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Sep 24, 2001

of qualified immunity. … Simply put, “If the law did not put the officer on notice that his conduct would be clearly unlawful, summary judgment based on qualified immunity is appropriate.”

Estate of Decedent Lolomania Soakai v. Abdelaziz

137 F.4th 969 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 16, 2025

Because the law was clearly established before the date of the car chase that defendants’ conduct was unconstitutional, defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity. … While creative, this doesn’t prove clearly established law. We should have granted qualified immunity to the Officers on this new substantive due process claim.

Maney v. Fealy

69 F. Supp. 3d 553 · District Court, M.D. North Carolina · Nov 17, 2014

In determining whether a governmental official is entitled to qualified immunity, the Court must decide “whether a constitutional violation occurred and ... whether the right violated was clearly established.” … Instead, the Fourth Circuit rested its finding for the officer on the basis, of the second prong of the qualified immunity analysis, finding that the officer did not violate clearly established law. Id. at 359-60 .

Jones v. Pandey

390 F. Supp. 2d 1371 · District Court, M.D. Georgia · Jul 14, 2005

On the other hand, if a violation could be made out on a favorable view of the parties’ submissions, the next sequential step is to ask whether the right was “clearly established” because qualified immunity inquiries have … In the Eleventh Circuit, for a right to be “clearly established” for purposes of qualified immunity, “the law must have earlier been developed in such a concrete *1377 and factually defined context to make it obvious to all

Kim Shultz v. Bryan Buchanan

829 F.3d 943 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jul 19, 2016

To defeat qualified immunity, the evidence must support a finding that Buchanan violated a clearly established constitutional right. … The entry thus did not violate Shultz’s clearly established rights.

Kliesrath v. Estate of Davis

298 Ga. 872 · Supreme Court of Georgia · Apr 26, 2016

Appellants are four police officers who moved for summary judgment on the basis of official and qualified immunity. … This Court, however, recently reiterated the rule that we established in Turner v.