Events from recent years related to alleged police misconduct raised major questions surrounding the protections afforded by qualified immunity to police officers in excessive force claims. Two recent Supreme Court decisions...more
Law enforcement critics have launched concerted attacks on the doctrine of qualified immunity in an effort to mischaracterize the doctrine as allowing police officers to escape liability for clearly unconstitutional conduct. ...more
On June 28, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lombardo v. St. Louis, 20-391, holding per curium that excessive force precedent requires courts to employ a “careful, context-specific analysis” on summary judgment. In...more
In a 5-3 decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Torres v. Madrid that a woman who was shot while fleeing from police officers was “seized,” even though she remained at large. ...more
Recent unrest has thrust the doctrine of qualified immunity into the spotlight. Many of those who oppose law enforcement frequently misrepresent the nature, extent, and intent of this limited immunity. Doing so fosters the...more
A while back I wrote about the collateral order doctrine as discussed by the Fourth Circuit in Williams v. Strickland. Williams involved an alleged excessive force claim against a law enforcement officer and an...more
The US Supreme Court issued an Opinion April 2, 2018 (Kisela v. Hughes) that a Tucson Police officer was justified in shooting a woman who was holding a knife near her roommate after the woman was reported exhibiting...more
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a Tucson police officer who shot a woman four times could not be sued for violating the woman’s Constitutional rights. The case is a significant win for government officials. It’s a...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued two decisions today: Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, No. 16-1362: The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires that employers pay covered employees overtime compensation,...more
In some form or fashion, law students learn that the words “reasonable man” denote a person exercising those qualities of attention, knowledge, intelligence and judgment which society requires of its members for the...more
Police Officers are often faced with unimaginable circumstances that most of society runs away from. However, police officers took the oath to protect and serve, and to run towards that danger. Sometimes, running towards...more
Overview: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that Sonora police officers were entitled to qualified immunity from claims alleging unlawful arrest and use of excessive force on an “out-of-control” juvenile. ...more