Opinion ID: 196071
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Qualified Immunity Doctrine

Text: 17 Like other government officials performing discretionary functions, law enforcement officers hailed into court in their individual capacities to respond in damages are entitled to qualified immunity from suit in civil rights actions under section 1983, provided their conduct did not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable [police officer] would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982); Burns v. Loranger, 907 F.2d 233, 235 (1st Cir.1990). In Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987), the Supreme Court refined the focus of the policy considerations underlying the qualified immunity doctrine. 18 When government officials abuse their offices, action[s] for damages may offer the only realistic avenue for vindication of constitutional guarantees. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S., at 814 [102 S.Ct. at 2736]. On the other hand, permitting damages suits against government officials can entail substantial social costs, including the risk that fear of personal monetary liability and harassing litigation will unduly inhibit officials in the discharge of their duties. Ibid. Our cases have accommodated these conflicting concerns by generally providing government officials performing discretionary functions with a qualified immunity, shielding them from civil damages liability as long as their actions could reasonably have been thought consistent with the rights they are alleged to have violated. See, e.g., Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341 [106 S.Ct. 1092, 1096, 89 L.Ed.2d 271] (1986).... 19 Anderson, 483 U.S. at 638, 107 S.Ct. at 3038. 3 As this court has explained, 20 appellate assessment of [a] qualified immunity claim is apportioned into two analytic components. First, if the right asserted by the plaintiff was clearly established at the time of its alleged violation, we are required to assume that the right was recognized by the defendant official, see Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2738; Rodriguez v. Comas, 888 F.2d 899, 901 (1st Cir.1989); second, we will deny the immunity claim if a reasonable official situated in the same circumstances should have understood that the challenged conduct violated that established right, see Anderson, 483 U.S. at 640-41, 107 S.Ct. at 3039; Rodriguez, 888 F.2d at 901. 21 Burns, 907 F.2d at 235-36. 22 The Hegartys correctly contend, of course, that the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution prohibited a warrantless entry into the Hegarty cabin to effect Katherine's arrest, except in exigent circumstances and with probable cause. See Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 749, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984); Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 586, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1380, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980); Buenrostro v. Collazo, 973 F.2d 39, 43 (1st Cir.1992). Indeed, the constitutional rights allegedly violated were clearly established long before this tragic incident occurred. Accordingly, the defendant officers are deemed to have been on notice of the relevant constitutional protections constraining their actions. Burns, 907 F.2d at 235-36. Therefore, qualified immunity affords the defendant officers no safe haven unless an objectively reasonable officer, similarly situated, could have believed that the challenged police conduct did not violate the Hegartys' constitutional rights. Id. at 236. 23 Thus, the qualified immunity inquiry does not depend on whether the warrantless entry was constitutional, but allows as well for the inevitable reality that law enforcement officials will in some cases reasonably but mistakenly conclude that [their conduct] is [constitutional], and ... that ... those officials--like other officials who act in ways they reasonably believe to be lawful--should not be held personally liable. Anderson, 483 U.S. at 641, 107 S.Ct. at 3039-40 (emphasis added); Burns, 907 F.2d at 237. In other words, qualified immunity sweeps so broadly that all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law are protected from civil rights suits for money damages. Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 229, 112 S.Ct. 534, 537, 116 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991) (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1097, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986)); cf. Roy v. City of Lewiston, 42 F.3d 691, 695 (1st Cir.1994) ([T]he Supreme Court's standard of reasonableness is comparatively generous to the police where potential danger, emergency conditions or other exigent circumstances are present.). 24 Lastly, we assess the challenged police conduct with a view to determining its objective legal reasonableness, Anderson, 483 U.S. at 639, 107 S.Ct. at 3039 (emphasis added), which entails two pivotal features. First, the qualified immunity inquiry takes place prior to trial, on motion for summary judgment, see Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2815, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985) (qualified immunity provides a shield against the burdens of litigation, not merely a defense against liability for money damages), and requires no factfinding, only a ruling of law strictly for resolution by the court, see Amsden v. Moran, 904 F.2d 748, 752-53 (1st Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1041, 111 S.Ct. 713, 112 L.Ed.2d 702 (1991); Hall v. Ochs, 817 F.2d 920, 924 (1st Cir.1987). Thus, under the policy-driven objective legal reasonableness analysis governing our inquiry, even expert testimony relating to appropriate police procedures in the circumstances confronting the officers may not afford certain insulation against summary judgment in the qualified immunity context. 25 We turn then to consider whether an objectively reasonable police officer could have believed--in the circumstances prevailing before Katherine Hegarty was mortally wounded--that exigent circumstances and probable cause existed for the forcible, warrantless, nighttime entry into the Hegarty cabin.