Opinion ID: 198593
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Basis For the Magistrate's Recommended Decision

Text: 12 We begin by noting that it is difficult to ascertain from reading the recommended decision whether the magistrate recommended summary judgment in favor of the Ramsdells on the § 1983 claims on the basis of qualified immunity or upon a determination that no jury could find a constitutional deprivation. Appellants raised both arguments in their motion for summary judgment. The magistrate recommended summary judgment because he found that no jury could find the officers' conduct to be objectively unreasonable. Unfortunately for clarity's sake, the objective reasonableness of the officers' conduct is crucial to both the qualified immunity and substantive liability inquiries. The Fourth Amendment inquiry in excessive force cases asks whether the officers' actions are objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting them. See Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 397 (1989). There are two prongs to the qualified immunity analysis. The first prong is whether the constitutional right in question was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation. See Swain v. Spinney, 117 F.3d 1, 9 (1st Cir. 1997). In the second prong, the court employs an objective reasonableness test in determining whether a reasonable, similarly situated official would understand that the challenged conduct violated the established right. See id. Phrased another way, police officers are entitled to qualified immunity if reasonably well-trained officers confronted with similar circumstances could reasonably believe their actions were lawful under clearly established law. See Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 641 (1987). 13 As a result of these similar inquiries, the magistrate's determination that no jury could find that the Ramsdells' conduct was objectively unreasonable could have been a grant of summary judgment on either qualified immunity or substantive Fourth Amendment grounds. The parties treat the decision as if it was an entry of judgment on alternative bases, so we will also treat it as such. In any event, because what is disputed here is the determination that no jury could find the Ramsdells' conduct to be objectively unreasonable, and not the legal consequences that flow from such a determination, we need not dissect the magistrate's grounds for decision any further. We need only determine whether a genuine issue exists that should have precluded the magistrate from making this determination. 14