Opinion ID: 793418
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendants' Use of Force Against Tina Cortez

Text: 71 Taking Plaintiffs' allegations as true, and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, it appears that Defendants (1) entered Tina Cortez's home in the middle of the night; (2) physically separated Tina Cortez from her telephone; (3) took her by the arm; (4) escorted her from her home; and (5) placed her in the locked back seat of a patrol car. Tina Cortez has alleged no injury based on Defendants' use of force against her. 72 As we discussed above, when Plaintiffs' allegations are taken as true, Tina Cortez was subjected to an investigative detention and not an arrest. Because when Plaintiffs' allegations are taken as true it appears that this investigative detention was not justified, we held that Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiffs' claim that Tina Cortez was seized unreasonably. Our holding on qualified immunity does not resolve conclusively the question of whether Tina Cortez was seized unreasonably, however, because a trial could establish that Tina Cortez was either reasonably or unreasonably detained for investigation. 73 If a trial were to establish that Tina Cortez was seized unreasonably, Tina Cortez could not recover on an independent excessive force claim. This is because, as we held earlier, an excessive force claim is subsumed within an unjustified seizure claim. If a trial, however, were to establish that the investigative detention of Tina Cortez was reasonable, Tina Cortez possibly could recover on an independent excessive force claim. 74 Each individual aspect of the way that Plaintiffs allege that Defendants treated Tina Cortez, when viewed in isolation, is not enough to sustain an excessive force claim. Cf. Gallegos, 114 F.3d at 1030; Smith, 166 F.Supp.2d at 643. Considering all of the facts together, however, remembering that the encounter is alleged to have occurred in the middle of the night, a jury might find that Defendants used excessive force against Tina Cortez. We nevertheless conclude that the district court should be reversed regarding this claim. 75 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. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151 (citation omitted); See also Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 125 S.Ct. 596, 599, 160 L.Ed.2d 583 (2004)(holding [q]ualified immunity shields an officer from suit when she makes a decision that, even if constitutionally deficient, reasonably misapprehends the law governing the circumstances she confronted). We cannot say that the officers' conduct regarding Tina Cortez was so clearly unlawful under prior case law that a reasonable officer could not have believed the conduct was legal. Therefore, we must reverse the trial court's denial of Defendants summary judgment motion as to Tina Cortez's excessive force claim. 17