Opinion ID: 8598
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal Immunity--s 1983 Claims Against Rocha and Salazar

Text: 17 Applying these principles, we conclude that the Court has appellate jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of defendant Rocha's and Salazar's summary judgment motion seeking qualified immunity from Cantu's federal law claims under § 1983. In contrast to Johnson, there is no significant fact-related dispute about Rocha's or Salazar's actions in this case. Rocha does not deny that he made the statements attributed to him in the witness interviews. Salazar does not deny that he had received complaints about Rocha's conduct in the past. Similar to the appeal we considered in the recent case of Hare v. City of Corinth, [t]his appeal does not present the fact-intensive inquiry eschewed by Johnson. Rather, it presents a legal issue antecedent to the determination of whether there are genuine issues of material fact. Our review of the legal issues in this appeal goes to the legal question of the correct legal standard. Hare v. City of Corinth, 74 F.3d 633, 635 (5th Cir.1996). What was disputed and decided by the district court in the case now before us was whether the conduct as alleged violated a clearly established statutory or constitutional right of which a reasonable person would have known. This is precisely the variety of order that Johnson distinguishes as being separable from the merits and appealable on interlocutory appeal. 18