Opinion ID: 171611
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: standard of review of interlocutory appeal of denial of summary judgment in a qualified immunity case

Text: The denial of a summary judgment motion ordinarily is not an appealable final order. Bass v. Richards, 308 F.3d 1081, 1086 (10th Cir.2002). When a party has been denied qualified immunity, that denial can be appealed prior to a final judgment only to the extent that the appeal is based on an issue of law. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985); see also Shrum v. City of Coweta, 449 F.3d 1132, 1137 (10th Cir.2006) (orders denying qualified immunity before trial are appealable only if they involve abstract issues of law). A district court's determination that the record raises a genuine issue of material fact, precluding summary judgment in favor of the defendants, is not appealable even in a qualified immunity case. Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 313, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995). Thus, in deciding these issues of law, we consider only whether the district court erred in assessing the legal significance of the conduct that the district court deemed sufficient supported for purposes of summary judgment. Kinney v. Weaver, 367 F.3d 337, 348 (5th Cir.2004). Unlike other appeals from summary judgment decisions (which are, perforce, appeals of grants rather than denials), the appellate court in an interlocutory appeal regarding qualified immunity can simply take, as given, the facts that the district court assumed when it denied summary judgment for [a] (purely legal) reason. Johnson, 515 U.S. at 319, 115 S.Ct. 2151. It is not the job of the appellate court to determine whether the record supports the district court's factual assumptions. Kinney, 367 F.3d at 348. [3]