Opinion ID: 1708296
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Qualified Immunity

Text: Wood argues that he is entitled to federal qualified immunity from the Doe plaintiffs' federal § 1983 claim against him. [G]overnment officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Qualified immunity is designed to allow government officials to avoid the expense and disruption of going to trial, and is not merely a defense to liability. Hardy v. Town of Hayneville, 50 F.Supp.2d 1176, 1189 (M.D.Ala.1999). An official is entitled to qualified immunity if he is performing discretionary functions and his actions do `not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.' Hardy, 50 F.Supp.2d at 1189 (quoting Lancaster v. Monroe County, 116 F.3d 1419, 1424 (11th Cir.1997)). While the defense of qualified immunity is typically addressed at the summary judgment stage of a case, it may be, as it was in this case, raised and considered on a motion to dismiss. See Chesser v. Sparks, 248 F.3d 1117, 1121 (11th Cir. 2001). The motion to dismiss will be granted if the `complaint fails to allege the violation of a clearly established constitutional right.' Id. ( citing Williams v. Ala. State Univ., 102 F.3d 1179, 1182 (11th Cir.1997)). Whether the complaint alleges such a violation is a question of law that we review de novo, accepting the facts alleged in the complaint as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Id.  St. George v. Pinellas County, 285 F.3d 1334, 1337 (11th Cir.2002) (emphasis added). ` Supervisor liability [under § 1983] occurs either when the supervisor personally participates in the alleged constitutional violation or when there is a causal connection between actions of the supervising official and the alleged constitutional deprivation. The causal connection can be established when a history of widespread abuse puts the responsible supervisor on notice of the need to correct the alleged deprivation, and he [she] fails to do so. The deprivations that constitute widespread abuse sufficient to notice the supervising official must be obvious, flagrant, rampant, and of continued duration, rather than isolated occurrences.' Braddy v. Florida Dep't of Labor & Employment Sec., 133 F.3d 797, 802 (11th Cir.1998) (quoting Brown v. Crawford, 906 F.2d 667, 671 (11th Cir.1990) (citations omitted and emphasis added)). Accord George v. McIntosh-Wilson, 582 So.2d 1058, 1062-63 (Ala.1991). In C.B. v. Bobo, supra , this Court stated, in pertinent part: ` If the Constitution protects a schoolchild against being tied to a chair or against arbitrary paddlings, then surely the Constitution protects a schoolchild from physical abuse ... by a public schoolteacher. [The teacher's] sexual abuse of Jane Doe... is not contested by the defendants. Thus, Jane Doe clearly was deprived of a liberty interest recognized under the substantive due process component of the Fourteenth Amendment. [Footnote omitted.] It is uncontrovertible that bodily integrity is necessarily violated when a state actor sexually abuses a schoolchild and that such misconduct deprives the child of rights vouchsafed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Obviously, there is never any justification for sexually molesting a schoolchild, and thus, no state interest, analogous to the punitive and disciplinary objectives attendant to corporal punishment, which might support it.' (Emphasis added [in C.B. ].) 659 So.2d at 103-04 (quoting Doe v. Taylor Indep. Sch. Dist., 15 F.3d 443, 450-52 (5th Cir.1994)). The Doe plaintiffs' complaint alleges Wood's violation of their clearly established constitutional right to bodily integrity pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, see C.B. v. Bobo, 659 So.2d at 104. The Doe plaintiffs' complaint further alleges that Wood failed to protect the plaintiffs from harm and from further harm after he received notice of the sexual harassment and abuse and the potential for sexual harassment (emphasis added) committed by DYS employees against the plaintiffs. Therefore, Wood has not shown a clear legal right to a dismissal of the Doe plaintiffs' § 1983 claim on the ground of federal qualified immunity.