Rios v. Jenkins

390 F. Supp. 3d 714
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedJuly 15, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 3:18CV00082
StatusPublished

This text of 390 F. Supp. 3d 714 (Rios v. Jenkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rios v. Jenkins, 390 F. Supp. 3d 714 (W.D. Va. 2019).

Opinion

B. Fourth Amendment

In moving to dismiss the Fourth Amendment claim asserted in Count II, Jenkins contends that such claim is barred by the doctrine of qualified immunity. For the following reasons, the court agrees.

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials from *723civil damages liability "so long as their conduct 'does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.' "5 Mullenix v. Luna, --- U.S. ----, 136 S. Ct. 305, 308, 193 L.Ed.2d 255 (2015) (quoting Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) ). "To overcome this shield, a plaintiff must demonstrate that: (1) the defendant violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights, and (2) the right in question was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation." Adams v. Ferguson, 884 F.3d 219, 226 (4th Cir. 2018) ; see also Crouse v. Town of Moncks Corner, 848 F.3d 576, 583 (4th Cir. 2017) (citing Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 735, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011) ). An official is entitled to qualified immunity if either prong is not satisfied. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 244-25, 129 S.Ct. 808.

The Supreme Court has held that lower courts are "permitted to exercise their sound discretion in deciding which of the two prongs of the qualified immunity analysis should be addressed first in light of the circumstances in the particular case at hand." Pearson, 555 U.S. at 236, 129 S.Ct. 808. The Court has urged lower courts to "think carefully before expending 'scarce judicial resources' to resolve difficult and novel questions of constitutional or statutory interpretation that will 'have no effect on the outcome of the case.' " al-Kidd, 563 U.S. at 735, 131 S.Ct. 2074 (quoting Pearson, 555 U.S. at 236-37, 129 S.Ct. 808 ). Therefore, addressing the second prong before the first is especially appropriate in cases where "a court will rather quickly and easily decide that there was no violation of clearly established law." Pearson, 555 U.S. at 239, 129 S.Ct. 808. Because this is one of those cases, the court will proceed directly to the second prong.

Under the second prong, a government official is entitled to qualified immunity if the right at issue was not "clearly established at the time of the challenged conduct." al-Kidd, 563 U.S. at 735, 131 S.Ct. 2074. The Supreme Court has explained that a constitutional right is clearly established where "its contours [are] sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right." Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002). "In other words, 'existing precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional question beyond debate.' " Reichle v. Howards, 566 U.S. 658, 664, 132 S.Ct. 2088, 182 L.Ed.2d 985 (2012) (quoting al-Kidd, 563 U.S. at 741, 131 S.Ct. 2074 ). Thus, "if there is a legitimate question as to whether an official's conduct constitutes a constitutional violation, the official is entitled to qualified immunity." Martin v. St. Mary's Dep't of Soc. Servs., 346 F.3d 502, 505 (4th Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Pearson, 555 U.S. at 244, 129 S.Ct. 808 ("The *724

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Bluebook (online)
390 F. Supp. 3d 714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rios-v-jenkins-vawd-2019.