William Martin v. Mauricio Duran

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided June 12, 2026·No. 25-10957·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

No. 25-10957

Non-Argument Calendar

WILLIAM MARTIN, MICHAEL MARTIN, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

versus

MIAMI DADE COUNTY, a Florida County and Political Subdivision, of the State of Florida,

Defendant.

MAURICIO DURAN, Miami-Dade County Police Office, in his individual and official capacity, BRIDGET DOYLE, Miami-Dade County Police Office, in her individual and official capacity, Defendants-Appellants.

2 Opinion of the Court 25-10957

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:20-cv-22107-PCH

Before JORDAN, ABUDU, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:

Two brothers, Michael and William Martin (the “Martins”), sued Lieutenant Mauricio Duran and Officer Bridget Doyle for stopping and arresting them on January 10, 2018. Following discovery , the Officers moved for summary judgment, and they now appeal the district court’s denial of qualified immunity to Lieutenant Duran for his stop of both brothers and to Officer Doyle for her second taser deployment on William. For the reasons discussed below, we reverse the district court’s denial of summary judgment to Lieutenant Duran as to the unlawful stop and we affirm the district court’s denial of qualified immunity to Officer Doyle as to her second taser deployment.

I

This is the Officers’ second qualified immunity appeal. In resolving their first—an appeal from an order on a motion to dismiss —we recounted the facts alleged in the amended complaint in the light most favorable to the Martins, and affirmed the district court’s partial denial of qualified immunity at the Rule 12(b)(6) stage. See Martin v. Miami Dade Cnty., No. 23-10841, 2024 WL 1434329 (11th Cir. Apr. 3, 2024). Rather than recant those specific

25-10957 Opinion of the Court 3

allegations again, we refer to our prior decision and supplement with the summary judgment record as needed.

II

Relevant to this appeal are Lieutenant Duran’s initial stop of both brothers and Officer Doyle’s second use of a taser on William. The district court denied qualified immunity as to both incidents.

In Count I of their amended complaint, the Martins brought a “false arrest/false imprisonment” claim against both Officers under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a portion of which involved allegations of an unlawful stop. At the summary judgment stage, the district court ruled that Lieutenant Duran was not entitled to qualified immunity because there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether he had arguable reasonable suspicion to stop the Martins. See D.E. 143 at 8–11.

In so ruling, the district court first identified several facts not in dispute. Lieutenant Duran observed the Martins walking around 2:49 a.m., wearing backpacks and dark-colored clothes, through the parking lot of a government complex located in a high- crime area, where all buildings except the police station were closed. Located nearby were unattended government-owned vehicles and a library book-drop box that could be used at that time of day. See id. at 9–10. The court then determined that an additional material fact remained in dispute: whether the Martins concealed themselves or attempted to evade Lieutenant Duran when he made his presence known. See id. at 10. And it concluded that “whether . . . Duran violated Plaintiffs’ clearly established rights by

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stopping them depends upon whether Plaintiffs concealed themselves or attempted to evade . . . Duran, or simply refused to cooperate with him.” Id. at 11. Thus, the court denied summary judgment to Lieutenant Duran on Count I as to the unlawful stop. Lieutenant Duran appeals that ruling.

Officer Doyle, for her part, arrived on the scene after Lieutenant Duran stopped the Martins. She tased William twice, and he alleged that this constituted excessive force in Count II of the amended complaint.

The district court, construing the record and bodycam footage in William’s favor, explained that Officer Doyle first tased William while Michael was struggling on the ground with Lieutenant Duran; that Officer Doyle ordered William to back up from the struggle; that William reached toward Lieutenant Duran and placed his left hand on the Lieutenant’s left arm; that William had, moments before, pulled his arm from Lieutenant Duran’s grip; and that Officer Doyle did not know what William’s intention was when William was bent over Lieutenant Duran. See D.E. 143 at 20. Citing these facts, the court granted qualified immunity to Officer Doyle for her first taser deployment against William. It reasoned that the initial tasing constituted “reasonable force used to subdue an individual who posed an immediate threat and was not complying with police instructions.” Id. at 21.

In contrast, the district court ruled that Officer Doyle was not entitled to qualified immunity for the second deployment of her taser on William because, once the first tase brought him to the

25-10957 Opinion of the Court 5

ground, he was screaming in pain, lying with his arms extended over his torso, and no longer a threat to the officers. See id. At that point, the court reasoned, “a reasonable jury could find that [her] decision to continue tasing . . . William when he was no longer an active threat nor resisting was excessive.” Id. Officer Doyle appeals that ruling.

III

We first address our appellate jurisdiction. The Martins argue that we lack jurisdiction to review this interlocutory appeal because the officers do not identify a legal issue separate from the merits and, instead, challenge the district court’s findings on the sufficiency of the evidence supporting their claims. We disagree.

“Generally, we may only hear appeals from a district court’s final order.” Aguirre v. Seminole Cnty., 158 F.4th 1276, 1291 (11th Cir. 2025) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1291). An exception exists, however, in certain qualified-immunity cases. See id. As we have explained, “we have interlocutory jurisdiction over legal issues that are the basis for a denial of summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds.” Cottrell v. Caldwell, 85 F.3d 1480, 1484 (11th Cir. 1996) (collecting cases). “The denial of qualified immunity is ‘purely legal where it concerns only the application of established legal principles to a given set of facts,’ which enables appellate jurisdiction[.]” Koch v. Rugg, 221 F.3d 1283, 1296 (11th Cir. 2000) (quoting Steadman v. Texas Rangers, 179 F.3d 360, 365 (5th Cir. 1999) (internal citation omitted)). In contrast, “[w]e lack interlocutory jurisdiction ‘where the only issues appealed are evidentiary sufficiency issues.’” English

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v. City of Gainesville, 75 F.4th 1151, 1155 (11th Cir. 2023) (citing Cottrell , 85 F.4th at 1484). And, “when the appeal implicates both an issue of fact and an issue of law[,]” we retain jurisdiction. Aguirre, 158 F.4th at 1291. In determining our appellate jurisdiction, our review is de novo. See id. at 1292.

Citing Barnes v. Felix, 605 U.S. 73 (2025), which was issued after the district court’s order, Officer Doyle argues that the district court improperly denied her qualified immunity for her second taser employment. Specifically, she contends that the district court erred by analyzing only the circumstances that existed in the moment that she employed the taser the second time instead of more generally considering the events leading to that deployment. Whether the court erred by applying a narrower standard than permitted in Barnes to deny qualified immunity is a legal question for which we have jurisdiction. See Prospero v. Sullivan, 153 F.4th 1171, 1181 (11th Cir. 2025) (exercising jurisdiction over appeal where the defendants “argue[d] that the district court failed to apply the correct legal standards governing qualified immunity”).

As to Lieutenant Duran, we also have appellate jurisdiction.

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