Category: Qualified Immunity

Qualified immunity shields gov­ernment officials performing discre­tionary tasks from civil liability insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. For a right to be “clearly established,” the unlawfulness of the defendants’ conduct must be apparent based on then-existing law. When analyzing qualified immunity claims, courts begin by asking whether the facts make out a violation of…

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In the public discussion about the principle of “qualified immunity” virtually no mention is made of the fact that qualified immunity bars many lawsuits by public employees alleging constitutional violations by their employers. A recent case out of Ohio provides a good illustration of how qualified immunity works in an employment context. The case involved Jeffrey Lazar, a Columbus police officer. His girlfriend was an officer in the same…

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