Alan Van Orden v. Heath Downs

MEMORANDUM

Defendants Heath Downs and Judy Long (together, “Appellants”) appeal from the district court’s denial of their motion for summary judgment on the ground of qualified immunity. In an earlier appeal, we held that genuine issues of material fact existed on the issue of whether Appellants and other defendants acted with deliberate indifference to Crystal Bannister’s serious medical needs. Van Orden v. Caribou Cnty., 546 Fed.Appx. 647, 649 (9th Cir.2013). In this appeal, Appellants con tend that they are immune from suit under the doctrine of qualified immunity because the law at issue was not “clearly established” at the time of Bannister’s death on August 25, 2009. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm the district court’s denial of summary judgment.

“ ‘To be clearly established, a right must be sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would have understood that what he is doing violates that right.’ ” Taylor v. Barkes, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2042, 2044 , 192 L.Ed.2d 78 (2015) (per curiam) (quoting Reichle v. Howards, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2088, 2093 , 182 L.Ed.2d 985 (2012)). This standard does “not require a case directly on point, but…