John Loudermilk v. Michael Danner

MEMORANDUM

Defendants-Appellants, four officers of the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office (“MCSO Officers”), bring this interlocutory appeal from the district court’s denial of their motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. Because the parties are familiar with the facts of the case, we repeat them here only as necessary to explain our decision. We reverse.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and the collateral order doctrine. “[S]ummary judgment determinations are appealable when they resolve a dispute concerning an ‘abstract issu[e] of law’ relating to qualified immunity — typically, the issue whether the federal right allegedly infringed was ‘clearly estab lished.’ ” Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 313 , 116 S.Ct. 834 , 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996) (alteration in original) (internal citation omitted). Thus, to resolve the “abstract issue of law” presented by this appeal, we “assum[e] that the version of the material facts asserted by the non-moving party is correct.” Community House, Inc. v. City of Boise, Idaho, 623 F.3d 945, 968 (9th Cir.2010) (alteration in original).

Assuming there was a constitutional violation in this case, the Louder-milks…