Clawson

MEMORANDUM *

This is a suit by the plaintiff, James Clawson, alleging that a Honolulu policeman violated his Fourth Amendment rights when the policeman briefly seized Clawson’s driver’s license as a result of a case of mistaken identity. The case went to the jury with instructions to which the plaintiff acquiesced. The jury found for the defendants, and their position that there had been no violation of the Fourth Amendment because the detention was not unreasonable. The court then entered judgment for the police officer on immunity grounds.

On appeal, Clawson contends that the district court should have found that there was a violation of the Fourth Amendment as a matter of law, and that any reasonable officer would have known that his conduct violated the Fourth Amendment. Clawson’s position appears to be that because the Fourth Amendment is clearly established, the judge should have determined as a matter of law that the police officer’s conduct violated it. The conclusion does not follow the premise. The jury found that the officer’s conduct was not unreasonable. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 638-39 , 107 S.Ct. 3034 , 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). It may well be that the…