Dowling

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 MARK CHRISTOPHER DOWLING, Case No. 3:19-cv-05777-WHO

Plaintiff,

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR

v. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

CHRISTIAN STARR, et al., Re: Dkt. No. 43 Defendants.

12 Plaintiff Mark Dowling was arrested for violating a custody order concerning his two young daughters. He sued the two officers who made the arrest and the supervising officer who initially talked with him under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the arrest violated the Fourth Amendment because the custody order did not prohibit him from taking the actions he took and so the officers lacked probable cause that he had committed a crime. I find that qualified immunity protects the officers: the undisputed facts show that the officers violated no clearly established law when they arrested Dowling and that they reasonably believed that a crime (willful violation of a court order) was taking place in their presence, which is generally sufficient to create probable cause. …