The Fifth Circuit
Argument recaps and opinions from the court that rules Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, read as lawyering, not politics.
Crane v. Penske
A driver three contracts down the chain jackknifed on the way to Laredo and killed a man. The carrier at the top was his statutory employer under the federal leasing rules, paperwork or not, and after Montgomery the broker that picked the carrier can be sued for picking badly.
Thomas v. Bruss
The Fifth Circuit reversed the denial of qualified immunity to two bystander officers because the 43-second span of a canine bite was, in the panel’s words, a relatively short period of time for a bystander officer to process and react. A published opinion, a durational safety valve, and a rejected-precedent list worth knowing.
Rogers v. Espinoza
The Fifth Circuit reversed the denial of qualified immunity on a failure-to-intervene claim because the plaintiff cited only direct-force precedents. Same event, same officer, same standard, but the cases have to be the right kind.
Barnes v. Felix
The Supreme Court threw out the Fifth Circuit’s ‘moment of threat’ rule: excessive force is judged on the totality of the circumstances. On remand, the officer still got qualified immunity. A better standard, the same result.
Hunter Marine Group v. Gonzalez
A shipowner tried to cap its liability for injured workers under the 1851 Limitation Act. The Fifth Circuit said no: they were passengers for hire, because their employer paid for the ride, and that was enough.
Brown v. Wallace
Before police may strip and body-cavity search someone they will release, they need reasonable suspicion she is hiding weapons or contraband. The Fifth Circuit affirms the denial of immunity. The Fourth Amendment, applied.
Flores v. Perez
Once a person is on the ground and at most passively resisting, officers may not keep escalating force. The Fifth Circuit affirms the denial of qualified immunity. Graham, applied.
Brown v. Burmaster
An officer shot a family’s puppy, and the Fourth Amendment calls that a seizure they can sue over. QI affirmed, and a municipal verdict reversed as a verdict at war with itself.
Thorpe v. Weaver
A detainee in medical distress died in custody, and a jury could have found one officer knew. QI held anyway, because the case that clearly established the duty to help him was decided two years too late.
Degollado v. City of Port Lavaca
A hemp shop was raided on a warrant built from a lab report that showed only that THC was present, not whether it was legal. The Fifth Circuit affirmed qualified immunity and dismissed the Monell claim: negligent is not reckless, and one incident is not a policy.
Thompson v. Richter
A traffic stop cannot be extended to wait for a drug dog without reasonable suspicion. When a cluster of factors supplies it, the extension holds. Rodriguez, applied.
Tippitt v. Iversen
The Fifth Circuit dismissed an officer’s immunity appeal: disputed facts about a police shooting belong to a jury, not an early appeal.
Barrier v. United States
A federal officer struck a pedestrian while off his usual task. Whether the government could be sued was a jury question, not one for summary judgment.
Estate of Parker v. Mississippi DPS
An armed fugitive fired on police with his infant son in his arms. How reasonableness, immunity, and standing played out.
Parker v. Hooper
How high the deliberate-indifference bar sits, and why reform relief must be narrowly drawn.
Hughes v. Garcia
A magistrate's warrant does not protect the officer who built it on a lie. The Franks exception.
Knighton v. Benton County
On an immunity appeal, causation among several causes is the jury's question, and some force is obviously excessive.
Hitt v. Connell
A jury awarded mental anguish. The Fifth Circuit erased it, because the proof was vague and uncorroborated.
The Fifth Circuit: A Field Guide
What the court is, who sits on it, and the doctrines it is quietly rewriting. Start here.
Hill v. Jackson Offshore Holdings
Four quiet words in a post-injury agreement decided who would ever hear the case.
Benavides v. Nunez
A sheriff's deputy appealed a qualified-immunity denial, and lost the appeal before it started.
Wertenbroch v. Hardeman
A defendant can appeal a denied immunity. Here he appealed a court that never ruled at all.
Pigott v. Gintz
Once the appeal reached a clean legal question, qualified immunity had to answer for itself.