White v. Stanley

Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendants-police officers’ motion for summary judgment asserting qualified immunity in plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that defendants falsely arrested plaintiff for obstructing police officer during incident in which defendants entered plaintiff’s home without warrant while attempting to arrest plaintiff’s girlfriend. While defendants alleged that their entry into plaintiff’s home was justified because they smelled burning marijuana, such circumstance did not provide defendants with exigency that permitted them to make warrantless entry, where underlying offense was minor in nature. However, Dist. Ct. should have granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment, since case law was unsettled at time of their entry as to whether smell of burning marijuana provided said exigency.