Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendants-police officials’ motion for summary judgment asserting that they were entitled to qualified immunity in plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that defendants subjected plaintiff to unreasonable seizure of his motorcycle during incident in which defendant-police officer allowed plaintiff’s former roommate to remove said motorcycle from plaintiff’s home, even though plaintiff had claimed to said officer that he was rightful owner of said motorcycle. Record showed that police officer did not knowingly violate any law, where: (1) plaintiff and former roommate presented officer with issue regarding ownership of said motorcycle; (2) roommate produced certificate of title to motorcycle, which created rebuttable presumption that roommate owned said motorcycle; and (3) officer ran computer check, which did not confirm plaintiff’s claim that title to motorcycle had been recently stolen.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Qualified Immunity