Gant v. Hartman

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Qualified Immunity
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 18-1287
Decision Date: 
May 14, 2019
Federal District: 
N.D. Ind., Ft. Wayne Div.
Holding: 
Appeal dismissed

Ct. of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant-police officer’s appeal of Dist. Ct. order denying his motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds in plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that defendant used excessive force by shooting him during plaintiff’s arrest, where basis of Dist. Ct.’s denial was finding that record contained disputed facts regarding whether plaintiff was following defendant’s directives at time of shooting. Order denying qualified immunity can be appealed to extent it raised issue of law. However, Dist. Ct.’s determination that factual questions existed surrounding circumstances of shooting precluded instant interlocutory appeal. Moreover, defendant failed to satisfy any route to interlocutory appeal, where defendant failed to accept facts most favorable to plaintiff nor facts assumed by Dist. Ct. when asserting qualified immunity. Fact that shooting incident was captured on video did to require different result.