Morphew v. Chaffee County, Colorado, et al.
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Barry Morphew’s § 1983 suit against state and local officials arising from his abandoned murder prosecution. The court held that, even after excluding alleged falsehoods and adding omitted exculpatory facts, the arrest affidavit established probable cause, dooming Morphew’s malicious-prosecution, Franks, fabrication-of-evidence, conspiracy, intervention, Monell, and reckless-investigation claims.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether 42 U.S.C. § 1983 recognizes a stand-alone substantive-due-process claim for a ‘reckless investigation’ that allegedly fabricates or withholds evidence before an arrest is made.
Circuit Positions
Recognize a substantive-due-process cause of action for a pre-arrest reckless investigation under § 1983.
Do not recognize (or are unwilling to recognize) a stand-alone reckless-investigation substantive-due-process claim under § 1983.
Conflict Summary
The Eighth Circuit permits plaintiffs to bring a free-standing substantive-due-process claim for a pre-arrest ‘reckless investigation,’ while the Tenth Circuit—joining what it describes as the ‘majority of other courts’—declines to recognize such a cause of action (or, at minimum, treats the question with deep skepticism and affirms dismissal on other grounds).