Dr. Lana Foster v. Shannon King, et al
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The Eleventh Circuit held that Echols County school officials are not entitled to qualified immunity on Dr. Lana Foster’s § 1981 claim alleging racially motivated interference with a settlement agreement. The court ruled that every reasonable official would know that refusing to honor a contract because of race is unlawful, and uncertainty about whether officials can be held personally liable under § 1981 does not create qualified immunity.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether uncertainty about a government official's potential individual liability under a federal statute (here, § 1981) can itself justify granting qualified immunity, or whether the qualified-immunity inquiry focuses solely on whether the official had notice that the underlying conduct was unlawful.
Circuit Positions
Qualified immunity depends on whether the unlawfulness of the official's conduct was clearly established; uncertainty about individual liability under the statute is irrelevant.
Qualified immunity applies where it was not clearly established that public employees could face individual liability under the statute, even if the unlawfulness of the conduct itself was clear.
Conflict Summary
The Fifth Circuit has held that if it was not clearly established that a public employee could be held individually liable under the statute at the time of the conduct, qualified immunity applies. In contrast, the Eleventh, Tenth, Seventh, and Sixth Circuits have concluded that qualified immunity turns on whether the conduct was clearly unlawful, not on whether the official knew he could personally be sued for it; uncertainty about personal-liability mechanics does not confer immunity.