Estate of Leon Walker, Jr. v. Wallace, No. 17-1058 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's order denying defendant's motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The court held that defendant, a building inspector, did not need probable cause to enter a building in search of building code violations because he received voluntary consent to enter. Therefore, a reasonable official in defendant's position would have not have known that he was violating the constitution when he searched plaintiffs' house after receiving signed consent to do so in the particular circumstances.
Court Description: Arnold, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Kelly, Circuit Judge] Civil case - Civil rights. In this appeal from an order denying defendant's motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, defendant challenges whether he violated clearly established law when he inspected plaintiff's house after receiving a resident's signature on a consent-to-search form; whether certain actions violate clearly established law is an archetypal question that is reviewable on interlocutory appeal, and the court has jurisdiction over this appeal; the district court erred in denying defendant's motion because it is not clear that a reasonable official in defendant's position would have known he was violating the constitution when he searched plaintiff's house after receiving signed consent to do so under these circumstances. Judge Kelly, concurring.
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