Tarahawk Von Brincken v. James Voss
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Tucson police officers James Voss and Richard Legarra appeal the district court’s order granting Tarahawk von Brincken’s motion for partial summary judgment on von Brincken’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state-law false imprisonment claims and denying Voss and Legarra’s motion for summary judgment, which asserted a qualified-immunity defense. We have jurisdiction over the issue of qualified immunity under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, see Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985), and reverse.
The district court erred when it denied Voss and Legarra’s motion for summary judgment. Voss and Legarra are entitled to qualified immunity unless von Brincken shows “(1) that the official violated a statu
An officer in Voss’s position could reasonably believe that Arizona Revised Statutes section 28-3169(A) required that von Brincken produce his driver’s license upon Voss’s demand, and that section 28-622 in turn made von Brincken’s refusal to comply with Voss’s lawful order a misdemean- or.
REVERSED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
. To the extent that Voss and Legarra did not argue or brief this argument before the district court, we nonetheless "may consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal” where, as here, “the issue presents a pure question of law that does not depend on the factual record developed below, or the relevant record is fully developed.” Emmert Indus. Corp. v. Artisan Assocs., Inc., 497 F.3d 982, 986 (9th Cir. 2007).
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
The Fourth Amendment serves to ensure that one may not be arrested on suspicion of non-criminal conduct. Because Officers Voss and Legarra arrested Tara-hawk von Brincken without probable cause to believe he had committed a crime, the Officers violated von Brincken’s clearly established constitutional rights. Therefore, the Officers are not entitled to qualified immunity, as the district court correctly held. Because I agree entirely with the district court’s analysis on this issue, I must respectfully dissent.
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const, amend. IV. The Supreme Court has held that “Fourth Amendment seizures are reasonable only if based on probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.” Bailey v. United States, 568 U.S. 186, 133 S.Ct. 1031, 1037, 185 L.Ed.2d 19 (2013). Officer Voss relied on Arizona.Re
Furthermore, the right to be free from unreasonable seizures was clearly established at the time of von Brincken’s arrest. This is so even though the Arizona Supreme Court has not previously held that being pulled over while driving is a prerequisite to a reasonable arrest pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute § 28-1595(B). See Demuth v. Cty. of Los Angeles, 798 F.3d 837, 839 (9th Cir. 2015) (“While the law must be unambiguous to overcome qualified immunity, that doesn’t mean that every official action is protected ... unless the very action in question has previously been held unlawful. [Officials can still be on notice that their conduct violates established law even in novel factual circumstances. This is especially true in the Fourth Amendment context, where the constitutional standard—reasonableness— is always a very fact-specific inquiry.”) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).
Officers Voss and Legarra violated von Brincken’s clearly established constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable seizure. As a result, they are not entitled to qualified immunity, as the district court properly held.
I respectfully dissent.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tarahawk VON BRINCKEN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James Michael VOSS and Richard A. Legarra, Defendants-Appellants
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Unpublished