United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant-prison officials were entitled to qualified immunity in 1983 action brought by plaintiff prisoner alleging Eighth Amendment and due process violations in connection with his six-day placement on contraband watch, and therefore denial defendants' of summary judgment motion is reversed, where: 1) the law was not clearly established that the contraband watch was unconstitutional, at the time it took place; 2) plaintiff cannot claim a liberty interest under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; and 3) defendants did not have fair notice on whether the conditions that Chappell experienced violated a state-created liberty interest that would trigger due process protections.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/31/2013
• Published 01/31/2013

Judges

• BYBEE

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel