Vickie Cook, Individually and as Natural Mother to Deanna Cook, et al. v. Tonyita Hopkins, et al.

After making dozens of 911 calls concerning her abusive ex-husband during 2009-2012, and being promised assistance by police, in August 2012, Deanna Cook made one final 911 call, along with bloodcurdling screams to the operator, as her perpetrator slowly murdered her. Fifty minutes and one stop to a 7-Eleven store later, officers finally arrive to Deanna’s house but never enter. Petitioners brought suit for violations of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection with respect to two 911 calls. Despite concluding that Plaintiffs “produce[d] evidence sufficient to [raise a material-fact dispute] that the City, at the time of the incident at hand, had a custom of providing less protection in 911 call taking on the bases of …[gender] and status as a domestic violence victim,” the Fifth Circuit adopted a new “deemed credible” approach to viewing a movant’s credibility. The Fifth Circuit also arbitrarily excluded admissions of discrimination as “outlier” evidence. Further, regarding her due process claims, the Fifth Circuit’s acknowledgment that “Deanna might have a viable claim for violation of her due process rights if this circuit recognized the state-created danger theory,” and refusal to allow it, illuminates an irreconcilable conflict with virtually every other circuit court of appeals that allow this due process claim. Thus, the questions presented are: I. Whether the requirements that “credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury