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Dustin Dillard, et al. v. Vicki Timpa, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Anthony Timpa, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 20-10876 · judgment December 15, 2021


Certiorari denied · May 31, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–8%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Questions presented

  1. Whether the Fifth Circuit misapplied the Court’s qualified immunity jurisprudence in holding that a police officer who held a mentally ill subject down in the prone position for the length of time it took paramedics to assess and treat the subject violated the subject’s clearly established Fourth Amendment rights.

  2. Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in holding that officers who were present while a fellow officer held a mentally ill subject down in the prone position had a clearly established constitutional obligation to intervene and terminate the subject’s restraint such that they are subject to bystander liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Nicholas Dane Palmer
Dallas City Attorney's Office

For respondent
Easha Anand
Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. May 31 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. May 10 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/26/2022.
  3. May 02 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Vicki Timpa, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Apr 27 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 31, 2022)