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Jacob Clark, et ux. v. Bernadette Stone, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 20-5928 · judgment May 19, 2021


Certiorari denied · January 10, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

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

Questions presented

  1. Whether qualified immunity applies to shield from liability child protective services case workers who repeatedly conduct warrantless searches of a home over the objection of the homeowner?

  2. Whether qualified immunity is an affirmative defense with the burden of proof on the party raising it, or whether a Plaintiff has the burden of disproving the defense?

  3. Whether this Court should overrule, or at least modify, its prior cases concerning the defense of qualified immunity where the defense is now applied contrary to the plain text of 42 U.S.C. 1983?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Thomas B. Bruns
Bruns, Connell, Vollmar & Armstrong, LLC

For respondent
David Brent Irvin
Kentucky Cabinet for Heatlh & Family Services, Office of Legal Services

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 10 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 08 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/7/2022.
  3. Nov 30 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Bernadette Stone, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Nov 09 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 15, 2021)