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22-1288 Megan Green v. Cliff Sommer

[PUBLISHED] [Melloy, Author, with Gruender and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Civil rights. In action alleging St. Louis police officers violated plaintiff's civil rights when they fired tear gas in her direction during the protests surrounding the acquittal of St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley, the district court did not err in denying the motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity filed by four officers who allegedly tear-gassed plaintiff from an armored vehicle, as plaintiff's allegation that she was not committing any crime when she was tear-gassed was enough to plausibly allege the tear-gassing was in retaliation for her First Amendment activities; the district court erred in denying eight other officers' motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity as the complaint did not plausibly allege they were personally involved in the alleged violation of clearly established constitutional rights; with respect to plaintiff's conspiracy claims, it was not clearly established at the time of the incident that officers could conspire with one another to violate a First Amendment right, and the district court erred by not dismissing this claim; the district court did not err in denying defendants official immunity on plaintiff's state law claims.

File: 
Date: 
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Case Number: 
22-1288
District Court: 
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis
Author: 
Judge Michael J. Melloy