Johnson v. Bay Area Rapid Transit District

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that burden‐shifting approach applies only where officers are required to show probable cause
• observing that a video, even when an imperfect account of an officer’s perspective, is relevant to his credibility
• refusing to grant qualified immunity at summary judgment where question of whether officer acted reasonably could not be determined based on facts before court, and finding that this question must be resolved by a jury
• stating that “[e]ven though the police may dislike being the object of abusive language,” they are not permitted “to use the awesome power which they possess to punish individuals for conduct that is not only lawful, but which is protected by the First Amendment”
• refusing to grant 2 qualified immunity at summary judgment where question of whether the officer acted reasonably 3 could not be determined based on facts before the court and finding this question must be 4 resolved by a jury
• “[The defendant] could have appealed the district court’s decision to deny him immunity under California state law, rather than under the federal law doctrine of qualified immunity; he did not.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).