Scott Emerson Felix v. Daniel J. McCarthy Director of the Department of Corrections P.J. Morris J. Campoy Daniel Vasquez Morris, Lt.

How courts have described this case

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

• holding that strong blows 7 to a prisoner for no purpose can be force characterized as intentional and offensive to human 8 dignity
• holding that “an unprovoked and 12 unjustified attack by a prison guard . . . violated clearly established constitutional rights of 13 which a reasonable officer would have known”
• holding that a reasonable officer in 1985 would have known that “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by a prison guard” that caused bruising, soreness, and emotional damage would violate constitutional rights
• throwing a prisoner against a wall without provocation, causing bruising and soreness, constitutes unconstitutionally excessive use of force
• stating that “it is not the 16 degree of injury which makes out a violation of the eighth amendment. Rather, it is the use of 17 official force or authority that is intentional, unjustified, brutal and offensive to human dignity.” 18 (quotation omitted)
• “[I]t is not the degree of injury which makes out a violation of the eighth amendment. Rather, it is the use of official force or authority that is ‘intentional, unjustified, brutal[,] and offensive to human dignity.’”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).