Qualified Immunity

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Curtis Lovelace, et al., v. Adam Gibson, et al.,

Case No.: 20-3254

Officials: KANNE, WOOD, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Qualified Immunity

Cory Lovelace died in her bed one morning in February 2006. Cory was not in good health, and nobody at the time suspected foul play. But seven years later, while browsing through old photographs, Detective Adam Gibson hatched a theory: that Cory’s husband, Curt Lovelace, had suffocated her with a pillow. Gibson, along with Coroner James Keller and several other local officials, launched a relentless investigation, leading to Curt’s arrest and prosecution for murder. In the end, Curt was acquitted by a jury, but only after he endured a mistrial, a series of evidentiary irregularities, and more than two years’ detention. After Curt was vindicated at trial, he sued Gibson, Keller, and the other officials, alleging numerous violations of his constitutional rights. At summary judgment, the officials asserted qualified immunity from some of Curt’s claims. The district court denied their motions.

The officials now seek to take an appeal, again in pursuit of qualified immunity from Curt’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment theories. We lack appellate jurisdiction over the Fourth Amendment theory underpinning Curt’s Count II, however, and so we dismiss that portion of the appeal. As for the Fourteenth Amendment theory underpinning Count I, Curt concedes that circuit precedent now forecloses it, and so we reverse on the basis of his withdrawal of that argument.

We DISMISS those aspects of the appeal related to the Fourth Amendment (Count II). We REVERSE the district court’s denial of qualified immunity from the Fourteenth Amendment theory (Count I) to Gibson, Keller, Copley, Summers, and Dreyer, and we REMAND for entry of summary judgment in their favor on that theory of the case. Each side will bear its own costs on appeal.

Dismissed in part. Reversed ad remanded in part.

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.