Eleventh Circuit -- three more cases

In Chaney v. City of Orlando, a Section 1983 excessive force and malicious prosecution case against the city and one Officer Cute (whose name could inspire several jokes), a jury had found in the plaintiff's favor on a special verdict form. The Eleventh Circuit ruled that the trial court improperly granted the defendant's Rule 50(b) motion on the basis of the jury's findings on the special verdict form, rather than based purely on whether there was sufficient evidence to support imposition of liability.

In another Section 1983 wrongful arrest case, McClish v. Nugent, the Eleventh Circuit held that an officer violated the Fourth Amendment when (without a warrant) he knocked on the door, and upon the suspect's opening the door, reached into an open doorway to grab the suspect, pull him out onto the porch, and arrest him -- distinguishing this case from precedent where the suspect was already standing in an open doorway when police arrived, and the home was used for drug sales. (Judge Anderson disagreed with Judge Marcus and visiting Judge Altonaga, finding the precedent indistinguishable.)

However, in light of the latter precedent, the panel found the right was not clearly established in this setting, and thus qualified immunity applied. But the Court also reversed the trial court's holding, as to a second plaintiff, that his section 1983 suit was barred because it would call the lawfulness of a prior conviction into question -- noting that participating in a pretrial intervention program was not a prior conviction.

Finally, in Macola v. GEICO, the Eleventh Circuit received the Florida Supreme Court's response on two certified questions dealing with an insurance company's bad faith failure to settle under Florida law, and based on the response, reversed and remanded the case.