• videocam On-Demand Webinar
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Government
  • schedule 90 minutes

Use of Force and Qualified Immunity After Barnes v. Felix: Monell Exposure, Municipal Liability, and Reform

$297.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
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About the Course

Introduction

This webinar will examine the rapidly evolving law of police use of force and qualified immunity following recent Supreme Court and appellate decisions, as well as state level reforms. The panel will discuss qualified immunity, Monell liability, and how courts now analyze use of force encounters under the Fourth Amendment and how those standards intersect with modern police reform and accountability frameworks.

Description

Qualified immunity remains a legally recognized doctrine that protects individual government officers, including law enforcement, from claims for damages flowing from the official's violation of the plaintiff's rights. If the plaintiff demonstrates the violation of a constitutional right, then the court must decide whether the right was "clearly established" at the time of the alleged violation. In the case of law enforcement use of force, the Court recently resolved a circuit split by reemphasizing the totality of the circumstances approach and rejecting the moment of threat analysis in the Barnes v. Felix decision. 

Listen as our panel discusses the latest case law, legislative activity, and enforcement trends.  

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Thursday, February 26, 2026

  • schedule

    1:00 PM E.T.

I. Current landscape for qualified immunity and use of force

II. Supreme Court and appellate developments following Barnes v. Felix

III. "Clearly established law" in use of force cases

IV. Monell, indemnification, and parallel municipal exposure

V. Building and challenging the record: video, experts, and narrative

VI. Practical strategies for municipal and law enforcement counsel

VII. Practitioner takeaways

The panel will discuss these and other key issues:

  • Recent Supreme Court and appellate decisions reshaping objective reasonableness and qualified immunity in police use of force cases, including Barnes v. Felix and follow-on circuit decisions
  • Distinguishing between individual officer liability under Section 1983 and municipal liability under Monell and understanding how qualified immunity arguments interact with official policy or custom claims
  • Applying the "totality of the circumstances" standard to recurring police encounters and anticipating how plaintiffs and defendants will frame those facts
  • Strategies for briefing and arguing qualified immunity motions, including managing disputed facts, video evidence, and clearly established law precedent