For forty years I have watched qualified immunity swallow good cases whole. A person’s constitutional rights get trampled, the facts are ugly, and then a federal judge dismisses the whole thing before a jury ever hears a word, because some prior court had not spelled out that this exact kind of abuse was illegal. It is one of the most frustrating doctrines in American law. The good news is that California has quietly handed victims a second door, and I walk through it in almost every case I file.
What is qualified immunity in a police misconduct case?
Qualified immunity is a judge-made defense that shields police officers from federal civil rights damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 unless the victim shows the officer violated a “clearly established” constitutional right. In practice, it lets officers escape liability even when their conduct was plainly wrong.
Qualified immunity does not appear anywhere in the Constitution or in the text of the civil rights statute. The United States Supreme Court invented it, and then expanded it, so that an officer is protected unless a prior case with nearly identical facts already told him his conduct was unconstitutional. That is the trick. The defense bar loves to argue that because no earlier court dealt with the precise combination of facts in your case, your rights were not “clearly established,” so the officer walks. It is a heads-they-win, tails-you-lose game, and it is why so many meritorious § 1983 claims never reach a jury.
How does qualified immunity actually play out in the Ninth Circuit?
In the Ninth Circuit, which governs California, whether a right is “clearly established” is decided by Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit case law. Courts view the facts in the light most favorable to the victim, but officers still win immunity whenever the misconduct is not squarely covered by earlier precedent.
Here in California, the courts that decide what is “clearly established” are the United States Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. When there is no decision directly on point, judges look to other circuits. What this means for a real person is simple and maddening: the more creative the abuse, the more likely the officer is to be immune, because no earlier court happened to describe that specific outrage. I have seen officers argue with a straight face that because the last case involved a fist and theirs involved a boot, the law was not clearly established.
The Ninth Circuit is not hopeless on this front, and recent decisions show the doctrine has limits. When officers deliberately fabricate evidence, for example, courts have had no trouble finding the law clearly established, because everyone has long known you cannot frame an innocent person. But you cannot count on the exception. You build the case assuming the officer will raise immunity, and you give the court the precedent it needs to reject it.
Does California have qualified immunity for police officers?
No. Qualified immunity is a federal doctrine. It does not apply to civil rights claims brought under California’s Tom Bane Civil Rights Act (Civil Code § 52.1). That is the single most important reason I plead a Bane Act claim alongside every federal § 1983 claim I file.
This is the part that surprises people, and it is the heart of my strategy. Qualified immunity is a creature of federal law. California’s own civil rights statute, the Bane Act, has never been subject to it. California courts recognized this long ago in Venegas v. County of Los Angeles. So when a federal judge grants an officer qualified immunity on the § 1983 claim, the state-law Bane Act claim can still go to the jury. On more than one occasion, the Bane Act has saved a case that federal immunity would otherwise have killed.
What did California Senate Bill 2 change about police immunity?
Senate Bill 2, signed in 2021, amended the Bane Act to strip away three specific California immunity provisions, Government Code §§ 821.6, 844.6, and 845.6, that had shielded officers. It did not abolish federal qualified immunity, but it removed state immunities that once blocked malicious prosecution and in-custody claims.
There is a lot of loose talk that SB 2 “ended qualified immunity” in California. That is not quite right, and getting it right matters. SB 2, the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act, did two big things. It created a statewide process to decertify officers who commit serious misconduct, and it amended Civil Code § 52.1 to remove three state immunity provisions for peace officers and the public entities that employ them.
Those three provisions did real damage before SB 2. Government Code § 821.6 had been read to bar state-law malicious prosecution claims against police entirely; §§ 844.6 and 845.6 limited claims for injuries to people in custody. By making those immunities inapplicable to Bane Act claims, the Legislature opened the courthouse door to cases California had kept shut for decades. For the first time, a person maliciously prosecuted by officers who lied or planted evidence has a clear state-law path to hold them accountable.
Why do I plead both a federal and a state civil rights claim?
I plead both because they have different rules, different immunities, and different remedies. The federal § 1983 claim reaches constitutional violations nationwide; the state Bane Act claim avoids qualified immunity, allows fee multipliers, and requires only general intent. Together they give a victim two independent routes to a verdict.
Think of it as belt and suspenders. The federal claim under § 1983 is powerful and well developed, but it carries the qualified immunity risk. The Bane Act claim is not subject to that defense, it can be brought against the public entity as well as the officer, and prevailing plaintiffs can recover attorney’s fees, sometimes with a multiplier that California law encourages but federal law does not. The Bane Act also requires only general intent, not the near-impossible showing that an officer specifically set out to violate your rights. When one claim stumbles, the other can carry the case.
If you were beaten, falsely arrested, or maliciously prosecuted by police anywhere in Southern California, from Newport Beach to the far corners of the Inland Empire, the immunity maze is exactly where these cases live or die. Knowing which door to walk through is most of the battle, and it is what I have spent my career learning. You can read more about my approach to these defenses on my page about the curse of qualified immunity, and about how these cases get built on my Newport Beach police misconduct page.
What should you do if an officer violated your rights in California?
Preserve everything: photos of injuries, names and badge numbers, witness contacts, and any video. Do not talk to internal affairs or investigators without counsel. Then contact an experienced California civil rights attorney quickly, because both the federal and state claims carry strict deadlines that can bar your case if missed.
The clock is never your friend in these cases. Federal and state civil rights claims carry short deadlines, and a state-law claim against a public entity generally requires a government tort claim filed within six months of the incident. Miss it, and the strongest case in the world can be gone before it starts. If you believe your rights were violated, write down what happened while it is fresh, gather your evidence, and call a lawyer who does this work. The immunities are steep, but they are not the end of the road, and in California they are no longer the last word.
About the Author
Jerry L. Steering has been suing police officers and defending bogus “Resistance Offense” criminal cases throughout California since 1984. A graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law (1984), he is admitted to practice in California, Georgia, the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, and the United States Supreme Court. His police-misconduct cases have produced settlements and verdicts in the millions, and his work has been featured on ABC News, CNN, Good Morning America, Dateline NBC, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He practices from Newport Beach and serves clients across Southern California.
Sources
- California Senate Bill 2 (2021), text and legislative findings, California Legislative Information: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB2
- Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 52.1, California Legislative Information: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=52.1.&lawCode=CIV
- 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Cornell Legal Information Institute: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1983
- “Which States Have Limited or Abolished Qualified Immunity?” LegalClarity (May 2026): https://legalclarity.org/which-states-have-limited-or-abolished-qualified-immunity/
- “Bane Act Amendments Expand Civil Rights Liability,” Haddad & Sherwin LLP: https://www.haddadandsherwin.com/2021/12/01/bane-act-amendments-expand-civil-rights-liability/
- “Qualified Immunity in Use-of-Force Cases: Guidance for Police,” PORAC LDF (Jan. 2026): https://poracldf.org/blog/qualified-immunity-in-use-of-force-cases-guidance-for-police-part-i-the-law/
Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this post or contacting Steering Law through this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; if you are facing a legal issue, you should consult a qualified California attorney about your specific situation. Past results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Steering Law is a California-based civil rights and criminal defense firm led by Jerry L. Steering, Esq. The firm focuses on police misconduct cases, including excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution, contempt of cop incidents, and 42 U.S.C. §1983 civil rights actions, while also handling serious criminal defense matters. Steering Law is dedicated to protecting clients’ constitutional rights and delivering justice for individuals who have been wronged by law enforcement.
