Farah v. Weyker

The Constitution does not imply a cause of action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), if a federal law-enforcement officer lies, manipulates witnesses, and falsifies evidence. In this case, the allegations were that a federally deputized officer duped prosecutors and a grand jury into believing that plaintiffs were part of a multistate sex-trafficking conspiracy.The Eighth Circuit declined to extend Bivens and remanded with respect to the 42 U.S.C. 1983 claims against defendant for the district court to consider the applicability of section 1983 in the first instance. In regard to the unlawful arrest claim, the court held that defendant was not entitled to qualified immunity because her actions constituted a violation of a clearly established right. In this case, a reasonable officer would know that deliberately misleading another officer into arresting an innocent individual to protect a sham investigation was unlawful, regardless of the difficulties presented by the case. View "Farah v. Weyker" on Justia Law