Post details: False imprisonment is a Fourteenth Amendment due process claim rather than a Fourth Amendment unreasonable seizure

False imprisonment is a Fourteenth Amendment due process claim rather than a Fourth Amendment unreasonable seizure claim

False imprisonment is a due process claim rather than an unreasonable seizure claim. Bracknell v. Montgomery County Comm'n, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23981 (M.D. Ala. March 29, 2007):

Plaintiff is in essence complaining that he was falsely imprisoned by Savage. A false imprisonment claim is properly analyzed under the Fourteenth Amendment, rather than under the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure. See Cannon v. Macon County, 1 F.3d 1558, 1563 (11th Cir. 1993)(holding that the plaintiff must establish that an imprisonment "worked a violation of fourteenth amendment due process rights."); Douthit v. Jones, 619 F.2d 527, 532 (5th Cir. 1980) (noting that the fourteenth amendment governs false imprisonment actions); Davis v. Hall, 375 F.3d 703, 712 (8th Cir. 2004) (due process clause of the fourteenth amendment protects an individual from detention after his release date). Because Plaintiff's claims are properly analyzed under the framework of substantive due process of the Fourteenth Amendment, his Fourth Amendment claims are DISMISSED.

Officers could reasonably believe they had probable cause under the search warrant, and the warrant was particular enough ("gambling paraphernalia"). Therefore, they were entitled to qualified immunity. Murray v. City of Lavonia, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23682 (M.D. Ga. March 30, 2007).*