Luz Gonzalez v. Lee County Housing Authority, 161 F.3d 1290 (1998)

Citation: Luz Gonzalez v. Lee County Housing Authority, 161 F.3d 1290 (1998)
Parent Document: Luz Gonzalez v. Lee County Housing Authority, 161 F.3d 1290 (1998)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 1998-12-02
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/759590/luz-gonzalez-v-lee-county-housin... ↗

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Part IV.B. of the opinion sets out two alternative bases for finding clearly established law to overcome qualified immunity: first, the plain language of 42 U.S.C. § 3617; and second, the clear command of 24 C.F.R. § 100.400(c)(3), which interprets 42 U.S.C. § 3617. Section 3617 is a very general statute and is not sufficiently fact-specific to satisfy the requirements of Lassiter v. Alabama A & M Univ., Bd. of Trustees, 28 F.3d 1146, 1149-50 (11th Cir.1994) (en banc). As this Circuit has made clear, it is the "exceptional case where the words of a federal statute or federal constitutional provision will be specific enough to establish the law applicable to particular circumstances clearly and to overcome qualified immunity even in the absence of case law." Santamorena v. Georgia Military College, 147 F.3d 1337, 1340 n. 6 (11th Cir.1998) (emphasis added) (quoting Lassiter, 28 F.3d at 1150 n. 4). Thus, the federal regulation is the only remaining source of clearly established law. Neither party cited 24 C.F.R. § 100.400(c)(3) in the briefs to this Court or the district court. We requested supplemental briefing as to whether 24 C.F.R. § 100.400(c)(3) even applies to the facts of this case and were not informed of any United States Supreme Court or Eleventh Circuit case in which 24 C.F.R. § 100.400(c)(3) is mentioned.

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