Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 1012055.pdf

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(9th Cir. 2005) (we may look to unpublished decisions and decisions of other

jurisdictions to determine whether a right is “clearly established”). In Thomas v.

Cohen, the Sixth Circuit denied qualified immunity to police officers who told

tenants they had to leave their apartments immediately without a court order of

eviction. 304 F.3d 563, 576-77 (6th Cir. 2002). The court held that it was clearly

established “that tenants are generally ‘entitled to pre-eviction judicial oversight in

the absence of emergency circumstances’” and that the officers’ actions constituted

nonjudicial evictions in violation of due process. Id. at 577 (quoting Flatford v. City

of Monroe, 17 F.3d 162, 170 (6th Cir. 1994)); see also Bridgeforth v. Bronson, 584

F. Supp. 2d 108, 120 (D.D.C. 2008) (denying qualified immunity to a police officer

“who reasonably should have known that it is unlawful for police officers to evict a

tenant without a court order”).

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
State v. City of Sunnyside et al.
No. 101205-5

Police removing or otherwise evicting tenants from their homes without the

notice and opportunity to be heard provided by an eviction order and judicial

proceedings violates due process. The doctrine of qualified immunity requires that

a right be clearly established, meaning that the unlawfulness of the conduct is

“apparent,” in light of preexisting law, not that there must be a prior case precisely

addressing the exact same conduct. Anderson, 483 U.S. at 640. Washington and

federal courts have clearly established that tenants are entitled to notice and an

opportunity to be heard prior to eviction and that police may not extrajudicially evict