Practical limit to qualified immunity
<p>Let's say the police are sued and the lawsuit is so costly or the settlement is so large they cant pay it.</p>
<p>In that case would the doctrine of qualified immunity collapse because not only do the police have no way to defend against lawsuits, but they also dont even exist because their department is now bankrupt?</p>

<p>As a practical matter, this simply doesn't happen.</p>
<p>The employer of the police is usually bound by an employment contract or by common law duties to police employees, to pay their legal fees. Sometimes a police union will as well. Usually, their employer pays for this as part of the benefit for insurance coverage or participation of a governmental shared risk pool (I used to work in a law firm that was outside counsel for such a risk pool).</p>
<p>In rare cases when a law enforcement employer can't afford to pay premiums for their law enforcement officers (as was done in the case of a California town's police department that had many claims made against it), it will usually disband the police department and turn over law enforcement responsibilities to the county or state in which it is located, rather than continuing to operate a police department without insurance against such claims that would pay the defense costs.</p>
<p>The doctrine of qualified immunity is just one factor that is considered in litigation against police. It usually makes the litigation more expensive, not less so, since it allows for more evidentiary hearings and allows for earlier appeals. The doctrine doesn't change the amount of recovery for a prevailing plaintiff and still allows many plaintiffs (although not as many) to prevail on the merits and receive a recovery.</p>
<p>The cost of an eventual judgment has nothing to do with the availability of defense costs.</p>
<p>Individual police officers and municipalities (but not state governments) can also declare bankruptcy if they are unable to pay their debts, but a civil rights violation debt is usually not dischargeable in bankruptcy, so the debt could still be collected over time. People who bring lawsuits are routinely unable to collect the full amount that they are awarded in court.</p>

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