Law360 (May 22, 2026, 3:12 PM EDT) -- The Eleventh Circuit backed an early win Friday for four Georgia police officers accused of unlawfully seizing and using excessive force against a woman suspected of overdosing, relying upon a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the probable cause standard doesn't apply to "emergency aid" situations.

In a published opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor wrote for a three-judge panel that Henry County police officers lawfully detained Abigail Jean Marbut after her mother called the police under the belief that she had overdosed on the sedative gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB.

Applying the Supreme Court's January decision Case v. Montana, which ruled that officers don't need probable cause to intervene while rendering emergency aid, the panel said it's "at least arguable that the officers could seize Marbut in accordance with these principles."

"Applying the Case standard, the officers are immune if it is 'arguable' that they had an objectively reasonable basis to conclude that seizing Marbut was necessary to avoid serious harm," Judge Pryor wrote.

The court likewise shot down Marbut's claim that officers used excessive force when restraining her — and breaking her arm — as she tried to leave the encounter. Calling her restraint a "de minimis" use of force, Judge Pryor added, "We have also recognized that established examples of de minimis force do not cease to be de minimis when they produce unexpected injuries."

Marbut's suit, according to the opinion, arose out of a May 2021 incident where she and her mother were returning home from the grocery store when Marbut became unresponsive. Believing her daughter might have overdosed, Marbut's mother called 911.

Though initially disoriented and nodding off, Marbut came to a few minutes after Henry County police and medical personnel arrived. They repeatedly told Marbut she needed to go to the hospital, she refused to be transported and protested that she'd done nothing wrong, according to the opinion. Henry County Officer Matthew Phillips — the first on the scene — warned her that she could be transported with either the cops or the EMTs.

After another few minutes of debate, Marbut abruptly told Phillips that she needed to use the restroom and tried to leave. The parties dispute whether she pushed Phillips, but a scuffle broke out, and Marbut was restrained by Phillips and others and was left with a broken right arm.

In her 2024 suit, Marbut alleged that her seizure was unlawful, that the officers used excessive force, and that Phillips' fellow officers should have intervened to prevent him from injuring her. But U.S. District Judge Victoria M. Calvert granted the officers summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds, ruling that her Constitutional rights weren't violated.

"Even resolving all factual disputes in Abigail's favor, the evidence shows that defendant Phillips had arguable probable cause to believe that Abigail was a danger to herself," Judge Calvert ruled in September 2024.

In Friday's opinion, the Eleventh Circuit said that in the moments before Marbut tried to leave the encounter, there was no "definitive medical consensus that it was safe for her" to do so, justifying the officers' detention of her.

Even without the benefit of the Case decision, Judge Pryor added, Phillips and his fellow officers were still within their rights to seize Marbut under the belief that she was in possession of GHB.

"Marbut conceded in her briefing that the officers were 'entitled to believe' her mother's report about a potential overdose on GHB," the judge said, adding that "the mother's report and the other information the officers collected at the scene authorized a seizure."

Without an underlying Constitutional violation by Phillips, the court concluded, his fellow officers "had no attendant obligation to intervene."

Counsel for the parties couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.

U.S. Circuit Judges William Pryor and Nancy Abudu and U.S. District Judge Anne Conway sat on the panel for the Eleventh Circuit.

Marbut is represented by Wayne B. Kendall of Wayne B. Kendall PC and Jeffrey Reeves of The Reeves Law Firm LLC.

The officers are represented by Terry E. Williams and Jason C. Waymire of Williams & Waymire LLC.

The case is Marbut v. Phillips et al., case number 24-13309, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

--Editing by Alex Hubbard.

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