123872P.pdf   04/16/2014  Christopher Payne  v.  Fred Britten
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  12-3872
   U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska - Lincoln   
   [PUBLISHED] [Melloy, Author, with Riley, Chief Judge, and Kelly, Circuit 
   Judge] 
   Prisoner case - Prisoner civil rights. When an official properly and 
   timely files a motion for dismissal or summary judgment asserting 
   qualified immunity, the official is entitled to a ruling on the issue of 
   qualified immunity; as such, the district court must issue a reviewable 
   ruling - either or granting or denying qualified immunity - before 
   requiring the officials to progress further in the litigation; here, where 
   the district court declined to rule on the issue, the district court''s 
   order converting the officials'' motion to dismiss into a motion for 
   summary judgment is reversed, and its partial denial of the officials'' 
   motion for summary judgment is vacated; the matter is remanded with 
   instructions for the district court to decide, consistent with this 
   opinion, whether the officials are entitled to qualified immunity on the 
   pleadings under Rule 12(b)(6). Chief Judge Riley, concurring in part and 
   dissenting in part.