Morrow v. Igleburger

67 F.R.D. 675, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6102
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 25, 1974
DocketCiv. No. C-3-74-93
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 67 F.R.D. 675 (Morrow v. Igleburger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morrow v. Igleburger, 67 F.R.D. 675, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6102 (S.D. Ohio 1974).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

CARL B. RUBIN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court upon motions to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P., filed by thirty-five defendants out of thirty-seven parties defendant. The parties have submitted motions, replies, supplemental memorada, affidavits, and exhibits in support of their respective positions. The essential determination in considering a Rule 12(b) (6) motion to dismiss is whether the plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

The plaintiff brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. His complaint speaks in terms of confiscation of legal materials while imprisoned, denial of access to a law library while imprisoned, denial of access to medical care while imprisoned, and beatings by certain parties defendant. This Court’s jurisdiction has thus been properly invoked under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343.

[677]*677.Certain motions that have been presented to the Court have been pleaded in terms of motions for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P. A court has the power to reform the nature of pleadings so as to conform them to the evidence and arguments, Rule 15(b) Fed.R.Civ.P. Defendant Flanagan’s Motion for Summary Judgment is therefore reformed to a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss, and defendant Stewart’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is also hereby reformed to a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff Morrow’s Request for a Mental Examination, and defendant’s Motion to Strike Out Complaint and Dismiss Ac-' tion for Failure of Plaintiff to Give Deposition will not be considered at this time. All other pending motions will be disposed of by this Opinion and Order.

Due to the large number of parties defendant, and the numerous official and professional positions which they hold, the motions to dismiss may be grouped into several manageable categories. The specific grounds upon which these motions will be considered are five: (I) Judicial Immunity and Quasi-Judicial Immunity; (II) Attorneys’ Exclusion from the “Under Color of” State Law Definition; (III) Failure of Jurisdiction as to certain Defendants; (IV) Qualified Immunity for the Police; and (V) Limitations Statutes Considerations.

I.

JUDICIAL IMMUNITY AND QUASI-JUDICIAL IMMUNITY

Nearly one-half of the defendants in this case are employed in positions that may be termed either judicial or quasi-judicial. Concerning persons in such positions generally, there has been a determination on the basis of public policy to grant an immunity from suit. The seminal cases supporting this immunity are Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 335, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1871), and Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1966).

[I]t is a general principle of the highest importance to the proper administration of justice that a judicial officer, in exercising the authority vested in him, shall be free to act upon his own convictions, without apprehension of personal consequences to himself.

Bradley v. Fisher, supra 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) at 347.

At the time of the Bradley case the initial Civil Rights Acts were passed. But it was not until many decades later that a conflict between these Acts and the judicial immunity doctrine arose. The argument that “any person” language in 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 can overcome the doctrine has been disposed of by Supreme Court case law holding otherwise.

Few doctrines were more solidly established at common law than the immunity of judges from liability for damages for acts committed within their judicial jurisdiction, as this Court recognized when it adopted the doctrine, in Bradley v. Fisher, 13 Wall. 335 [20 L.Ed. 646] (1872). This immunity applies even when the judge is accused of acting maliciously and corruptly, and it “is not for the protection or benefit of a malicious or corrupt judge, but for the benefit of the public, whose interest is that the judges should be at liberty to exercise their functions with independence and without fear of consequences.” (Scott v. Stansfield, L.R. 3 Ex. 220, 223 (1868), quoted in Bradley v. Fisher, supra, 13 Wall. 349, note, at 350.)

Pierson v. Ray, supra, 386 U.S. at 554, 87 S.Ct. at 1217-1218.

One of the more perplexing problems surrounding the conflict between the Civil Rights Acts of the Reconstruction Era and the judicial immunity doctrine is to what extent that immunity must be extended to other “judicial officers,” [678]*678Bradley v. Fisher, beyond the obvious protection of judges. The process of extending the judicial immunity concept has come under the heading of “quasi-judicial immunity.” The Ninth Circuit case of Robichaud v. Ronan, 351 F.2d 533 (9th Cir. 1965), contains an excellent summary of the history of the quasi-judicial immunity concept.

The earliest' federal case which refers to “quasi judicial immunity” appears to be Yaselli v. Goff, 12 F.2d 396, 56 A.L.R. 1239 (2d Cir. 1926), aff’d per curiam, 275 U.S. 503, 48 S.Ct. 155, 72 L.Ed. 395 (1927). There, it was held that a prosecuting attorney was immune from suit for malicious prosecution, regardless of the existence of malice or wilfulness on his part. In its opinion the court wrote:
“A United States attorney, if not a judicial officer, is at least a quasi judicial officer, of the government. He exercises important judicial functions, and is engaged in the enforcement of the law.”
12 F.2d at 404.
The court continued,
“The immunity is absolute, and is founded on principles of public policy. The public interest requires that persons occupying such important positions and so closely identified with the judicial departments of the governments should speak and act freely and fearlessly in the discharge of their important official functions. They should be no more liable to private suits for what they say and do in the discharge of their duties than are the judges and jurors, to say nothing of the witnesses who testify in a case.”
12 F.2d at 406.
It is upon Yaselli that the concept of immunity for prosecuting attorneys, as quasi-judicial officers is founded. See, e. g., Kenney v. Fox, 232 F.2d 288, 290 (6th Cir. 1956), cert. denied sub nom. Kenney v. Killian, 352 U.S. 855, 77 S.Ct. 84, 1 L.Ed.2d 66 (1956).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 F.R.D. 675, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrow-v-igleburger-ohsd-1974.