Maness v. Dist. Court, Logan County-Northern Div.

• Decision Date: 13 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-1909.,06-1909.
• Citation: 495 F.3d 943
• Parties: Richard Stanley MANESS, Appellant, v. DISTRICT COURT OF LOGAN COUNTY-NORTHERN DIVISION; Paula McCaully, District Court Clerk; Judge David R. Cravens, District Court Judge; Amanda Roberts, District Court Clerk; Judge Paul X. Williams, District Court Judge; Logan County Circuit Clerk; Judge Paul Danielson, Logan County Circuit Judge; David McCormick, Logan County Circuit Judge; Terry Sullivan, Logan County Circuit Judge; Everly Kellar, Logan County Circuit and Chancery Clerk; Kevin Barham, Paris City Prosecutor, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

495 F.3d 943

Richard Stanley MANESS, Appellant, v. DISTRICT COURT OF LOGAN COUNTY-NORTHERN DIVISION; Paula McCaully, District Court Clerk; Judge David R. Cravens, District Court Judge; Amanda Roberts, District Court Clerk; Judge Paul X. Williams, District Court Judge; Logan County Circuit Clerk; Judge Paul Danielson, Logan County Circuit Judge; David McCormick, Logan County Circuit Judge; Terry Sullivan, Logan County Circuit Judge; Everly Kellar, Logan County Circuit and Chancery Clerk; Kevin Barham, Paris City Prosecutor, Appellees.

No. 06-1909.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: March 7, 2007.

Filed: August 13, 2007.

Appellant Richard S. Maness, Subiaco, AR, appeared pro se.

Before RILEY, HANSEN, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

Richard Maness appeals the district court's 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) preservice dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. As relevant, the magistrate judge recommended dismissal based upon immunity, and the district court adopted the magistrate judge's report. Upon de novo review, see Moore v. Sims, 200 F.3d 1170 1171 (8th Cir.2000) (per curiam), we affirm.

Maness alleged that Logan County District Court Judge Paul X. Williams improperly refused his request to continue his state-court trial, refused to hear evidence of Maness's factual innocence, and convicted him; and that City Prosecutor Kevin Barham failed to present any evidence against him. Maness also alleged that Logan County Circuit Court Clerk Everly Kellar refused to file his appeal for lack of a filing fee, and refused his repeated requests to present his application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) to a circuit court judge. According to correspondence between Kellar and Maness, an order from a circuit judge granting IFP status was required to perfect the appeal. As a result of Kellar's alleged refusal to present the IFP application, Maness's appeal was dismissed. Maness sought damages and an order vacating his conviction and fine.

Initially, we note that Maness conceded in his objections to the magistrate judge's report that Judge Williams, Prosecutor Barham, and Court Clerk Kellar are the only proper defendants in this case; and we note as well that Maness's request to vacate his conviction is cognizable only in a habeas corpus action, see Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489-90, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973). We agree with the district court that Judge Williams and Prosecutor Barham enjoyed absolute immunity. See Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9, 11, 112 S.Ct. 286, 116 L.Ed.2d 9 (1991) (per curiam) (judges are immune from suit unless actions were nonjudicial in nature or taken in complete absence of all jurisdiction); Brodnicki v. City of Omaha, 75 F.3d 1261, 1266 (8th Cir.1996) (prosecutor is entitled to absolute immunity when acting as advocate for state in criminal prosecution; immunity covers initiation and pursuit of criminal prosecution).

A different analysis is used to assess any immunity from suit Clerk Kellar may have. As to absolute quasi-judicial immunity, there is no suggestion in the record that Kellar's alleged refusal to present Maness's IFP application to a circuit judge was discretionary rather than ministerial. See Antoine v. Byers & Anderson, Inc., 508 U.S. 429, 436-37, 113 S.Ct. 2167, 124 L.Ed.2d 391 (1993) (when judicial immunity is extended to officials other than judges, it is because they exercise discretionary judgment as part of their function; functional approach does not require that absolute immunity be extended to court personnel simply because they are "part of judicial function"; holding that court reporters do not enjoy immunity because they have no discretion in carrying out statutory duties); Snyder v. Nolen, 380 F.3d 279, 286-289, 291 (7th Cir.2004) (per curiam) (clerk of court who allegedly refused to file inmate's pleadings was not acting in "functionally comparable" way to judge and breached duty to perform ministerial act of accepting technically sufficient papers; clerk did not enjoy absolute quasi-judicial immunity); cf. McCullough v. Horton, 69 F.3d 918, 919 (8th Cir.1995) (per curiam) (court clerk's failure to provide transcript as ordered by court was not clearly discretionary act entitling clerk to immunity). Thus, Kellar was not shielded by absolute quasi-judicial immunity.

However, we conclude that Kellar is shielded by qualified immunity. "Qualified immunity protects state actors from civil liability when their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Kahle v. Leonard, 477 F.3d 544, 549 (8th Cir.2007) (internal marks omitted). We must ask and answer two questions when a defense of qualified immunity is raised by a state actor: (1) whether or not the state actor deprived the complainant of a constitutional or statutory right, and (2) if there was a deprivation of such a right, whether...