Thomas v. Sams

Decision Date29 May 1984
Docket NumberNo. 82-2359,82-2359
Citation734 F.2d 185
Parties17 Ed. Law Rep. 755 Dr. Alvin I. THOMAS, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. Eristus SAMS, Individually and As Mayor of Prairie View, Defendant-Appellant, and City of Prairie View, Defendant-Cross-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Michael A. Maness, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

Larry Watts, Laura Oren, Houston, Tex., for Thomas.

John W. Batchan, Jr., Terrance Windham, Houston, Tex., for City.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before RUBIN and RANDALL, Circuit Judges, and MITCHELL *, District Judge.

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

In the course of a dispute concerning the construction by a city of a sewer line across a university campus, a city mayor, who was also ex officio its magistrate and municipal judge, signed a criminal complaint against the university's president. Then, in his capacity as magistrate, he issued a warrant for the president's arrest. As a result, the president was detained for more than two hours until he was able to post a cash bond. Invoking 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, the president sued the city and the city official. Although the actions taken by the city official in his judicial capacity as a magistrate were shielded by judicial immunity, we affirm the bench-trial judgment against the city official because the arrest warrant did not immunize his prior illegal conduct. The court rejected the president's claim against the city on the bases that the city had not authorized the mayor to arrest the president and the court was "unwilling to impose liability upon local governments because of the strictly legal actions of their judicial officers." Because the record demonstrates that the mayor's actions represented city policy, we reverse the judgment in favor of the city and hold it jointly liable with its mayor.

I.

The following facts were found by the district court. The City of Prairie View is an incorporated Texas municipality with a population of 4,000, most of whom are faculty, staff members, and students of Prairie View A & M University. Dr. Alvin I. Thomas is president of the University. Eristus Sams is the City's mayor and, ex officio under Texas law, 1 its municipal judge and magistrate. As magistrate, he is authorized to issue process and warrants for the arrest of offenders; as municipal judge he has jurisdiction over persons committing offenses within the City's corporate limits, including the University campus, for which the maximum punishment is a $200 fine.

The University maintains sewage collection and treatment facilities for its own use and has also provided sewage treatment for a small part of the City on a contract basis. Until 1972, most of the City outside of the University campus was without sewer service. That year, the City sought a federal grant to construct and to operate a sewage facility and to extend its sewer lines. The University also sought a federal grant to construct and to operate an additional sewer facility and to bring its operation into compliance with the Federal Water Pollution Act. To avoid seeking two grants, and to facilitate early accomplishment of both objectives, the City and the Texas A & M University Systems Board of Regents, which had supervisory authority over the University, jointly agreed to operate a sewage collection system serving all parts of the City, including the University campus. The City was to construct the necessary additional collection lines. At the outset, the University was to treat the City's sewage on a contract basis. Eventually, the City was to build a City treatment plant to treat all sewage.

Various problems delayed construction of the City's sewage collection facilities. Mayor Sams concluded that the University was unreasonably delaying completion of the City's collection lines, and thus creating a health hazard. The Board of Regents, which had sole authority over such matters, had not approved the easement, service rates, or the plan for construction of the lines because there were legitimate objections on an engineering basis to the City's plans. Despite his awareness that Board approval was a prerequisite but had been denied, Mayor Sams directed the sewer contractor to complete the construction of a four-inch and a six-inch sewer line across University property and to connect these lines to the University's collection and treatment facility. Dr. Thomas instructed Dr. Decatur Rogers, the administrator in charge of the University's physical plant, to do "whatever was necessary" to prevent the City from running sewage through the completed lines. Accordingly, in May, 1978, under the personal supervision of Dr. Rogers, University personnel cut out and capped several sections of pipe in both lines.

Sams signed a complaint charging Dr. Thomas with committing a criminal offense by "coercing" Rogers to destroy City property. The complaint is signed "Eristus Sams, Mayor"; but the district court found that, because the City Council had not voted to authorize the mayor to issue the complaint, "Sams acted as a private citizen in swearing out his complaint although his signature included his governmental title." The district court also found that Sams acted with "personal animosity, malice, and a lack of good faith." Acting in his role as magistrate, Sams then issued a warrant for Thomas's arrest, based on the complaint that he had himself just signed. Pursuant to the warrant the Chief of Police arrested Thomas. Sams, as magistrate, set bond in the amount of $200, the maximum fine that could be exacted by the Municipal Court.

Thomas attempted to give a personal check as bond; but Sams, acting either as magistrate or municipal judge, refused to accept the check because he believed its payment would be stopped. After slightly over two hours detention, Thomas succeeded in posting the bond in cash and was released.

The district court concluded that the City's construction of the pipeline was a common law and criminal trespass on the University's land. 2 The court added that it could also reasonably be regarded as an attempted theft of service. 3 The University's action in cutting the line was a reasonable attempt to prevent this attempted theft and "continued, egregious trespass."

The destruction of the property of a trespasser by the possessor of land is not actionable under Texas criminal laws. 4 In this situation the University might act to defend its rights "by any means short of a breach of the peace." 5 The prevention of imminent theft by the reasonable use of force is also justified, and is not a crime. 6

Moreover, the court found, Sams lacked probable cause for the complaint, both because he lacked adequate reason to suspect that a crime had been committed by the president and because he lacked adequate knowledge of the president's role in cutting the lines to justify an arrest. The court found that Sams lacked judicial immunity because he acted in the clear absence of all jurisdiction. His acts could "not be fairly categorized as judicial acts," but on the contrary were "clearly the acts of a governmental executive officer or a complainant." The investigation and complaint were not brought to him originally in his judicial capacity. "He went into the community and performed these non-judicial acts himself before reverting to his judicial role." Accordingly, the district court rendered judgment against Sams for $7,500 actual damages, $2,500 punitive damages, and $15,000 attorneys' fees. As already noted, the trial judge held the city not liable because it was "unwilling to impose liability upon local governments because of the strictly legal actions of their judicial officers."

II.

Judges may, and on occasion do, depart from their judicial roles and inflict grievous hurt on others. Often the allegations of misconduct by judges are hyperbolic and either untrue or unprovable; but sometimes, as here, a person who is a judge intentionally commits a mischievous act. Nevertheless, while courts are not blind to the human vices that may lurk behind the robe, they have struck society's balance in favor of judicial immunity. A wrong committed by a judge might on occasion be remedied by holding the judge a tortfeasor. Much graver harm would be done to the justice system and consequently to the social fabric, however, by requiring judges to account for the reasons why they took judicial action, and to absolve themselves from charges of improper motive or other impropriety. Absolute judicial immunity is an essential shield in a justice system that depends on its judges to "exercise their functions with independence and without fear of consequences," 7 not an apologia for the errant behavior of judges who act injudiciously or malevolently. 8 To provide the broad protection that these important policies require, the Supreme Court has ruled that absolute immunity extends to all judicial acts unless such acts fall clearly outside the judge's subject-matter jurisdiction. Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 359-64, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 1106-08, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978). 9

All parties agree that Sams's acts as magistrate, including issuing the warrant and setting bond, are judicial acts for which he is absolutely immune from liability. We therefore turn our attention to Sams's acts in investigating the pipecutting, and in swearing out the complaint without probable cause and with malice. We apply this circuit's four-part test to determine whether these actions constituted judicial acts, and conclude that they do not: These acts were not part of a normal judicial function, but were plainly executive in nature; they did not center around any pending case, but instead initiated the case; they did not occur in the judge's chambers; and they did not involve Sams's official capacity as a judge. See Harper v. Merckle, 638 F.2d 848, 858 (5th Cir.1981), ...

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