Helton v. Clements, 85-1568

Citation787 F.2d 1016
Decision Date23 April 1986
Docket NumberNo. 85-1568,85-1568
Parties, 4 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1180 John J. HELTON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William P. CLEMENTS, Jr., Governor of Texas, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Frank W. Stenger, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for Clements, et al.

John J. Helton, pro se.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before REAVLEY, RANDALL and W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

A number of state officials appeal a district court's refusal to rule before trial on motions asserting official immunity. We reverse and remand to the district court for that court's consideration and ruling on the motions.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff-appellee John Helton brought suit against the state officials alleging generally that they conspired to deprive him of his constitutional rights. The district court, pursuant to the direction of this court in Elliot v. Perez, 751 F.2d 1472 (5th Cir.1985), ordered Helton to "amend his original complaint to state with particularity the alleged illegal actions in which each defendant participated, the specific acts that he claims constitute a conspiracy and [A]ll parties and attorneys are here notified that any further motions in this case will not be ruled upon by the court prior to trial but will be carried along with the trial of the case on the merits. This ruling applies to any pending motions....

                which defendants were involved ... and the facts which show that official immunity does not shield certain defendants."    Helton amended his complaint, and the defendants moved to dismiss asserting the defenses of absolute and qualified immunity.  The district court, by order dated August 1, 1985, granted summary judgment in favor of Tom Nivens, a private citizen, alleged to have participated in the conspiracy.  The district court further ordered
                

The defendants now appeal the action of the trial court in declining to rule on their motion to dismiss.

DISCUSSION

The threshold issue we must address is whether an order which declines or refuses to rule on a motion to dismiss based on the defense of governmental immunity is an immediately appealable order. We hold that it is.

The analysis of whether a refusal to rule on a claim of immunity until trial is appealable was stated in Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. ----, ----, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2817, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). In Mitchell, the Court stated that a denial of a substantial claim of absolute immunity is an order appealable before final judgment and held that a denial of claim of qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an issue of law, is also an appealable final decision. The Court considered three factors in its determination that the denial of a claim of qualified immunity is immediately appealable, and analysis of the trial court's action in this case in light of those three factors reveals that a refusal to rule on a claim of immunity, like the explicit denial of a claim of immunity, is also immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.

First, like an explicit denial of a claim of absolute or qualified immunity, the refusal to rule on a claim of immunity until trial is "effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final...

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86 cases
  • Johnson v. Kegans
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • April 24, 1989
    ...cannot successfully maintain the defense of immunity." Elliott v. Perez, 751 F.2d 1472, 1473 (1985); Helton v. Clements, 787 F.2d 1016, 1017 (5th Cir.1986) (plaintiff must state with particularity " 'the facts which show that official immunity does not shield ... defendants' "). The pro se ......
  • Hicks v. Bexar County, Tex., SA-96-CA-951.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas
    • June 13, 1997
    ...Streetman v. Jordan, 918 F.2d 555, 556 (5th Cir.1990); Brown v. Glossip, 878 F.2d 871, 874 (5th Cir.1989); and Helton v. Clements, 787 F.2d 1016, 1017 (5th Cir.1986). 92. See Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 646 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3042 n. 6, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987); Mitchell v. Forsyth......
  • Brinson v. McKeeman
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas
    • December 31, 1997
    ...Streetman v. Jordan, 918 F.2d 555, 556 (5th Cir.1990); Brown v. Glossip, 878 F.2d 871, 874 (5th Cir.1989); and Helton v. Clements, 787 F.2d 1016, 1017 (5th Cir. 1986). 36. See Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 646 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3042 n. 6, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987); Mitchell v. Forsyt......
  • Thompson v. Spikes
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia
    • June 22, 1987
    ...by the official by motion for summary judgment, and that the district court must rule on the motion prior to trial. Helton v. Clements, 787 F.2d 1016 (5th Cir.1986); Llaguno v. Mincey, 763 F.2d 1560, 1569 There remains a question, however, whether, after a district court has denied a defend......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Foreword: Is Civil Rights Law Dead?
    • United States
    • Louisiana Law Review No. 63-3, April 2003
    • April 1, 2003
    ...in both cases "is conceptually distinct from the merits of the plaintiff's claim that his rights have been violated." Helton v. Clements, 787 F.2d 1016, 1017 (5th Cir.1986) (citations [34] [E]ven if Leatherman permits a heightened standard to be maintained for public officials sued as indiv......

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