Blanton v. Barrick

• Decision Date: 19 October 1977
• Docket Number: No. 58790,58790
• Citation: Blanton v. Barrick, 258 N.W.2d 306 (Iowa 1977)
• Parties: Fred BLANTON, Appellant, v. Ronald BARRICK, Individually and in his capacity as County Attorney of Clay County, and Dick Clemens, in his Capacity as Sheriff of Polk County, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 306

258 N.W.2d 306

Fred BLANTON, Appellant, v. Ronald BARRICK, Individually and in his capacity as County Attorney of Clay County, and Dick Clemens, in his Capacity as Sheriff of Polk County, Appellee.

No. 58790.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 19, 1977.

Alfredo G. Parrish and Linda Del Gallo, Des Moines, for appellant.

Clyde Putnam, Jr., Des Moines, and Francis Fitzgibbons, Estherville, for appellee Barrick.

Heard by MOORE, C. J., and MASON, LeGRAND, UHLENHOPP and REYNOLDSON, JJ.

MOORE, Chief Justice.

The issue here presented is whether defendant part-time county attorney, who was representing plaintiff's wife in a dissolution of marriage proceeding and later initiated a criminal prosecution against plaintiff charging him with child stealing thereby causing him to be arrested and incarcerated for two days, is amenable to an action for malicious prosecution. Trial court held the doctrine of judicial immunity applied to protect defendant and sustained his summary judgment motion. We agree and therefore affirm on plaintiff's appeal.

The facts giving rise to this action as alleged in the pleadings and developed through discovery are as follows. Defendant, Ronald Barrick, is an attorney engaged in the private practice of law in Spencer and at all times pertinent to this litigation was the Clay County Attorney.

In the course of his private practice he represented Sheila Blanton (plaintiff's wife) as petitioner in a dissolution of marriage proceeding which was commenced in August 1974. During pendency of the dissolution a restraining order was served on plaintiff Fred Blanton to prevent him from harassing Sheila and the couple's minor child, Shannon.

On January 10, 1975, before the dissolution was finalized, the plaintiff, with agreement of all parties and counsel, picked up Shannon in Spencer for visitation with the clear understanding he would return the child to his estranged wife by 5:00 P. M. that afternoon. He did not return the child as agreed but telephoned and stated because of the severe winter weather condition he was not sure he could honor the agreement. This was the last anyone heard from plaintiff for two days when he telephoned from Des Moines and advised his mother-in-law he was taking Shannon to Indiana.

At this point defendant, as attorney for Mrs. Blanton, obtained a court order directing plaintiff to relinquish custody of the child to a representative of the Polk County Social Services Department for return to his client in Spencer. Plaintiff was served with the order but refused to comply. Thereafter defendant obtained a second amended order and plaintiff was orally advised of its contents. Again he refused to comply although he later said, "I wasn't too sure of the legality of it."

On January 14, 1975, defendant, acting and signing as the Clay County Attorney, filed a preliminary information against plaintiff charging him with child stealing in violation of Code section 706.2. Plaintiff was arrested in Des Moines on January 15 and incarcerated for two days in the Polk County jail when he was released on a writ of habeas corpus.

Defendant stated in his deposition he "certainly" viewed the situation as a conflict of interest but because there was neither an assistant county attorney nor a special prosecutor available to file the criminal action, it was his responsibility to do so. After filing the preliminary information, defendant withdrew as prosecutor and a special prosecutor was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to present the case to the grand jury. Ultimately the grand jury did not return an indictment.

Plaintiff then filed a petition alleging defendant was liable for malicious prosecution and demanded damages of $55,500. This action precipitated defendant's withdrawal from the domestic relations matter as well.

Defendant answered by way of general denial and raised as an affirmative defense that as county attorney he was immune from civil liability for acts committed in the performance of his official duties. The case then proceeded to discovery. After both plaintiff Blanton and defendant Barrick were deposed, defendant filed motion for summary judgment. Defendant Sheriff Dick Clemens had earlier been dismissed with prejudice from the action.

On October 1, 1975, the trial court filed its findings, conclusions and order granting defendant summary judgment. The court concluded even if defendant violated Code section 336.5, which forbids a county attorney from prosecuting cases wherein he has an interest in a civil case, this did not abrogate his immunity as a quasi-judicial officer.

I. Recently in Unification Church v. Clay Cent. Sch. Dist., Iowa, 253 N.W.2d 579, we analyzed our earlier cases and summarized the scope of our review in determining whether summary judgment was properly entered. Repetition is unnecessary as the applicable well-settled principles are not here challenged.

II. This case marks our first opportunity to squarely address the civil liability of a county attorney. However, we do so guided by established principles in this jurisdiction and recent developments elsewhere.

We start our analysis with recognition that prosecutors, as quasi-judicial officers, State v. Hospers, 147 Iowa 712, 126 N.W. 818, are generally cloaked with the same immunity afforded judges when their duties are primarily judicial the filing and vigorous prosecution of criminal charges. Wilhelm v. Turner, 8th Cir., 431 F.2d 177, 182, and citations, cert. denied, 401 U.S. 947, 91 S.Ct. 919, 28 L.Ed.2d 230.

The general rule is thus stated in 63 Am.Jur.2d, Prosecuting Attorneys, section 34 at page 361:

"The prosecuting attorney is, as a matter of public policy, immune from civil liability for acts done in his official capacity, and this is true even though he has acted wilfully or maliciously, where he has acted in the proper performance and course of his duties. Acting as he does in a judicial or quasi-judicial capacity, he enjoys the same immunity from liability for damages that protects a judge. However, since immunity is conferred on the prosecuting attorney solely by virtue of the office he holds, the rule is different if he acts in a matter clearly outside the authority or jurisdiction of his office. * * * ."

Few doctrines have been more settled than the absolute immunity of judges from damages for acts committed within their judicial jurisdiction. This immunity applies even when the judge is accused of acting maliciously and corruptly because as a matter of policy it is in the public best interest that judges should exercise their function without fear of consequences and with independence. Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288; Bradley v. Fisher, 13 Wall. 335, 20 L.Ed. 646.

In two opinions we have, after an extensive review of applicable authorities, held the doctrine of judicial immunity is available even though a judge exceeds his jurisdiction; civil liability attaches only when he acts wholly without jurisdiction. Osbekoff v. Mallory, Iowa, 188 N.W.2d 294, 299, 300; Huendling v. Jensen, Iowa, 168 N.W.2d 745, 749, 750. In other words, so long as the judge is acting within the scope of his authority, his acts are absolutely privileged.

Plaintiff recognizes these general principles but argues they should not bar his malicious prosecution action here for two reasons. First, he contends absolute judicial immunity should not apply to prosecutors in this jurisdiction relying on the case of Vander Linden v. Crews, Iowa, 205 N.W.2d 686, where we refused to extend the doctrine to non-judicial officers. Second, he contends that even if absolute immunity is the general rule, clearly when a part-time county attorney brings criminal charges where the facts are intertwined with civil matters he is embroiled in as a private practitioner in violation of Code section 336.5, he is acting wholly without jurisdiction and is thus amenable to civil suit for malicious prosecution.

Defendant's first contention requires some discussion of Vander Linden v. Crews, supra. There plaintiff as proprietor of a pharmacy filed a malicious prosecution action against defendant secretary of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy arising out of a rather bizarre factual situation. Crews, who was also designated Director of Drug Law Enforcement, caused plaintiff to be arrested without a warrant and taken before a justice of the peace where Crews filed a preliminary information charging plaintiff with illegal sale of drugs. Plaintiff was later indicted and tried to a jury which returned a verdict of acquittal. Thereafter the malicious prosecution action was commenced. The trial court sustained a summary judgment motion holding Crews was immune under the judicial immunity doctrine. We reversed, holding:

"In summary, we conclude that the doctrine of judicial immunity shall not be further extended to protect and shield nonjudicial officers from civil suits where actual malice is alleged. * * * ." (Emphasis supplied). 205 N.W.2d at 691.

We still adhere to the rationale of Vander Linden v. Crews, supra, and refuse to extend the judicial immunity doctrine to all sorts of "minor functionaries." However, this case is not controlling here. Clearly, as previously stated, prosecutors performing their official duties are quasi-judicial officials, not non-judicial functionaries and should be able to vigorously proceed with their tasks unhampered by the fear of unlimited civil litigation.

Recently the United States Supreme Court has exhaustively detailed the policies behind adhering to the need for a rule of absolute prosecutorial immunity where the prosecutor's activities are "intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process." Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976). In Imbler, a convicted murderer who ultimately obtained his release from state prison through federal habeas corpus, filed a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 seeking...