Tucker v. Outwater

• Decision Date: 07 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. 3440,D,3440
• Parties: James E. TUCKER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Marilyn OUTWATER, Defendant-Appellant, and The County of Jefferson, et al., Defendants. ocket 96-9251.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 930

118 F.3d 930

James E. TUCKER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Marilyn OUTWATER, Defendant-Appellant, and The County of Jefferson, et al., Defendants.

No. 3440, Docket 96-9251.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued April 28, 1997.

Decided July 7, 1997.

Robert J. Leader, Governeur, NY (Case, Leader & Brownell, L.L.P., Governeur, NY, on the brief), for plaintiff-appellee.

Timothy J. Perry, Syracuse, NY (Sugarman, Wallace, Manheim & Schoenwald, Syracuse, NY, on the brief), for defendant-appellant.

Before: KEARSE, Circuit Judge, CALABRESI, Circuit Judge, and OBERDORFER, District Judge. ^*

OBERDORFER, District Judge:

Town Justice Marilyn Outwater appeals from the August 22, 1996 judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, denying her motion to dismiss the complaint. The district court held that Outwater was not entitled to judicial immunity because she acted in the clear absence of all jurisdiction. This Court concludes that Outwater did not act in clear absence of all subject matter jurisdiction and enjoys immunity from plaintiff's claim for damages. The judgment of the district court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

I. Background

Plaintiff James Tucker filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment against two counties, several law enforcement officers, and Marilyn Outwater, a Town Justice in the Town of Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. Plaintiff seeks damages and attorneys' fees for his alleged false arrest, malicious prosecution, and illegal confinement. On this appeal from the denial of a motion to dismiss, we accept the facts alleged in the complaint, plaintiff's supporting affidavits and interrogatory answers, and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.

In the Town of Italy, Yates County, New York, on the night of December 4, 1993, plaintiff Tucker was asleep in the passenger side of a pickup truck when the driver, Douglas VanAmburg, lost control of the truck, after which it struck a culvert causing serious injuries to plaintiff. VanAmburg originally admitted to Yates County officers at the scene of the accident that he was driving the truck. Thereupon, one of the officers issued tickets charging VanAmburg with driving while intoxicated and failure to keep right. At some time between December 4, 1993 and March 1994, the tickets issued to VanAmburg were canceled.

For reasons unexplained on the record, on March 16, 1994, over three months after the accident, the same officer who had ticketed VanAmburg filed an information in the Town Court of Italy charging that it was plaintiff who was under the influence of alcohol and who had driven the truck into the culvert, injuring himself. That same day, Justice Duane Shay of the Town Court of Italy issued a warrant for plaintiff's arrest.

On March 18, 1994, between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., officers of the Yates and Jefferson County Sheriffs' Departments arrested plaintiff at his home in the Town of Evans Mills in Jefferson County, New York, some 100 miles away from Yates County. The officers transported him to the Town of Watertown, also in Jefferson County. Although Justice Shay's warrant for plaintiff's arrest was extant, the officers were not in possession of it or any other accusatory instrument at the time they arrested plaintiff. By prearrangement, the arresting officers promptly brought plaintiff before Justice Outwater at her town court in Watertown. After denying plaintiff's request to see the warrant and any accusatory instruments (and without disclosing that she did not have them at hand), Justice Outwater set bail at $800 and remanded plaintiff to jail when he failed to post bail.

Seven days later, on March 25, 1994, plaintiff was again brought before Justice Outwater. He repeated his request for copies of the warrant, ticket, and other supporting papers. Instead, plaintiff was furnished with illegible copies of DWI tickets. After some undetermined time, plaintiff was released. On March 4, 1995, a jury in the Town of Italy, Yates County, found him not guilty.

On June 7, 1995, plaintiff commenced this action, alleging that Justice Outwater, the arresting officers, and others had violated rights guaranteed to him by section 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Outwater moved to dismiss on the ground of judicial immunity. The district court, relying upon Maestri v. Jutkofsky, 860 F.2d 50 (2d Cir.1988), denied the motion to dismiss. The Court held that Outwater had acted in the clear absence of all jurisdiction, and thus was not entitled to judicial immunity. The ultimate legal issue presented by this appeal is whether Justice Outwater is entitled to absolute immunity from damages by virtue of possessing subject matter jurisdiction over the preliminary proceedings that she conducted, pursuant to section 120.90(3) of the New York Criminal Procedure Law. ¹

II. Analysis

A. Applicable Law

Since the seventeenth century, the common law has immunized judges from damage claims arising out of their judicial acts. See, e.g., Floyd v. Barker, 77 Eng. Rep. 1305 (Star Chamber 1607) (judges of courts of record). This doctrine was embraced by the Supreme Court in 1872 in Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 335, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1872). Bradley established as "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." Id. at 347. "Because 'some of the most difficult and embarrassing questions which a judicial officer is called upon to consider and determine relate to his jurisdiction ...,' the scope of the judge's jurisdiction must be construed broadly when the issue is the immunity of the judge." Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 356, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 1104, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978) (quoting Bradley, 80 U.S. at 352). The cloak of immunity is not pierced by allegations of bad faith or malice, Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 554, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 1217, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967), even though "unfairness and injustice to a litigant may result on occasion." Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9, 9, 112 S.Ct. 286, 287, 116 L.Ed.2d 9 (1991). The principle of judicial immunity recognizes that a judge may err. But "it is better for a judge when exercising the discretion inherent in his judicial power 'to risk some error and possible injury from such error than not to decide or act at all.' " Green v. Maraio, 722 F.2d 1013, 1017 (2d Cir.1983) (quoting Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 242, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1689, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974)). The Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed these principles. See, e.g., Mireles, 502 U.S. at 9, 112 S.Ct. at 286, Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219, 108 S.Ct. 538, 98 L.Ed.2d 555 (1988); Cleavinger v. Saxner, 474 U.S. 193, 106 S.Ct. 496, 88 L.Ed.2d 507 (1985); Dennis v. Sparks, 449 U.S. 24, 101 S.Ct. 183, 66 L.Ed.2d 185 (1980); Supreme Court of Virginia v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 446 U.S. 719, 100 S.Ct. 1967, 64 L.Ed.2d 641 (1980); Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978); Stump, 435 U.S. at 349, 98 S.Ct. at 1099. The Supreme Court has specifically applied the doctrine of judicial immunity to actions brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Pierson, 386 U.S. at 547, 87 S.Ct. at 1213.

In Stump, the Court developed a two-part test for determining whether a judge is entitled to absolute immunity from damage claims. See 435 U.S. at 360, 98 S.Ct. at 1106. First, "[a] judge will not be deprived of immunity because the action he took was in error, was done maliciously, or was in excess of his authority; rather, he will be subject to liability only when he has acted in the 'clear absence of all jurisdiction.' " Id. at 356-57, 98 S.Ct. at 1105 (emphasis added) (quoting Bradley, 80 U.S. at 351). Second, a judge is immune only for actions performed in his judicial capacity. Id. at 360-63, 98 S.Ct. at 1106-08; see also Gregory v. Thompson, 500 F.2d 59, 62 (9th Cir.1974) (finding no immunity for assaulting litigant).

Plaintiff does not argue that Justice Outwater acted in a non-judicial capacity. That requirement is not at issue here. In any event, Justice Outwater's arraignment of plaintiff and setting of bail were plainly judicial acts. Plaintiff does argue, however, and persuaded the district court, that Justice Outwater acted in the clear absence of all jurisdiction. This Court reviews that conclusion of law de novo.

Stump guides the determination of whether a judge acts in the clear absence of all jurisdiction or merely in excess of jurisdiction. In Stump, a mother petitioned an Indiana Circuit Court for authority to have her "somewhat retarded" fifteen-year old daughter sterilized. Circuit Judge Stump approved the petition the same day in an ex parte proceeding without a hearing and without notice to the daughter or appointment of a guardian ad litem. The daughter was sterilized, having been told that she was having her appendix removed. Approximately two years later, the daughter learned that she had been sterilized. She sued, among others, Judge Stump. The district court dismissed the case against the judge on the ground that he was entitled to absolute immunity. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that Judge Stump had acted in the clear absence of all jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals also held that the judge had forfeited whatever jurisdiction he had "because of his failure to comply with elementary principles of procedural due process." Stump, 435 U.S. at 355, 98 S.Ct. at 1104. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Stump was entitled to judicial immunity. The Court found that Stump had acted within the broad jurisdictional grant conferred upon his court. Furthermore, the Court found that the Court of Appeals had...