Waters v. Ray

• Citation: 167 So.2d 326
• Decision Date: 17 September 1964
• Docket Number: No. F-121,F-121
• Parties: Harold WATERS, Appellant, v. Hollis RAY, Lanas Troxler, George Courson and Ralph Hicks, Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 326

167 So.2d 326

Harold WATERS, Appellant, v. Hollis RAY, Lanas Troxler, George Courson and Ralph Hicks, Appellees.

No. F-121.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

Sept. 17, 1964.

Howell, Kirby, Montgomery & Sands, Jacksonville, for appellant.

A. M. Crabtree, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellees Hollis Ray, George Courson and Ralph Hicks.

Mathews, Osborne & Ehrlich, Jacksonville, for appellee Lanas Troxler.

RAWLS, Judge.

Appellant-plaintiff Harold Waters appeals from an order dismissing his amended complaint against defendants Hollis Ray, Lanas Troxler, George Courson and Ralph Hicks. Plaintiff's grievances came about by reason of his being tried in the Municipal Court of Callahan, Florida, on December 14, 1962, for the offense of failing to have his vehicle under control and causing an accident on October 14, 1962. Defendant Hollis Ray was mayor and judge for the City of Callahan, defendant Lanas Troxler was the prosecutor, and defendants George Courson and Ralph Hicks were police officers of said city.

Plaintiff's amended complaint seeks to charge defendants Ray, Troxler and Courson with a conspiracy which he alleged resulted in his being falsely imprisoned. He attempts to charge defendant Hicks with false arrest and false imprisonment. Salient allegations of plaintiff's complaint are as follows:

'1. At 10:00 A.M. on December 14, 1962 Plaintiff appeared at the Callahan City Hall to stand trial before Defendant Ray on charges of failing to have his vehicle under control and causing an accident on October 14, 1962 at the signal controlled Callahan intersection of U. S. No. 1 and SR 200 wherein the prosecuting witness, one Alexis Courson, a minor female resident of Callahan and niece of Defendant Callahan Police Officer Courson, drove her Monza Corvair into the left side of Plaintiff's Plymouth.

'2. Trial commenced at 10:15 A.M., Defendant Ray presiding as Judge and Defendant Troxler prosecuting. At about 12:00 noon, almost two hours after the trial started and while Plaintiff was on the witness stand, Defendants Ray, Troxler and Courson held a whispered conference wherein they unlawfully conspired and agreed that they should interrogate Plaintiff on matters not related to the offenses charged and being tried, but on matters that would enable them to arrest Plaintiff on other charges while he was still subject to their power.

'3. Having conceived this plan Defendants Troxler and Ray commenced their inquisition, summarily overruled Plaintiff's attorney's objection thereto, and finally forced Plaintiff to produce his driver's license.

'4. Plaintiff handed his current New York driver's license to Defendant Troxler who in turn handed it to Defendant Ray who in turn handed it to Defendant Courson, and after a second whispered conference between these Defendants, Defendant Ray recessed the Court.

'5. The Court in recess, Defendant Ray maliciously and without warrant or charges made upon oath, and not otherwise acting under process meeting the requirements of law as imposed by our Florida Statutes, ordered Defendant Hicks to arrest Plaintiff for the alleged offense of having an improper driver's license.

'6. Defendant Hicks, with the assistance of Defendant Courson, arrested Plaintiff, issued a ticket placing his bond at $25.00 and set a hearing on the charge at 10:00 A.M. on December 14, 1962, some two hours before Plaintiff was even arrested.'

The trial court granted the several defendants' motion to dismiss and this appeal resulted. Each of the defendants urge that the amended complaint as phrased does not state a cause of action. Defendants Ray and Troxler in addition insist that if it should be held that the amended complaint does state a cause of action that they are immune from suit by reason that the events transpired when they admittedly were performing their official duties as judge and prosecutor respectively. Lastly, defendant Hicks insists that he only obeyed the command of the mayor in executing the arrest and that the complaint fails to charge him with any wrongdoing save the carrying out of the judge's orders. We will not belabor defendant Hicks's position. The complaint wholly fails to charge him with the commission of any tort. Being an officer of the court and in attendance at a regular session of same we conclude that Hicks was well advised to obey the command of the presiding judge.

We next consider the amended complaint as it is framed against defendants Troxler and Courson. Plaintiff alleges that these two defendants together with Ray 'held a whispered conference wherein they unlawfully conspired and agreed that they should interrogate Plaintiff on matters not related to the offenses charged and being tried, but on matters that would enable them to arrest Plaintiff on other charges while he was still subject to their power.' The amended complaint goes on to say that defendant Troxler by interrogating plaintiff forced hom to produce his driver's license and that a second whispered conference was held between Judge Ray, Prosecutor Troxler and Officer Courson. The crux of these allegations is that Prosecutor Troxler asked plaintiff Waters some questions about his driver's license and required him to produce same as a result of said conference. Plaintiff Waters was tried on a charge of failing to have his vehicle under control and causing an accident and thus it cannot be said as a matter of law that the interrogation of Waters as a result of a conference between Courson, Ray and Troxlere about his driver's license constitutes a civil wrong. Nor can it be said that the alleged objective of Ray, Troxler and Courson to interrogate plaintiff 'on matters that would enable them to arrest plaintiff on other charges while he was still subject to their power' denotes any wrongdoing on the part of these defendants. These allegations are vague, indefinite and do not constitute a cause of action against defendants Courson and Hicks.

The amended complaint by alleging that Judge Ray while acting without 'warrant or charges made upon oath, and not otherwise while acting under process meeting the requirements of law as imposed by our Florida Statutes, ordered Defendant Hicks to arrest Plaintiff for the alleged offense of having an improper driver's license', coupled with the other scattered allegations throughout plaintiff's amended complaint pertaining to the Judge's alleged conduct constituted a cause of action against this defendant and should have required an answer on his part. Thus, we reach Judge Ray's major defense that he was acting in the capacity of a judicial officer and, therefore, was immune from any civil liability from the result of his actions.

Immunity from, or liability for, acts done by a person while acting in a judicial capacity depends upon the existence or nonexistence of jurisdiction. The general rule is if there is jurisdiction no matter how erroneous the decision of the judge may be, no personal liability attaches to him so long as he acts within the scope of his jurisdiction and in a judicial capacity. On the other hand if he acts wholly without jurisdiction his judicial office can afford him no protection. It is well settled that where a judicial officer causes the arrest or detention of a person in a proceeding in which he is acting wholly without jurisdiction, he may be held liable for false imprisonment, for even honesty of purpose cannot justify a clear usurpation of power. ¹

The Florida authorities have concurred with these basic principles. In McDaniel v. Harrell ² the mayor (judge) of Tallahassee was sued in an action of trespass for false imprisonment as a result of the conviction of the plaintiff for violating an ordinance which was later held to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of Florida in analyzing the question of liability of a judge in such circumstances stated that a distinction has been made as to civil liability of a judge of a court of superior general jurisdiction and as to inferior courts of limited jurisdiction. In discussing the distinctions made as between such courts the Supreme Court concluded that there is no basis or reason for any distinction and that the sounder view and rule applicable in this jurisdiction is: '* * * that judges of courts of limited jurisdiction are exempt from civil liability in damages for their judicial acts in all cases where judges of courts of general jurisdiction are exempt from such liability. * * *' and

'It is conceded that a judge of a court of superior or general jurisdiction is not civilly liable for his judicial acts in excess of his jurisdiction when such acts involve affirmative decisions of the fact of the jurisdiction of such court, even though such decisions may be wholly erroneous, provided there is not a clear absence of jurisdiction, and that such exemption will not be affected by any consideration of the motive with which such acts are done. * * *'

So, the question now to be examined is whether defendant mayor-judge Ray acted in this cause in the clear absence of jurisdiction. The amended complaint alleges that during a recess in the course of conducting the trial Judge Ray ordered the arrest of plaintiff for the alleged offense of having 'an improper driver's license.' There is no law requiring a citizen to have a driver's license. Even in this modern age of whirling wheels there are citizens who do not possess driver's licenses. Such a charge is a nullity on its face and assuming this to be the charge, as we must at this stage of the cause, the defendant judge acted wholly without jurisdiction. Judge Ray insists that Section 168.02, Florida...