Withers v. Schroeder
Decision Date | 10 September 2018 |
Docket Number | S17G1875 |
Citation | 304 Ga. 394,819 S.E.2d 49 |
Parties | WITHERS et al. v. SCHROEDER. |
Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Laura Karen Johnson, Terry Gerard Phillips, Shaheem Malik Williams, Assistant County Attorney, DEKALB COUNTY LAW DEPARTMENT, 1300 Commerce Drive, 5th Floor, Decatur, Georgia 30030, Thomas Monroe Mitchell, Angela C. Couch, CAROTHERS & MITCHELL, LLC, 1809 Buford Highway, Buford, Georgia 30518, for Appellant.
Gerard John Lupa, LUPA LAW, LLC, 1559 Lilburn-Stone Mountain Rd., Stone Mountain, Georgia 30087, Harlan Stuart Miller, III, MILLER LEGAL, P.C., 6868 Leslie Lane, Macon, Georgia 31220, for Appellee.
Dale R. Samuels, THE SAMUELS FIRM, 278 W. Main Street, Buford, Georgia 30518, E. R. Lanier, COUNCIL OF MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGES OF GEORGIA, 267 College Street, Monticello, Georgia 31064-1245, Michael Brian Terry, BONDURANT, MIXSON & ELMORE, LLP, 1201 West Peachtree Street, N.W., Suite 3900, Atlanta, Georgia 30309-3417, David Gregory Hill Brackett, BONDURANT, MIXSON & ELMORE, LLP, 3900 One Atlantic Center, 1201 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30309-3417, for Amicus Appellant.
This appeal concerns the trial court’s disposition of a motion for a judgment on the pleadings in favor of appellants Chief Judge Nelly Withers (Judge Withers) of the former DeKalb County Recorder’s Court and Troy Thompson (Thompson), who was the court administrator of same. Appellee Bobby Schroeder prevailed in his appeal before the Court of Appeals,1 and we granted certiorari to resolve the issue as to whether appellants are immune from suit. Because we conclude appellants are protected from suit by the doctrine of judicial immunity and its derivative quasi-judicial immunity, we reverse the Court of Appeals’ opinion to the extent it allows appellee’s suit to move forward against these two appellants.
1. The underlying allegations are as follows:
Schroeder v. DeKalb County, 341 Ga. App. 748 (1), 802 S.E.2d 277 (2017). Appellants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings (see OCGA § 9-11-12 (c) ) in which they alleged, in pertinent part, that they were immune from suit based on judicial immunity, official immunity, and qualified immunity. The trial court granted appellants’ motion, concluding appellants were immune from suit based on the theories asserted. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the matter back to the trial court, ultimately reasoning for each theory of immunity asserted that it was too early in the litigation to determine whether Judge Withers’s and Thompson’s actions, as alleged by appellee, were administrative or judicial in nature.2 As set forth below, the trial court did not err when it granted the motion for judgment on the pleadings, thereby affording appellants relief from suit.
2. The United States Supreme Court has long recognized the doctrine of judicial immunity which shields judges from being sued and from being held civilly liable for damages based on federal law as a result of carrying out their judicial duties. See Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219 (III), 108 S.Ct. 538, 98 L.Ed.2d 555 (1988) ( );3 Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349 (II), 98 S.Ct. 1099, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978) ( ). See also Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9, 9-10, 112 S.Ct. 286, 116 L.Ed.2d 9 (1991). Likewise, Georgia law has long recognized the doctrine of judicial immunity for state law claims. See Heiskell v. Roberts, 295 Ga. 795 (3), 764 S.E.2d 368 (2014) (). See also Earl v. Mills, 275 Ga. 503 (1), 570 S.E.2d 282 (2002) (citing Peacock v. Nat. Bank &c. of Columbus, 241 Ga. 280 (2), 244 S.E.2d 816 (1978) ; Maddox v. Prescott, 214 Ga. App. 810 (1), 449 S.E.2d 163 (1994)4 ). There are two grounds on which a judge will be denied the absolute protection of judicial immunity: (1) committing an act that is nonjudicial in nature; or (2) acting in the "complete absence of all jurisdiction." Mireles v. Waco, supra, 502 U.S. at 11-12, 112 S.Ct. 286. See also Considine v. Murphy, 297 Ga. 164 (3), fn. 4, 773 S.E.2d 176 (2015) ; Heiskell v. Roberts, supra, 295 Ga. at 801, 764 S.E.2d 368 ; Wilson v. Moore, 275 Ga. App. 493 (1), 621 S.E.2d 507 (2005). A judge is not deprived of judicial immunity simply because she has allegedly acted mistakenly, maliciously or corruptly. See Stump v. Sparkman, supra, 435 U.S. at 356-357, 98 S.Ct. 1099 ; Robinson v. Becker, 265 Ga. App. 692, 694, 595 S.E.2d 319 (2004). In this case, there is no contention that appellants were acting in the absence of all jurisdiction because, at the time, traffic offenses like the one at bar were adjudicated in the DeKalb County Recorder’s Court. Cf. Heiskell v. Roberts, supra, 295 Ga. at 801, 764 S.E.2d 368 ( ). See also Wilson v. Moore, supra, 275 Ga. App. at 494, 621 S.E.2d 507 ( )(citing Dykes v. Hosemann, 776 F.2d 942 (11th Cir. 1985) ).
Thus, the determinative issue in this case is whether the core function complained of—the report to DDS of a traffic case’s disposition—was nonjudicial. "In determining the validity of a party’s claim of judicial immunity, a court looks not to functions actually performed by that party, but to the functions that the law entitles the party to perform." Arthur Andersen & Co. v. Wilson, 256 Ga. 849, 353 S.E.2d 466 (1987). "[T]he relevant inquiry is the ‘nature’ and ‘function’ of the act, not the Mireles v. Waco, supra, 502 U.S. at 13, 112 S.Ct. 286. See also Forrester v. White, supra, 484 U.S. at 227, 108 S.Ct. 538 () (emphasis in original). Accordingly, in order to determine whether an act is judicial in nature, a reviewing court should consider "(1) whether the act is one normally performed by judges, and (2) whether the complaining party was dealing with the judge in [her] judicial capacity." Stevens v. Osuna, 877 F.3d...
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