BEAUMONT– A Texas appeals court ruled that a group of Jefferson County employees are entitled to witness immunity and prosecutorial immunity.
After examining issues presented by appellant Stephen Hartman, the Court of Appeals of the Ninth District of Texas issued its opinion in favor of the employees on Feb. 20. Justice Charles Kreger authored the 25-page opinion, with Justices Steve McKeithen and J.J. Horton concurring.
Hartman alleged that Jefferson County bears responsibility for a physical assault of which he claims he was a victim and the illegal access of the contents of one of his personal effects left behind in the chambers of Jefferson County 252nd District Court Judge Layne Walker. At the time of his apprehension by county bailiffs, Hartman was attempting to serve Walker with process papers.
He subsequently filed a federal lawsuit. The county, in turn, successfully sought the litigation’s dismissal. The matter was then brought back to a lower court, which granted the defendants witness immunity and prosecutorial immunity.
“Jefferson County Employees filed a plea to the jurisdiction and/or motion to dismiss, arguing that under the TTCA, Hartman elected to sue the county in Federal Court and is therefore barred from pursuing any claims regarding tortious action against the individual Jefferson County Employees,” Kreger writes.
The three-judge panel determined that the Texas Tort Claims Act provides “The filing of a suit … against a governmental unit constitutes an irrevocable election by the plaintiff and immediately and forever bars any suit or recovery by the plaintiff against any individual employee of the governmental unit regarding the same subject matter.”
It upheld the trial court’s granting of absolute witness immunity to employee defendants Kim Carter, Misty Craver, Tiffani Decuir, E. Perry Thomas, Clint Woods, Tish Jones and Jodee Roach, as well as agreeing with the granting of prosecutorial immunity to respondents Tom Maness, Tom Rugg, Ed Shettle, E. Perry Thomas and Clint Woods.