16-c-3 Defenses That May Be Raised Against Your Claim

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

16-C-3. Defenses That May Be Raised Against Your Claim

There are several ways that the people you are suing might be able to defend themselves against your Section 1983 lawsuit. For example, the defendants might claim that the facts in your complaint are false or that your legal arguments are incorrect. You will not know how the defendants will choose to defend themselves until after you file your complaint. You do not need to respond to their defenses until after you receive either an answer or a motion to dismiss from the defendants.²²⁸ However, your lawsuit is more likely to succeed if you can organize your complaint to avoid some of the defenses that you think they might use.

The rest of this Part will explain some of the defenses that are most likely to come up in a Section 1983 lawsuit. Most of the following sections focus on the different kinds of immunities that are almost always an issue in Section 1983 suits. Immunities are rules that protect certain individuals or agencies from liability even when they may have done something wrong.

(a) Eleventh Amendment Immunity

In general, the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects states and their agencies from being sued in federal court. ²²⁹ This means that you cannot name the state itself as a defendant in your Section 1983 suit.²³⁰ You also cannot name the Department of Corrections or any other state government agency as a defendant.²³¹ Eleventh Amendment immunity is also known as "sovereign immunity."

This same Eleventh Amendment immunity rule prevents you from suing a state official in his "official capacity" in federal court for money damages.²³² This is considered the same thing as suing the state.²³³ However, this immunity does not apply to suits for injunctive or declaratory relief against state officials sued in their official capacity. In other words, although you cannot sue the state itself for an injunction, you can sue a state official in his official capacity for an injunction.²³⁴ Fortunately for you, suing a state official in his official capacity for an injunction has the same effect as suing the state or a state agency for an injunction. When you sue state officials for injunctive relief, remember to sue them in their official capacity.²³⁵

Eleventh Amendment immunity does not apply to suits for money damages against state officials sued in their individual capacities.²³⁶ If you are seeking money damages and are suing state officials, you must sue them in their individual capacities.

Eleventh Amendment immunity does not apply to any suits against county and city officials.²³⁷ It should be noted, however, that state and county officials may claim one of the personal immunities discussed below. You should read the following parts carefully so that you will be able to argue why the defendants in your suit are not immune.

(b) Absolute Immunity of Individuals

Certain types of individuals are absolutely (completely) immune from suit for all actions taken within the scope of their official duties. If an official is absolutely immune it means that he cannot be sued for money damages and sometimes cannot be sued for injunctive relief either. Legislators, ²³⁸ prosecutors, ²³⁹ witnesses, ²⁴⁰ and judges (including certain administrative judges) ²⁴¹ are usually completely immune from liability for money damages under Section 1983 as long as they were acting within the scope of their official duties. You should be aware of these immunities when deciding whom to name as defendants in your lawsuit.

You usually will not be able to sue any of these individuals for violating your constitutional rights if their actions were within the scope of their official responsibilities. To figure out whether an action falls within the scope of an official's duties, courts look at the nature of the individual's responsibilities and not just the individual's title. For example, many officials with state or federal legislative responsibilities will be completely immune from suit even if they are not named legislators. ²⁴² Similarly, officials who perform judicial functions within administrative agencies may be completely immune even though they are not technically judges.²⁴³ According to the Supreme Court, prison officials on a prison disciplinary committee are not performing judicial functions.²⁴⁴ This means that they are not completely immune from liability for violating your rights.

Keep in mind that no official is absolutely immune from being sued for money damages for actions outside the scope of his official duties. As described above, you must look at the nature of the official's actions, not just his title, to determine whether his actions are covered by absolute immunity. For example, a prosecutor is absolutely immune from suit only for actions taken within "the scope of his prosecutorial duties." ²⁴⁵ Therefore, he has absolute immunity for actions related to starting and presenting the government's case against you. He does not, however, have absolute immunity for investigative or other actions that did not relate to his role as prosecutor.²⁴⁶ In Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, the Supreme Court held that a prosecutor did not have absolute immunity for making allegedly false statements to the media about the defendant because giving statements to the press was outside his prosecution role.²⁴⁷ Absolute immunity also does not cover a prosecutor's investigative actions to establish probable cause to arrest a defendant because this work could be done by police officers or detectives, so it does not relate to his role of preparing for trial. ²⁴⁸ On the other hand, interviewing witnesses and evaluating evidence to prepare for trial are within the prosecutor's role, so they are always covered by absolute immunity. ²⁴⁹

Judges (including certain administrative judges) ²⁵⁰ do not have absolute immunity from damages when they take actions that are not judicial in nature.²⁵¹ They also do not have absolute immunity when they act with a "complete absence of jurisdiction." ²⁵² A judge acts with the complete absence of jurisdiction when he makes a ruling in a case that he had no authority to hear in the first place. For example, a family court judge does not have authority to try felony cases. If he did hear such a case, he would be acting without jurisdiction and would not have immunity. ²⁵³ If you think that a judge had the power to hear your case, but made a mistake that harmed you, you cannot sue the judge for money damages. Instead, you should try to appeal the judge's ruling.

(c) Qualified Immunity of Individuals

Officials who are sued in their individual capacity and who are not completely immune from suit may still have a limited form of immunity, known as "qualified immunity." State, city, and county officials at all levels may claim some type of qualified immunity.²⁵⁴ However, private parties (people who are not government officials) who rely on state law or who act under color of state law usually cannot claim qualified immunity.²⁵⁵

Officials with "qualified immunity" will only have to pay money damages if "their conduct . . . violate[s] clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." ²⁵⁶ To claim qualified immunity, the official has to show either that it was objectively reasonable for him to believe that his actions did not violate the law, or that the law was not clearly established at the time of the violation.²⁵⁷ In other words, prison officials sued in their individual capacity can have qualified immunity even if their conduct is found to be illegal. But this will only happen if the court finds that it was objectively reasonable for the official to believe his conduct was legal ²⁵⁸ or that the law was unclear when the violation occurred. ²⁵⁹

You do not have to allege in your complaint that the law that was violated was clearly established.²⁶⁰ The defendant is responsible for raising the qualified immunity defense. ²⁶¹ If the defendant fails to claim qualified immunity at the trial court level, he may lose the right to raise that defense in later proceedings, such as appeals.²⁶²

Keep in mind that qualified immunity is not a defense to a claim for injunctive relief.²⁶³ Even if an individual has qualified immunity, the court can order that individual to stop doing something that violates your rights. Qualified immunity is also not available as a defense for municipalities ²⁶⁴ or privately employed prison guards.²⁶⁵ Qualified immunity is usually (but not always) decided by the judge during summary judgment proceedings.²⁶⁶ Summary judgment is described in Part C(8).

Figure 2 below should help you understand which defendants are completely or partially immune from suit in federal court, and what kind of relief you can request. You should note that state courts have different immunity rules. If you want to bring your lawsuit in state court (discussed below in Part D(2)), you should research your state's immunity rules.

Type of Defendant	Type of Immunity	Relief You Can Obtain
State or state agency	Eleventh Amendment (sovereign) immunity	None, unless state law authorizes such lawsuits
Any officials sued in their individual capacities	Qualified immunity	Declaratory judgment; Injunctive relief; or Money damages. Money damages are only available if a) the official does not raise the

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