A Louisiana judge’s lawsuit against his 19th Judicial District colleagues over seniority rules and civil court assignments was dismissed last week after a special judge concluded judges are immune from being sued over such administrative actions.
Ad hoc Judge Emile St. Pierre ruled that the 19th District jurists’ decision to award a civil court position to someone other than the plaintiff, Judge Beau Higginbotham, did not warrant a decision to overturn this presumption of judicial immunity. Higginbotham had argued that his seniority as a criminal court judge should have given him priority to assume the civil docket of former Judge William Morvant.
Higginbotham’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment about whether the decision would be appealed, but an attorney for one of the defendants expressed hope that St. Pierre’s decision would end the litigation.
“It was an honor that the judges collectively allowed me to take the lead in arguing the subject matter jurisdiction issue first raised by (19th District) Judge Dr. Don Johnson,” Baton Rouge attorney Stephen Irving told the Louisiana Record in an email. “Various other substantive exceptions raised earlier really raised the same issue, that Judge Higginbotham couldn't sue his fellow judges, and the result would have been the same under any of those exceptions.”
The same outcome would have resulted on the merits of the litigation, according to Irving.
“A judge cannot have a personal interest in what cases or kinds of cases are assigned to the court,” he said. “Hopefully, the important comments of Judge St. Pierre at the end of his reasons for judgment will be the final words on the subject.”
In their decisions about judicial assignments, the majority of the 19th Judicial District judges concluded that Higginbotham relinquished his seniority when he transferred from one criminal division to another.
In a previous amended complaint, Higginbotham had alleged that his colleagues may have used public court funds inappropriately to pay their private defense attorneys in the litigation.