Opinion ID: 545194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: quasi-judicial absolute immunity

Text: 29 Defendants contend that the School Board members, as sued in their individual capacities, are entitled to absolute immunity from suit because they were acting in a quasi-judicial role when they discharged Stewart. We have jurisdiction over this issue under the authority of Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731, 741-43, 102 S.Ct. 2690, 2697-98, 73 L.Ed.2d 349 (1982) (denial of claim of absolute immunity immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine); Helstoski v. Meanor, 442 U.S. 500, 99 S.Ct. 2445, 61 L.Ed.2d 30 (1979) (same); Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977) (same). For the following reasons, we conclude that the members of the School Board are not protected by absolute, quasi-judicial immunity. 30 It is well-established that judges are immune from liability for damages for acts committed within their judicial jurisdiction. See Cleavinger v. Saxner, 474 U.S. 193, 199, 106 S.Ct. 496, 88 L.Ed.2d 507 (1985) (citing Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 553-54, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 1217, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967)). The Supreme Court has held that this judicial immunity may protect certain executive and administrative personnel whose duties are classically adjudicatory. Cleavinger, 474 U.S. at 201-04, 106 S.Ct. at 500-02. 31 However, the Court has explicitly declined to extend absolute judicial immunity protection to actions taken by school board members. In Wood v. Strickland, 420 U.S. 308, 95 S.Ct. 992, 43 L.Ed.2d 214 (1975), the Court noted that school board members function as adjudicators in the school disciplinary process, and they must judge whether there have been violations of school regulations and, if so, the appropriate sanctions for the violations. Id. at 319, 95 S.Ct. at 999. However, despite the school board's adjudicative function, the Court held that board members were to be protected by qualified immunity only: [A]bsolute immunity would not be justified since it would not sufficiently increase the ability of school officials to exercise their discretion in a forthright manner to warrant the absence of a remedy for students subjected to intentional or otherwise inexcusable deprivations. Id. at 320, 95 S.Ct. at 1000. See also Cleavinger, 474 U.S. at 204-05, 106 S.Ct. at 502 (explaining the Court's holding in Wood and relying on Wood 's holding to deny absolute judicial immunity to a prison's Institution Discipline Committee). 32 Although this case involves a school board's decision to discharge an employee rather than an instance of student discipline, as was involved in Wood, we conclude that the function of the school board in this case was substantially similar to the function of the board in Wood. The Court's ruling in Wood therefore precludes an extension of absolute immunity to the defendants in this case.