Opinion ID: 783545
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legal Mail: a Question of Law

Text: 25 As a threshhold matter, we note that the district court erred in reserving a ruling on the defendants' qualified immunity defense until the jury made a factual determination as to whether each piece of correspondence constituted protected mail. The determination of whether particular kinds of correspondence qualify for the constitutional protection accorded a prisoner's legal mail is a question of law properly decided by the court, not one of fact that can be submitted to a jury. See Seal v. Morgan, 229 F.3d 567, 580 (6th Cir.2000)(stating that courts determine questions of law, juries determine questions of fact). Had the court found certain correspondence to be constitutionally protected legal mail, it should then have granted qualified immunity on any claims involving those items of correspondence that the defendants could have opened without violating constitutional rights that were clearly established at the time and of which a reasonable person would have known. See Christophel v. Kukulinsky, 61 F.3d 479, 484 (6th Cir.1995). After dismissing the claims for all correspondence that was either not legal mail or for which the defendants had qualified immunity, the court should have submitted the remaining claims to the jury for a verdict on the factual dispute of whether such correspondence was actually opened outside of Sallier's presence. 26