Opinion ID: 2975587
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant Jackson

Text: The district court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim against Hearing Officer Jackson pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) because it concluded Jackson is entitled to absolute judicial immunity. We review a dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) de novo. Sistrunk v. City of Strongsville, 99 F.3d 194, 197 (6th Cir. 1996). In granting Jackson absolute immunity, the district court relied on Shelly v. Johnson, 849 F.2d 228 (6th Cir. 1988), which held that a Michigan hearing officer was entitled to absolute judicial immunity for actions taken in his hearing-officer capacity, and on Mich. Comp. Laws § 791.252(h), which grants a Michigan hearing officer the authority to deny access to evidence that may be dangerous to a witness or disruptive to normal prison operations. The plaintiffs contend that this ruling ignores the role 4that Jackson played in this case, one they cast as a FOIA Coordinator, rather than a hearing officer. The plaintiffs claim that the “functional approach” to judicial immunity 3 The court also dismissed the suit for damages against defendant Overton in his official capacity, but plaintiffs do not challenge that decision on appeal. 4 There is some ambiguity whether the state’s release of these documents to prisoners is actually done under the dictates of FOIA. Section III.I of Michigan Department of Corrections Policy Directive 01.06.110 directs that “[p]risoners shall not be entitled to receive or inspect documents under the FOIA.” Section III.J, however, states, “Although prisoners shall not be entitled to receive or inspect documents under the FOIA, they shall continue to receive copies of appropriate forms when they are generated (e.g. major misconduct reports; administrative hearing reports; security classification screens; notices of parole board action; time review and disposition forms).” The district court addressed the issue as follows: A review of the prisoner’s request for hearing materials, however, reveals that their request was not made pursuant to FOIA. . . . Moreover, the Department’s FOIA policy states that prisoners are not entitled to receive documents under FOIA and such requests are summarily denied. . . . The Court recognizes that the Department FOIA policy does permit a prisoner to request a copy of their hearing No. 05-2014 Barber, et al. v. Overton, et al. Page 4 discussed by this court in Achterhof v. Selvaggio, 886 F.2d 826 (6th Cir. 1989), counsels against absolute immunity for Jackson. Achterhof recognizes that this circuit’s approach to absolute immunity distinguishes “between prosecutorial and judicial duties and duties which are administrative or investigatory.” 886 F.2d at 829. The plaintiffs’ attempts to cast Jackson’s role as administrative are not persuasive, however. The plaintiffs argue that Jackson was “functionally performing the actions of any administrator responding to an information request.” Pointing to Michigan Policy Directive 01.06.110, section III.L, the plaintiffs contend that Jackson’s role was that of an administrative processor of prisoner requests. They contend that the following language from that directive supports this view: “Upon request, prisoners shall be provided with a copy of their hearing investigation for any formal hearing, except those documents which have been determined by the hearing officer to be confidential.” This instruction, however, does not transform Jackson’s role. As Jackson’s and Lowery’s depositions confirm, Lowery as Hearing Investigator was responsible for processing requests for information, not Jackson. Jackson, as Hearing Officer, makes final decisions about what information should be released, but he does not act as an administrator facilitating the process. In fact, Jackson’s role is completely separate from the request process, as he never sees the prisoners’ requests, nor does he play any role in delivering the documents. Though Jackson’s role has him concerned with the department’s FOIA policy, it is better viewed as an exercise of his hearing-officer authority. He performs a judicial function when he reviews the prison administration’s request (prepared by Lowery) to redact portions of the state’s basis for charging the prisoners with major misconduct. Determining what materials prisoners are entitled to receive as part of their due process hearing is a judicial function. We hold the district court did not err in construing Jackson’s action as judicial, rather than administrative, and in granting Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal.