Court Opinion

ID: 9889246
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-07 00:00:33.291517+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:50:01.943799
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-40395   Document: 00516923171    Page: 1      Date Filed: 10/06/2023

          United States Court of Appeals
               for the Fifth Circuit                     United States Court of Appeals
                                                                  Fifth Circuit

                            ____________                        FILED
                                                          October 6, 2023
                             No. 22-40395                  Lyle W. Cayce
                            ____________                        Clerk

   Ronald Lee Converse, Individually and as next friend of Chad
   Ernest Lee Silvis, Deceased,

                                      Plaintiff—Appellee/Cross-Appellant,

                                 versus

   Officer Ruben Kimball; Anna Marie Whelan; Marcus
   Way,

                                                   Defendants—Appellants,

   James Melton

                                              Defendant—Cross-Appellee,

   _______________________________

   Sara Monroe, as Next Friend of B.S., a Minor,

                                      Plaintiff—Appellee/Cross-Appellant,

                                 versus

   Officer Ruben Kimball; Officer Marcus Way; Anna
   Marie Whelan, Dispatcher,

                                                   Defendants—Appellants,
Case: 22-40395         Document: 00516923171             Page: 2      Date Filed: 10/06/2023

   Officer James Melton

                                            Defendant—Cross-Appellee.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Southern District of Texas
                         USDC Nos. 3:15-CV-105, 3:16-CV-94
                      ______________________________

   Before Dennis, Engelhardt, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
          Chad Silvis tragically committed suicide while detained in the
   municipal jail in Kemah, Texas. His survivors sued various police officers for
   unconstitutionally failing to prevent the suicide. Four officers moved for
   summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. The district court
   denied summary judgment to three officers and granted it to one. All four
   officers are before us on either appeal or cross-appeal.
          As for the three officers who appealed the denial of qualified immunity
   (Marcus Way, Anna Marie Whelan, and Reuben Kimball), we affirm for
   substantially the same reasons given by the district court in its well-reasoned
   opinion. As for the plaintiffs’ cross-appeal of the grant of qualified immunity
   for James Melton, we dismiss. The pendent appellate jurisdiction that
   attaches to the court-created collateral-order doctrine is “carefully
   circumscribed.” Escobar v. Montee, 895 F.3d 387, 391–92 (5th Cir. 2018). And
   plaintiff’s cross-appeal does not meet it. See id. at 392. The district court’s
   grant of qualified immunity to Melton is reviewable only after final judgment.
   See Elizondo v. Green, 671 F.3d 506, 509–10 (5th Cir. 2012).

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.

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Case: 22-40395   Document: 00516923171       Page: 3   Date Filed: 10/06/2023

                              No. 22-40395

         We therefore AFFIRM in part and DISMISS in part.

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