Court Opinion

ID: 9463569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:10:05.754683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:10.368580
License: Public Domain

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the remand of this case for trial on the allegations of plaintiff’s conditions of confinement in the Tarrant County Jail. However, I dissent from the en banc holding which reverses the district court and remands to permit exhaustion of state remedies.
As to the latter portion of plaintiff’s suit, it is based upon allegations of coercion and bribery of an unnamed witness and seeks damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Sheriff of Tarrant County, Texas, and “law enforcement agents who acted within the Tarrant County Jail.” I agree with Judge Tjoflat’s concurring and dissenting opinion in this regard and with the rationale there expressed that Meadows is collaterally es-topped from litigating this issue since it has been decided adversely to him twice by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals both on direct appeal of the conviction and on collateral habeas corpus. The question is, therefore, res judicata and Meadows is collaterally estopped from continuing to litigate it. There is no valid reason, therefore, to remand the case for further proceedings in this context when the issue has already been fully litigated and decided in the Texas courts.
Though I would remand the case for a hearing on the question of plaintiff’s allegation as to conditions of confinement in the jail, I would otherwise affirm the district court.1

. Under the circumstances I do not reach the question of whether this section 1983 suit may be pursued before state remedies are exhausted. See also my dissenting opinion in Coving-ton v. Cole, 5 Cir., 1976, 528 F.2d 1365, 1373. See also Smart v. Jones, 5 Cir., 1976, 530 F.2d 64, and Bruce v. Wade, 5 Cir., 1976, 537 F.2d 850.