Elizabeth B. Johnson v. Charles B. MacCoy

Appellant filed suit below under the Civil Rights Act ( 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ) to recover damages against appellee, a judge of the Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District, State of California, alleging appellee had knowingly acted “in clear absence of jurisdiction” in issuing felony complaints against plaintiff on October 28, 1957, and again on December 23, 1957. Both felony complaints charged the same violation of the California Penal Code (Section 182, Subdivision 1), a conspiracy to commit a crime. Warrants for arrest were thereafter issued in each instance, and plaintiff was arrested. The first proceedings were dismissed by another judge of the same Municipal Court Judicial District, upon the ground that the appellee had no jurisdiction to issue a felony complaint on the complaint of a private citizen, but only at the request of a prosecutive agency of the State of California.

The district court dismissed the action without opinion upon the ground the complaint failed to state a claim for relief. Both parties to this appeal assume the dismissal was based on the judicial immunity of the appellee judge. Bradley v. Fisher, 1871, 13 Wall. 335 , 80 U.S. 335 , 20 L.Ed. 646…