Donald Wheeldin and Admiral Dawson v. William Wheeler

Appellants were on August 7, 1958, subpoenaed to appear before the Unamerican Activities Committee of the United States House of Representatives, which was then proposing to conduct a hearing in Los Angeles. They resisted their duty to comply with the subpoenas, and Appellant Wheeldin’s conviction of contempt for failure to respond was upheld by this court in Wheeldin v. United States, 9 Cir., 1960, 283 F.2d 535 , following Barenblatt v. United States, 1959, 360 U.S. 109 , 79 S.Ct. 1081 , 3 L.Ed.2d 1115 .

Appellants have now brought this action for money damages against appellee, a committee investigator who had been instrumental in issuing and serving the subpoenas, and have appealed to this court from judgment of the district court dismissing the action for failure of the complaint to state a claim. The gravamen of their complaint is that the subpoenas were invalidly, maliciously and mischievously issued and served for the sole purpose of exposing them to public scorn with consequent loss of employment and of esteem. They assert that they have a federal right to protection against such abuse of federal process; that since the subpoenas were not properly issued appellee in…