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487 F.2d 913

Docket No. 73-2294 Summary Calendar.*

Sterling Maurice Williams v. Alfonso C. Sepe

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Nov. 14, 1973.

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1973-11-14

2 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“"While it may be true that the procedural irregularities would necessitate a reversal of a conviction if one had been obtained on the facts of this case, see, e.g., State ex rel. Giblin v. Sullivan, 1946, 157 Fla. 496 , 26 So.2d 509 , the test for the abrogation of judicial immunity is whether there is a clear absence of all jurisdiction over the subject matter. Bradley v. Fisher, 1872, 13 Wall. 335 , 80 U.S. 335 , 20 L.Ed. 646 . The policy underlying the doctrine requires that its application not depend on the determination of `nice questions of jurisdiction.' Sullivan v. Kelleher, 1 Cir.1968, 405 F.2d 486, 487 . The defects in the procedure employed in this case will not support a conclusion that there was a clear absence of all jurisdiction."”

quoted by 3 later decisions, including 322 So. 2d 602 - Rivello v. Cooper City, Dykes v. Aj Hosemann a W

“... Judge Sepe failed to comply with the procedure for prosecuting an indirect contempt.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including O'Neil v. City of Lake Oswego

Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))

Relies on Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Co. of New York · Bradley v. Fisher · Pargoud v. United States

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by Per Curiam · Decided 1973-11-14

How this case has been cited

Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently July 1997

11 federal appellate · 1 district · 2 state decisions

90197319801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Carling H. Stedman, Richard Yale Feder, Stephen L. Raskin, Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellant.

Tobias Simon, Elizabeth J. du Fresne, Miami, Fla., for defendant-appellee.

Before BROWN, Chief Judge, and DYER and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

¶1

This action under 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1983, brought by Sterling M. Williams against Judge Alfonso C. Sepe, was terminated by the district court's granting summary judgment to Judge Sepe on the ground that the undisputed facts did not fall within the "clear absence of all jurisdiction" exception to the doctrine of judicial immunity. We affirm.

¶2

The record clearly establishes that in attempting to investigate a report that Williams had misrepresented himself as the Judge's law clerk, Judge Sepe failed to comply with the procedure for prosecuting an indirect contempt of court. Specifically, Williams was not given "written notice of the criminal contempt charged," as required by Rule 3.840 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, 33 F.S.A., before he was ordered arrested by Judge Sepe. It is Williams' contention that the deviation from the statutory procedure resulted in an absence of subject matter jurisdiction and that the Judge, therefore, is not shielded by judicial immunity.

¶3

While it may be true that the procedural irregularities would necessitate a reversal of a conviction if one had been obtained on the facts of this case, see, e. g., State ex rel. Giblin v. Sullivan, 1946, 157 Fla. 496, 26 So.2d 509, the test for the abrogation of judicial immunity is whether there is a clear absence of all jurisdiction over the subject matter. Bradley v. Fisher, 1872, 13 Wall. 335, 80 U.S. 335, 20 L.Ed. 646. The policy underlying the doctrine requires that its application not depend on the determination of "nice questions of jurisdiction." Sullivan v. Kelleher, 1 Cir. 1968, 405 F.2d 486, 487. The defects in the procedure employed in this case will not support a conclusion that there was a clear absence of all jurisdiction. The judgment of the district court is therefore

¶4

Affirmed.

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