Melton v. Phillips, No. 15-10604 (5th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseAfter plaintiff spent 16 days in county jail for an assault he did not commit, he filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against Kelly Phillips, a sheriff’s office deputy. Plaintiff alleged that Phillips intentionally or recklessly misidentified him as the assailant in an offense report that he prepared, thereby leading to plaintiff’s arrest without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The district court denied Phillips's motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The court affirmed the district court’s ruling that, under these circumstances, Phillips may be liable for Fourth Amendment violations under Franks v. Delaware even though he neither signed nor drafted the affidavit in support of the warrant for plaintiff’s arrest; in reviewing an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a motion for summary judgment qualified immunity, the court lacked jurisdiction to review the district court’s finding of a genuine fact dispute as to Phillips’s recklessness; and, assuming plaintiff's factual assertions are true, the independent intermediary doctrine does not apply to shield Phillips from liability. Accordingly, the court dismissed Phillips’s appeal to the extent he challenges the district court’s finding of genuine disputes of fact, and affirmed in all other respects.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on February 15, 2017.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on November 13, 2017.
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