A West Virginia judge who led a warrantless search of a divorce litigant’s home is not entitled to judicial immunity because she engaged in a nonjudicial act, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
What would you do if a judge came into your home without a warrant and started demanding that your ex-spouse take some of your personal belongings? You would probably feel like your rights had been violated, and you would want to hold that judge accountable. But a doctrine called “judicial immunity” makes it almost impossible to sue judges when they violate people’s constitutional rights.
RICHMOND, Virginia – A Raleigh County man is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court ruling saying a family court is not entitled to judicial immunity after she stopped a court hearing to search his home without a warrant.
RICHMOND, Virginia – A Raleigh County family court judge has filed her brief with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to have a lower court ruling reversed in a case where she searched a man’s home following a post-divorce contempt hearing.
A West Virginia family court judge who searched a self-represented litigant’s home for marital property will receive a public censure and a $1,000 fine for the “egregious abuse of process,” the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled.