The 9th Circuit, in addressing a limited issue (within the scope of 11 USC 362), determined that an attorney who prepared an order to show cause for a state court judge was not entitled to absolute quasi-judicial immunity on a claim of a violation of the automatic stay provision of the Code.
The Court was careful in stating that the case does not concern whether the automatic stay is violated when an attorney drafts, at the
behest of a judge, an order to show cause that was never filed, much less
whether such an act is actionable in a damage suit under 11 U.S.C. § 362(k).1
Rather, the sole question in this appeal is whether an attorney who drafts an
order at the request of a judge is entitled to absolute quasi-judicial
immunity. We conclude that he is not
Dissenting was Judge Gilman from the Sixth Circuit who determined that the attorney was in effect acting as the judge's law clerk when drafting such order. Therefore, the attorney was entitled to quasi judicial immunity.
Burton v. Infinity Capital Mgmt (2014)
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