# Allen L. Fludd v. United States Secret Service Maurice Daugherty

> Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · September 13, 1985 · 771 F.2d 549

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9473911

## Case

- **Full name:** Allen L. FLUDD v. UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, Et Al. Maurice Daugherty, Et Al., Appellants
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- **Decided:** September 13, 1985
- **Citations:** 771 F.2d 549; 248 U.S. App. D.C. 357; 3 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 41; 1985 U.S. App. LEXIS 21594
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Mikva
- **Judges:** Wald, Mikva, McGowan
- **Cited by:** 10 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9473911

## Opinion text

MIKVA, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the order and opinion of my colleagues because I think nothing in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 , 102 S.Ct. 2727 , 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982) was intended to deprive a federal judge of the power to obtain the necessary facts to resolve questions presented to him. This power can be exercised by requesting affi *555 davits or admissions, or by holding a preliminary hearing. To insist that the judge proceed to a full-scale trial of the main cause of action before the preliminary question of immunity can be resolved defeats much of the purpose of Harlow , which was to allow immunity matters to be resolved at the earliest and least intrusive point in the case. We do defendants no favor by sending this matter'back under an order to resolve disputed facts without a hearing. The concern that defendants will be deprived of discovery if the trial judge finds no immunity could be met by treating the judge’s findings on immunity as preliminary, subject to additional evidence presented at trial. To force the trial before knowing the facts on immunity negates the efficacy that Harlow was intended to provide. I would allow the judge to proceed as he had ordered.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9473911. Public record. Not legal advice.