Immunity and Accountability
Private Property

West Virginia Judicial Field Trip Appeal

  • On September 20, 2023, Patrick Jaicomo appeared before the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Gibson v. Goldston to argue why a West Virginia family court judge was not entitled to absolute judicial immunity for leading a search party through a litigant’s private home.
  • Since judicial immunity exclusively applies to acts that are judicial in nature, IJ argued that the judge shed her judicial immunity when she shed her judicial role and acted, instead, like a police officer executing a warrantless search and seizure in Matt Gibson’s home.
  • Due to the breadth of judicial immunity, such issues rarely reach federal appellate courts, and Gibson is just the fifth case in 50 years to challenge the availability of judicial immunity for executive acts taken by judges in a federal appellate court.
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Attorney Who Argued The Hearing

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