Schultea v. Wood
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
47 F.3d 1427 (5th Cir. 1995) (en banc)
Schultea (plaintiff), a former police chief, sued city officials, including councilman Wood (defendant), alleging they conspired to demote him in retaliation for investigating them for illegal activity; after Schultea began investigating Wood, Wood pushed to have Schultea placed on the council agenda for possible sanction, and Schultea was demoted following a private council meeting, with a subsequent council memorandum implying he was demoted for wrongdoing. Schultea alleged due process and First Amendment violations; Wood moved to dismiss and brought an interlocutory appeal challenging denial of his qualified immunity, and a panel remanded to let Schultea amend his complaint, holding the Fifth Circuit's heightened pleading standard survived the Supreme Court's Leatherman decision.
Whether the United States Supreme Court ruling in Leatherman overturns the Fifth Circuit's holding in Elliott v. Perez that a complaint involving a claim of qualified immunity must be pled with factual detail and particularity.