CA5: State GJ indictment shows PC for case to go forward precluding false arrest claim

Plaintiff was a police officer for the RTA charged with falsifying reports about an altercation with a passenger. She sued for false arrest as a Fourth Amendment claim, but her indictment by a state grand jury precludes this claim, even when plaintiff alleges malice. Craig v. Dallas Area RTA, 504 Fed. Appx. 328 (5th Cir. 2012)*:

Precedent clearly establishes that, “if facts supporting an arrest are placed before an independent intermediary such as a magistrate or grand jury, the intermediary’s decision breaks the chain of causation for false arrest, insulating the initiating party.” Taylor v. Gregg, 36 F.3d 453, 456 (5th Cir. 1994), overruled on other grounds by Castellano v. Fragozo, 352 F.3d 939, 949 (5th Cir. 2003) (en banc). For our purposes, this means that “even an officer [in Craig’s case] who acted with malice in procuring the warrant or the indictment will not be liable if the facts supporting the warrant or indictment are put before an impartial intermediary such as a magistrate or a grand jury.” Hand v. Gary, 838 F.2d 1420, 1427 (5th Cir. 1988) (internal quotation marks omitted).