A lawsuit against former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones claiming that he conspired with lawyers at corporate law firms should be dismissed because “well-established judicial immunity doctrine … provides absolute immunity from suits for damages” for judges, lawyers for Judge Jones argued in court documents filed Thursday.
Martin S. Bouchard III, the former CEO of global shipping company Bouchard Transportation, sued Judge Jones, law firms Jackson Walker and Kirkland & Ellis, lawyer Elizabeth Freeman and restructuring advisor Portage Point Partners accusing them of a conspiracy to abuse the bankruptcy process in his case to obtain exorbitant fees.
Judge Jones handled the Bouchard bankruptcy from its initial filing in 2020 until October 2023, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit publicly announced that it was investigating the judge for having a secret and unethical relationship with Freeman, who had been his former law clerk and later became a partner at Jackson Walker, which was debtor’s counsel for Bouchard.
The motion to dismiss was filed Thursday by prominent New York trial lawyer David Boies, whom Judge Jones hired two months ago to represent him in the lawsuit filed by Bouchard.
“Judicial immunity is immunity from suit itself, not just from the assessment of damages,” Boies wrote in the 22-page motion. “The application of the doctrine of judicial immunity requires the dismissal with prejudice of this civil action against Jones, whom plaintiff has sued for issuing court orders and conducting bankruptcy proceedings pursuant to the statutory jurisdiction vested in him as a judicial officer.”
“Plaintiff’s claims against Jones are barred by clear, longstanding and binding precedent on judicial immunity,” the brief argues. “This immunity applies even when the judge is accused of acting maliciously and corruptly, and the immunity extends to allegations of intentional misconduct — not for the protection or benefit of a malicious or corrupt judge, but for the benefit of the public, whose interest it is that the judges should be at liberty to exercise their functions with independence and without fear of consequences.”
In the motion to dismiss, Boies lays out facts that attempt to debunk Bouchard’s claims that the judge and the lawyers stole the shipping company from him.
Bouchard filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas in late September 2020 while facing significant financial difficulty. The SDTX clerk “randomly assigned” the case to Judge Jones.
Boies points out that Bouchard filed motions to employ Kirkland and Jackson Walker to lead the debtor’s claims.
“From the beginning, the bankruptcy cases did not go well for the Bouchard debtors,” Boies wrote.
Soon after the filing, Bouchard “suffered the loss of their vessel certification.”
“Unable to obtain a document of compliance from the Coast Guard due to ongoing safety regulation disputes and a tenuous working relationship, the Bouchard debtors faced significant liquidity issues, requested numerous emergency hearings, and initiated litigation against the Coast Guard and others,” Boies wrote. “Without appropriate certifications, the Bouchard debtors could not meet insurance requirements, nor could the fleet generate revenue to sustain ongoing operations.”
During hearings in February 2021, Judge Jones said he learned that Bouchard vendors and employees “were not being paid, financial statements were not being produced or shared, and defaults existed under the debtor-in-possession financing agreement.”
As a result, Judge Jones said he removed Bouchard as CEO and director of his family’s company.
The case is Martin Bouchard III v. David R. Jones, No. 4:24-cv-693.