Texas Ex Rel. Board of Regents of the University of Texas System v. Walker

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

This case presents a straightforward employment and contract dispute mired in a procedural thicket. Our task is to untangle the thicket, although, unhappily, we cannot finally resolve the merits. We conclude, first, that the case was correctly removed by University President Low, a counterclaim defendant newly-joined on a “separate and independent claim” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 1441(c). Second, the court did not err in shielding the counterclaim defendants from Walker’s § 1983 claims on qualified immunity grounds. Third, Walker’s debt to the state for fees he…