Judge Jim Scott v. Fort Bend County

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

A Texas state Justice of the Peace who had been removed from office pursuant to a provision of the Texas Constitution lost his Texas state court suit to regain his office. He then asserted in federal district court that his removal from office denied him due process under the U.S. Constitution. The district court rendered summary judgment dismissing the federal suit on the basis that the claim was barred by collateral estoppel arising from the prior state litigation. While we find that the collateral-estoppel defense was not well founded because the factual issue…