Forsyth, Mo. — A federal appeals court ruled Oct. 13 that Taney County Judge Eric Eighmy is not shielded by qualified immunity for ordering two children locked in courthouse holding cells after they refused to leave a 2019 custody hearing with their mother. The decision leaves in place a jury verdict that awarded each child $5,000 and about $327,000 in attorney fees.
The opinion in Rockett v. Eighmy, No. 25-1664, was written by Judge David Stras of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and joined by Judges Bobby Shepherd and Jane Kelly. The panel held that Eighmy violated the children’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures because he had neither probable cause nor an emergency to justify locking them up.
What happened after the custody hearing
According to the court’s account and the Institute for Justice, which filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case, the parents agreed at an October 2019 hearing that the children, then 14 and 12, would go home with their mother that day. The children wanted to stay with their father and refused to go.
The Institute for Justice said Eighmy took off his robe, left the courtroom and inserted himself into the dispute in the courthouse lobby. When the children held firm, he threatened to place them in foster care. When they still refused, he had a juvenile officer take them to holding cells, where they were patted down, made to remove their socks and shoes and held in separate cells, according to Reason’s summary of the opinion.
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How long they were held is disputed. The Institute for Justice puts it at about an hour; the appeals court described 20 to 40 minutes. The judge released them after they agreed to leave with their mother.
A reasonable judge should have known better.
Judge David Stras, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Rockett v. Eighmy
Seven years of litigation
The children’s father, Bart Rockett, sued Eighmy in June 2021 under the federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Eighmy first argued he was protected by absolute judicial immunity, which generally bars suits against judges for their rulings. A district court rejected that defense, and in 2023 the 8th Circuit agreed, reasoning that personally escorting children to jail is not a judicial act. That earlier ruling said judges “do not do double duty as jailers.”
The case went to a jury, which found that the children’s rights were violated and awarded $5,000 to each. The district court added $326,637.22 in attorney fees. On appeal, Eighmy argued that qualified immunity should erase the verdict because no prior case had addressed a judge doing what he did. The panel disagreed. It said resisting authority is not a jailable offense, that “a custody plan is no substitute for a warrant,” and that the rule against arrests without probable cause was clearly established. The court also found Eighmy had abandoned his judicial-immunity argument by not raising it at trial or after the verdict.
Every reasonable person knows that a judge can’t throw children in jail for no good reason.
Dylan Moore, attorney, Institute for Justice
Why the ruling matters beyond one courthouse
Family court judges hold enormous power over children who have no lawyer of their own and no practical way to object. In this case the only real check came from a parent willing to spend years in federal court, and from a jury. Qualified immunity routinely ends cases like this one before a jury ever hears them, because officials argue that no earlier case involved exactly the same facts. The 8th Circuit said the violation here was so obvious that no matching precedent was needed.
The ruling also highlights how often the threat of foster care is used as leverage in custody disputes. Eighmy’s first move, according to the court, was to tell two children who had done nothing wrong that they could be placed with strangers. Parents trying to understand how far a family court judge’s authority reaches can find more in FAN’s family court guide.
What’s next
The decision upholds the jury’s verdict and the fee award. The sources reviewed did not report whether Eighmy plans to seek rehearing by the full 8th Circuit or review by the U.S. Supreme Court, and they did not report any judicial disciplinary action against him in connection with the 2019 incident.
Key facts
- Court: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Rockett v. Eighmy, No. 25-1664, decided Oct. 13, 2026
- Panel: Judges David Stras (author), Bobby Shepherd and Jane Kelly
- Defendant: Taney County, Missouri, Judge Eric Eighmy
- Incident: October 2019; two children, then 14 and 12, held in courthouse holding cells after refusing to leave with their mother
- Verdict: $5,000 per child, plus $326,637.22 in attorney fees
- Earlier ruling: 8th Circuit rejected judicial immunity in 2023
- Holding: Seizure without probable cause or exigent circumstances violated the Fourth Amendment; qualified immunity denied
Sources
- Institute for Justice — Court Denies Immunity for Judge Who Personally Jailed Two Innocent Kids, Upholds Damages (2026-10-14)
- Reason — The 8th Circuit rejects qualified immunity for a judge who jailed 2 kids for ‘refusing to follow directions’ (2026-10-15)
- Reason / The Volokh Conspiracy — No Immunity for Judge Who Locked Children in Holding Cells in Custody Case (2026-10-13)
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