MIDLAND, Texas — A federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought forth by five former Midland Christian employees.
The "Midland Christian Five" filed the lawsuit in late Aug. 2022, in light of their arrest and subsequent no-bill by a grand jury over an alleged failure to report an assault of a student.
This lawsuit alleged the City of Midland and the three police officers involved in the arrest caused severe damage to the five's reputations, publicly humiliated them and created false allegations to obtained arrest warrants.
In October, the city and the three officers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that since the five failed to report the alleged assault, the officers should have qualified immunity.
The judge gave the former Midland Christian employees a chance to amend their lawsuit in response to the request to dismiss.
In the amended lawsuit, the five's lawyer points to the re-arrest and indictment of Lee, Ellis and Counts for another similar allegation based off of an incident that occurred prior to the initial arrests. These were believed to be "retaliatory" arrests on the part of the MPD officers from the original lawsuit.
Following the submission of the amended lawsuit, federal judge Barbara Lynn determined the motion to dismiss should be denied.
At this time there is no indication in the court records of where the lawsuit will go from here.
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