An appeals court will allow a malicious prosecution case to proceed against a former Beaumont state district judge who allegedly had a process server arrested for showing up at the courthouse to serve a lawsuit on him.

The background to the dispute, according to the Beaumont's Ninth Court of Appeals recent decision in Walker v. Hartman, is as follows.

In 2013, Stephen Hartman, a licensed investigator and process server, entered the courtroom of 252nd District Court Layne Walker where the judge was presiding to serve him with a summons for a lawsuit. Walker served on the bench from 2003 until his retirement in 2014. He joined Beaumont's Provost Umphrey in 2015.