Arizona’s Democrat Attorney General Terry Goddard may have gotten a little ahead of himself in his comments about the actions of a local developer.

Goddard's office sued George Johnson, founder of the Johnson Ranch master planned community southeast of Chandler, on behalf of state agencies in 2005.

The state's lawsuit accused Johnson, among other things, of illegally bulldozing state trust land as part of a development near Marana and of destroying archaeological sites.

The developer filed his own claim against the state and Goddard saying he was unfairly being “…singled out for infractions usually considered minor or ignored.”

Goddard appealed to the Court of Appeals after a Maricopa County Superior Court judge denied Goddard's request to dismiss the counterclaim on grounds that he shouldn't have to defend against it because he has absolute immunity.

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Goddard isn’t completely protected from this suit as an officeholder.