Government Claims Act generally immunizes public employer from liability if its workers are immune
Section 821.6 of the Government Claims Act does not give broad immunity to public employees such as police officers for harmful actions that they may take in the course of law enforcement investigations, a recent ruling said.
A recent case arose when a man was shot and killed in the driveway of a mobile home lot close to his home. The sheriff’s deputies of Riverside County arrived at the scene, heard additional shots, dragged the man behind a vehicle, and tried to revive him.
Being dragged caused the man’s pants to slide down and to expose his naked body, which stayed that way for about eight hours in view of the general public, including the man’s wife. In the meantime, the officers investigated the crime, searched for the shooter, and found that he took his own life shortly after shooting the man.
The man’s widow filed a lawsuit based on negligent infliction of emotional distress. She alleged that the deputies and the public entity employing them were negligent because they left her late husband’s body exposed for hours.
Read more: Emergency responder immune from liability for pedestrian's death
The case involved the application of certain provisions of California’s Government Claims Act. Under section 815.2(b), a public entity would ordinarily be immune from liability if its employees were immune. Section 821.6 made public employees immune from liability for instituting or...
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