California Supreme Court Limits Absolute Immunity for Public Employees’ Actions During Investigations

Government Code, § 821.6 does not provide law enforcement officers with absolute immunity absent the subsequent instigation of a judicial proceeding. 

• The California Government Claims Act 

• Government Code, § 821.6 and absolute civil immunity 

• Immunity for injuries inflicted during a law enforcement investigation  

Government Code § 821.6, as a part of the California Government Claims Act, provides public employees, and their employers, with absolute immunity from civil liability for their tortious acts, but only in acts leading to the actual initiation of a criminal prosecution or other judicial or administrative proceeding.  

Married couple José and Dora Leon had a dispute with another man (the details of which were not described), resulting in the other man shooting José. Riverside County sheriff’s deputies found José unconscious in a driveway of a mobile home lot near where he lived. Hearing more shots, the deputies dragged José to the cover of a nearby parked vehicle, where they unsuccessfully attempted to revive him. In dragging his body to where they could work on him, José’s pants slid down to around his ankles, exposing his naked body. José was left exposed like this to both Dora and the general public for the next eight hours, during which the deputies at some point found the shooter, who had committed suicide. As a result, no criminal case or other court proceedings were ever initiated.  

Dora subsequently sued in state court, asserting a single cause of action for the “negligent infliction of emotional distress.” The complaint alleged that the deputies and the public entity that employed them (Riverside County) failed to exercise reasonable care by leaving José’s body exposed and uncovered for hours, for anyone to view. The county moved for summary judgment to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that because the suit arose from actions the deputies took while investigating José's homicide, both the employees and their employer were statutorily immune from liability pursuant to Government Code § 821.6. The trial court agreed and entered judgment for the civil ....