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 defendants. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed. (See Leon v. County of Riverside (2021) 64 Cal.App.5th 837.)  

In so doing, the Fourth District relied upon a line of appellate court cases that “ha[s] consistently construed section 821.6 as immunizing a public employee from liability for any injury-causing act or omission in the course of the institution and prosecution of any judicial or administrative proceeding, including an investigation that may precede the institution of any such proceeding.” (Italics in original; Id., at p. 846.) Per the Fourth District Court of Appeal, because the deputies’ negligence, if any, in failing to cover José’s body occurred during the deputies’ performance of their investigative duties, both the deputies as well as the county were immune from civil liability, pursuant to the current interpretation of Government Code § 821.6. Dora Leon appealed, and the California Supreme Court granted review.