Government Liability Update

Prosecutors Absolutely Immune from Liability for Supervision, Training, and Information-Management System Claims

Reversing the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Van de Kamp v. Goldstein that a prosecutor's absolute immunity for acts intimately associated with the judicial process extends to allegations that negligent supervision, training, or formulation of policy (such as creating information management systems) resulted in a defendant's false conviction.  The unanimous court reasoned that if a prosecutor is immune for an act, the prosecutor's supervisor should not be held liable for that act.

Prosecutors Absolutely Immune from Section 1983 Liability for Making Parole Recommendations

Brown v. California Dept. of Corrections, decided by the Ninth Circuit, holds that a prosecutor is absolutely immune from liability under 42 USC section 1983 for entering into an oral plea agreement that a defendant will serve a certain prison term; and then after that term passes recommending to the parole board that the defendant stay in prison.

Title IX Does Not Preclude Section 1983 Suits

In Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that Title IX's remedy for sex discrimination in schools does not preclude 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suits against schools for violation of students' equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Qualified Immunity Two-Part Test No Long Mandatory

In the 2001 case Saucier v. Katz, the U.S. Supreme Court required courts determining a defendant's entitlement to qualified immunity in 42 U.S.C. section 1983 cases to decide whether the defendant violated the plaintiff's civil rights before deciding whether the defendant was immune for doing so.  Today, a unanimous (and slightly abashed) Supreme Court changed its mind.  in Pearson v. Callahan, the Supreme Court gives lower courts discretion over whether to follow the Saucier two-part test.  Courts may bypass the violation question, and simply determine whether the defendant is entitled to qualified immunity.