Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Criminal investigation/police immunity

I have been told the new US statutes make police departments immune to any lawsuits brought up because of false imprionsment and wrongful arrest. I have also been told that you can no longer sue for defamation of character or liable and malicious slander. Is it true that anything they do now is just considered ''investigating'' and they cannot be punished in a civil court any longer? Lets say a person is the subject of a criminal investigation and has been informed there is little to no case against them. Lets also say this person is being agressively pursued by the police department and gets arrested anyway. Is there room for civil action against that police department once the person is bailed out and cleared of any wrong doing? What if the person is in ill health, does that make civil action more or less appropiate?


Asked on 1/15/09, 11:54 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Criminal investigation/police immunity

Police officers are immune from many types of claims, but their immunity is not always absolute. It is thus possible to win some types of lawsuits against them.

That winning is possible does not mean that it is easy. You will have to prove a lot more than that you did not do what you were arrested for doing.

Finally, defamation claims (of which libel and slander are two types) can only be based upon false statements of fact made to third persons. An arrest is not such a statement and thus cannot be defamatory. Even if the police actually defame you, winning a defamation claim will be very difficult because you will still have to deal with the officers' immunity.

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Answered on 1/16/09, 12:36 am


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