Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/566/377/opinion3.html
Timestamp: 2018-02-19 02:12:18
Document Index: 398977995

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1983', '§1983', '§25', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983']

Filarsky v. Delia, (Opinion by Justice Roberts) :: 566 U.S. 377 (2012) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 566 › Filarsky v. Delia › Opinion
Filarsky v. Delia,
566 U.S. 377 (2012)
Section 1983 provides a cause of action against any person who deprives an individual of federally guaranteed rights “under color” of state law. 42 U. S. C. §1983. Anyone whose conduct is “fairly attributable to the state” can be sued as a state actor under §1983. See Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U. S. 922, 937 (1982) . At common law, government actors were afforded certain protections from liability, based on the reasoning that “the public good can best be secured by allowing officers charged with the duty of deciding upon the rights of others, to act upon their own free, unbiased convictions, uninfluenced by any apprehensions.” Wasson v. Mitchell, 18 Iowa 153, 155–156 (1864) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also W. Prosser, Law of Torts §25, p. 150 (1941) (common law protections derived from the need to avoid the “impossible burden [that] would fall upon all our agencies of government” if those acting on behalf of the government were “unduly hampered and intimidated in the discharge of their duties” by a fear of personal liability). Our decisions have recognized similar immunities under §1983, reasoning that common law protections “ ‘well grounded in his- tory and reason’ had not been abrogated ‘by covert inclusion in the general language’ of §1983.” Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U. S. 409, 418 (1976) (quoting Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U. S. 367, 376 (1951) ).
In this case, there is no dispute that qualified immunity is available for the sort of investigative activities at issue. See Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U. S. 223 –244 (2009). The Court of Appeals granted this protection to Chief Wells, Peel, and Bekker, but denied it to Filarsky, because he was not a public employee but was instead a private individual “retained by the City to participate in internal affairs investigations.” 621 F. 3d, at 1079–1080. In determining whether this distinction is valid, we look to the “general principles of tort immunities and defenses” applicable at common law, and the reasons we have afforded protection from suit under §1983. Imbler, supra, at 418.
Under our precedent, the inquiry begins with the common law as it existed when Congress passed §1983 in 1871. Tower v. Glover, 467 U. S. 914, 920 (1984) . Understanding the protections the common law afforded to those exercising government power in 1871 requires an appreciation of the nature of government at that time. In the mid-nineteenth century, government was smaller in both size and reach. It had fewer responsibilities, and operated primarily at the local level. Local governments faced tight budget constraints, and generally had neither the need nor the ability to maintain an established bureaucracy staffed by professionals. See B. Campbell, The Growth of American Government: Governance From the Cleveland Era to the Present 14–16, 20–21 (1995); id., at 20 (noting that in the 1880s “[t]he governor’s office staff in Wisconsin . . . totaled five workers if we count the lieutenant governor and the janitor”).
Sheriffs executing a warrant were empowered by the common law to enlist the aid of the able-bodied men of the community in doing so. See 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 332 (1765); In re Quarles, 158 U. S. 532, 535 (1895) . While serving as part of this “posse comitatus,” a private individual had the same authority as the sheriff, and was protected to the same extent. See, e.g., Robinson v. State, 93 Ga. 77, 18 S. E. 1018, 1019 (1893) (“A member of a posse comitatus summoned by the sheriff to aid in the execution of a warrant for a felony in the sheriff’s hands is entitled to the same protection in the discharge of his duties as the sheriff himself”); State v. Mooring, 115 N. C. 709, 20 S. E. 182 (1894) (considering it “well settled by the courts” that a sheriff may break open the doors of a house to execute a search warrant and that “if he act in good faith in doing so, both he and his posse comitatus will be protected”); North Carolina v. Gosnell, 74 F. 734, 738–739 (CC WDNC 1896) (“Both judicial and ministerial officers, in the execution of the duties of their office, are under the strong protection of the law; and their legally summoned assistants, for such time as in service, are officers of the law”); Reed v. Rice, 25 Ky. 44, 46–47 (App. 1829) (private individuals summoned by a constable to execute a search warrant were protected from a suit based on the invalidity of the warrant).
We read §1983 “in harmony with general principles of tort immunities and defenses.” Imbler, 424 U. S., at 418. And we “proceed[ ] on the assumption that common-law principles of . . . immunity were incorporated into our judicial system and that they should not be abrogated absent clear legislative intent to do so.” Pulliam v. Allen, 466 U. S. 522, 529 (1984) . Under this assumption, immu- nity under §1983 should not vary depending on whether an individual working for the government does so as a full-time employee, or on some other basis.
Nothing about the reasons we have given for recognizing immunity under §1983 counsels against carrying forward the common law rule. As we have explained, such immu- nity “protect[s] government’s ability to perform its traditional functions.” Wyatt v. Cole, 504 U. S. 158, 167 (1992) . It does so by helping to avoid “unwarranted timidity” in performance of public duties, ensuring that talented candidates are not deterred from public service, and preventing the harmful distractions from carrying out the work of government that can often accompany damages suits. Richardson v. McKnight, 521 U. S. 399 –411 (1997).
We have called the government interest in avoiding “unwarranted timidity” on the part of those engaged in the public’s business “the most important special government immunity-producing concern.” Id., at 409. Ensuring that those who serve the government do so “with the decisiveness and the judgment required by the public good,” Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U. S. 232, 240 (1974) , is of vital importance regardless whether the individual sued as a state actor works full-time or on some other basis.
Distinguishing among those who carry out the public’s business based on the nature of their particular relationship with the government also creates significant line-drawing problems. It is unclear, for example, how Fil- arsky would be categorized if he regularly spent half his time working for the City, or worked exclusively on one City project for an entire year. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 34–36. Such questions deprive state actors of the ability to “reasonably anticipate when their conduct may give rise to liability for damages,” Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U. S. 635, 646 (1987) (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted), frustrating the purposes immunity is meant to serve. An uncertain immunity is little better than no immunity at all.
Our decisions in Wyatt v. Cole, 504 U. S. 158 (1992) , and Richardson v. McKnight, 521 U. S. 399 (1997) , are not to the contrary. In Wyatt, we held that individuals who used a state replevin law to compel the local sheriff to seize disputed property from a former business partner were not entitled to seek qualified immunity. Cf. Lugar, 457 U. S. 922 (holding that an individual who uses a state replevin, garnishment, or attachment statute later declared to be unconstitutional acts under color of state law for purposes of §1983). We explained that the reasons underlying recognition of qualified immunity did not sup- port its extension to individuals who had no connection to government and pursued purely private ends. Because such individuals “hold no office requiring them to exercise discretion; nor are they principally concerned with enhancing the public good,” we concluded that extending immunity to them would “have no bearing on whether public officials are able to act forcefully and decisively in their jobs or on whether qualified applicants enter public service.” 504 U. S., at 168.
In Richardson, we considered whether guards employed by a privately run prison facility could seek the protection of qualified immunity. Although the Court had previously determined that public-employee prison guards were entitled to qualified immunity, see Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U. S. 555 (1978) , it determined that prison guards employed by a private company and working in a privately run prison facility did not enjoy the same protection. We explained that the various incentives characteristic of the private market in that case ensured that the guards would not perform their public duties with unwarranted timidity or be deterred from entering that line of work. 521 U. S., at 410–411.