Opinion ID: 1652596
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: WITNESS IMMUNITY or PRIVILEGE in LOUISIANA

Text: We next turn to the question certified to us, and Howard's contention that this court should uphold our longstanding and broad tradition of witness immunity and refrain from creating an exception to that tradition for retained or friendly experts. However, the privilege of witness immunity is itself an exception to general tort liability; thus, the question before us is whether we should extend and broaden that exception by applying the privilege of witness immunity to retained or friendly experts so as to shield them from a malpractice suit by the party that hired them. In answering this question in the negative, we first examine the history of witness immunity in Louisiana to determine the underlying policy reasons that resulted in the crafting of the privilege, and then conclude that these policy reasons do not justify protecting a retained expert from malpractice liability in this case where the expert was hired to assist his client in a judicial proceeding by reviewing medical billing reports and making certain calculations, but made errors in performing these services. In Louisiana, the affirmative defense of witness immunity or privilege has evolved from the jurisprudence. [7] Since the 1800s, this court has recognized the rule that, at least in the context of defamation suits against adverse witnesses, immunity from a civil action attaches to a witness in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. Oakes v. Walther, 179 La. 365, 154 So. 26, 27 (1934); Burke v. Ryan, 36 La. Ann. 951 (1884); Terry v. Fellows, 21 La. Ann. 375 (1869). The policy basis for this rule has been explained as follows: The administration of justice requires the testimony of witnesses to be unrestrained by liability to vexatious litigation. The words they utter are protected by the occasion, and cannot be the foundation for an action for slander. Terry v. Fellows, 21 La. Ann. at 376. [8] More recently, in Knapper v. Connick, 96-0434, p. 3 (La.10/15/96), 681 So.2d 944, 946, we stated that communications made in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings carry an absolute privilege so that witnesses, bound by their oaths to tell the truth, may speak freely without fear of civil suits for damages. [9] The court in the 1869 Louisiana Supreme Court decision, Terry v. Fellows , further explained that [w]itnesses, like jurors, appear in court in obedience to the authority of the law, and therefore may be considered as well as jurors to be acting in the discharge of a public duty, and though [they are liable to prosecution for perjury or for conspiracy to give false testimony], they are not responsible in a civil action for any reflections thrown out in delivering their testimony. 21 La.Ann. at 376-77, quoting Thomas Starkie, A Treatise on the Law of Slander and Libel, and Incidentally of Malicious Prosecutions, vol. II, p. 242 (2d English Ed. 1830) (hereinafter Starkie on Slander ). [10] The court stated that an action of slander does not lie for anything said or done in the course of a judicial proceeding. 21 La.Ann. at 377, citing Starkie on Slander, vol. II, p. 254. In general, witness immunity is an absolute privilege because the privilege protects the witness from civil suit regardless of malice or falsity. See Burke v. Ryan, 36 La. Ann. at 951-52; see also Lauga v. McDougall, 463 So.2d 754 (La. App. 4th Cir.1985)(police officer who testified against the plaintiff at grand jury proceedings and trials was absolutely immune from prosecution for a defamation action even if his testimony were false). At English common law, absolute witness immunity required no showing that the allegedly defamatory statements were relevant to the proceeding. See Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 U.S. 325, 331 n. 11, 103 S.Ct. 1108, 1113 n. 11, 75 L.Ed.2d 96, 104 n. 11 (1983). In Louisiana, the rule of witness immunity is somewhat narrower, to the extent that the witness's declarations cannot serve as the foundation for a civil suit when they are pertinent and material. Oakes v. Walther, 154 So. at 27, citing Burke v. Ryan, supra . In Burke v. Ryan , the plaintiff sued the defendants, who had, under threat of subpoena, signed affidavits in an earlier case to the effect that the plaintiff had a poor reputation for truth and veracity. These affidavits, procured by an attorney representing a criminal defendant in the earlier case in which the plaintiff had apparently testified, were filed in support of a motion for new trial in that case based on newly discovered evidence. In reversing the jury's award for the plaintiff in the subsequent libel case, the court stated: It needs no elaborate reference to authorities to establish the proposition of law; that as witnesses, who appear in a court of justice, discharge a public duty; that, though they be liable to a prosecution for perjury, should they commit such, they are not responsible, in a civil action, for any reflection thrown out in delivering their testimony, or for anything said or published by them in the course of a judicial proceeding, even if the statement be false, malicious and without probable cause. There is put this qualification, however: that statements thus made, in the course of an action, must be pertinent and material to the issue.    The authorities are also to the effect that every affidavit sworn to in the course of a judicial proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction is absolutely privileged and no action lies therefor, however false and malicious may be the statement therein contained. 36 La.Ann. at 951-52 (citations omitted). The court in Burke v. Ryan reasoned that the affidavits were legal evidence and that they were applicable, pertinent, and material to the issue raised by the motion for new trial. Accordingly, the affidavits were protected communications, and the affiants were absolutely immune from civil liability. In short, our courts have long recognized the general rule that there is absolute immunity from civil liability for testimony given by a non-party witness in a judicial proceeding, so long as that testimony is pertinent and material to the issue. See Oakes, supra . [11] Thus, as in a number of other American jurisdictions, once the threshold showing is made that the allegedly defamatory statements were relevant to the judicial proceeding, the privilege of absolute immunity protects the witness from civil liability regardless of malice or falsity. See Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 U.S. at 331 n. 11, 103 S.Ct. at 1113 n. 11; see also Murphy v. A.A. Mathews, 841 S.W.2d 671, 675-77 (Mo.Sup.Ct.1992). Courts in Louisiana have not restricted application of absolute witness immunity to just defamation and libel/slander cases, but have also applied the privilege to retaliation cases against adverse witnesses, including experts. For example, in Moity v. Busch, 368 So.2d 1134, 1136 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1979), concerning the testimony of an expert witness, the court of appeal found the witness's testimony to be absolutely privileged. There, the plaintiff sued the expert witness retained by the defendant in the prior litigation, alleging that the expert witness's testimony, filed in support of a motion for summary judgment, had been defamatory and consisted of untrue results and that the witness had not been qualified to give expert opinion testimony in the field of structures and paint. [12] The court of appeal, in affirming summary judgment in favor of the expert witness defendant, cited Terry v. Fellows, supra , and Bienvenue v. Angelle, 254 La. 182, 223 So.2d 140 (1969), for the proposition that testimony given at a judicial proceeding by a non-litigant witness carries with it absolute immunity from a defamation suit stemming from the utterance of such testimony. 368 So.2d at 1136. The court went on to say that, [a]s an accepted qualified expert witness, [the defendant] was free to give his opinion whether others might disagree with his conclusions or not. Id. Thus, an adverse expert witness was found to be immune from a retaliation suit filed by the losing party in the earlier litigation, so that witnesses in a judicial proceeding may speak freely without fear of civil liability and, thus, preserve and protect the truth finding objective of the administration of justice. The privilege of absolute immunity, however, has not been extended in every suit against a witness or affiant in a prior judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding. In Goldstein v. Serio, 496 So.2d 412, 415 (La.App. 4th Cir.1986), writs denied, 501 So.2d 208, 209 (La.1987), the court refused to apply the privilege as an affirmative defense to defeat a claim for malicious prosecution or abuse of process. There, the plaintiffs, attorneys, sued former clients who had filed a complaint with the Louisiana State Bar Association alleging improprieties committed by the plaintiff attorneys during their earlier representation. The court observed that the privilege applies only to statements communicated to third persons; thus, it is a defense only to a claim of defamation. The court reasoned, In both malicious prosecution and abuse of process, the crux of the action is not the statements made but the fact that a proceeding was maliciously and/or illegally pursued. 496 So.2d at 415. Thus, the privilege applies to preserve candor in the attorney disciplinary system, yet complaints to the bar under-taken in malice or in abuse of process are not worthy of such protection. [13] A few Louisiana courts have discussed absolute judicial immunity from civil suit in the context of court-appointed experts. In S.T.J. v. P.M., 556 So.2d 244 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1990), the court held that three psychologists appointed by the court during a custody dispute to evaluate an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor were entitled to absolute judicial immunity from any tort liability asserted in a subsequent suit filed by the losing parent. The court reasoned that the appointed professionals were non-judicial persons fulfilling quasi-judicial functions and, pursuant to La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 373, are classified as officers of the court with functions intimately related to the judicial process. Therefore, such court-appointed experts are entitled to absolute judicial immunity, as are judges, protecting them from having to litigate the manner in which they perform these functions. 556 So.2d at 247, relying on Myers v. Morris, 810 F.2d 1437 (8th Cir.1987) (psychologists-therapists who evaluated child victims of alleged sexual abuse have absolute immunity for damages arising from their performance of delegated functions). [14] The court opined, Should they be found unprotected by such immunity, it can be envisioned that psychologists would seek to avoid future court appointments and that fear of civil liability could mar opinions and recommendations given to the court. 556 So.2d at 247. In sum, the privilege of absolute witness immunity is an exception to tort liability under La. Civ.Code art. 2315. Louisiana courts have narrowly tailored the exception to protect the particular interests involved. In the case of adverse witnesses, both non-volunteer witnesses and expert witnesses, we have identified the protected interest as the administration of justice and its objective to uncover the truth. To further that interest, Louisiana courts have applied the privilege of witness immunity in defamation actions and retaliation suits against adverse witnesses. Until today, neither this court nor any other Louisiana court of appeal has been called upon to decide whether the administration of justice is, on balance, furthered by applying the privilege of absolute witness immunity to protect a friendly expert from a subsequent suit by the party that hired him, alleging that the expert was deficient in the performance of his duties to provide litigation services, including formulating opinions and recommendations, as well as giving testimony before or during trial. We thus turn to the precise issue presented to us.