Opinion ID: 2281299
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Brian Bishop

Text: Appellant also complains that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Brian Bishop. The trial court determined that Bishop was entitled to summary judgment because he was acting in his official capacity and therefore entitled to qualified official immunity at the time of the incident: acting within the scope of his employment, performing a discretionary duty, and not acting in bad faith. See Yanero v. Davis, 65 S.W.3d 510 (Ky.2001) (laying out these three elements). Appellant conceded the existence of the first two elements, so scope of employment and nature of the action were not argued to the trial court. This is unfortunate, because the obvious question arises, when construing the facts most favorably to the non-moving party on a motion for summary judgment, whether it was indeed within the scope of Bishop's employment to throw gas on a fire in order to scare or startle another person. The obvious reasonable answer is that it is not. But this Court is constrained to look only at the issue presented to the trial court, that is, the preserved claim of error. No argument has been made that there is palpable error in regard to either of the first two issues. Indeed, it is unclear that palpable error review is available, since Appellant's concession is more akin to an active waiver than a failure to preserve an error for review. Similarly, if Bishop were not acting within the scope of his employment, then the nature of his actionministerial or discretionaryis immaterial. But again, Appellant has admitted that the action was discretionary. This admission is important, because a court must determine whether the party was acting in good faith only where the action was discretionary. See Yanero, 65 S.W.3d at 522. Indeed, the arguments of counsel center around the question of whether Bishop's right to qualified official immunity can pass the qualification on the immunity, that is, whether the official performed the act in good faith. When sued in their individual capacity, as is the case here, public officers have only qualified official immunity, in that they are protected from liability only if they have made a good faith judgment call in a legally uncertain environment. Id. The good faith qualification has both an objective and a subjective component. Id. at 523 (citing Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 815, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). Objectively, a court must ask whether the behavior demonstrates a presumptive knowledge of and respect for basic, unquestioned constitutional rights. Id. (quoting Harlow, 457 U.S. at 815). Subjectively, the court's inquiry is whether the official has behaved with permissible intentions. Id. (quoting Harlow, 457 U.S. at 815). However, as Justice Cooper pointed out, most case law addresses these elements by stating when the qualified immunity is not available, or when the public official is acting in bad faith. Thus, bad faith can be predicated on a violation of a constitutional, statutory, or other clearly established right which a person in the public employee's position presumptively would have known was afforded a person in the plaintiffs position, i.e., objective unreasonableness. Id. Acting in the face of such knowledge makes the action objectively unreasonable. Or, bad faith can be predicated on whether the public employee willfully or maliciously intended to harm the plaintiff or acted with a corrupt motive, id., which requires a subjective analysis. Given the Appellant's admission that the actions of Bishop were performed within the scope of his duties, and that they were discretionary in nature, the burden shifts to the Appellant to show that the actions of Bishop were not performed in good faith. Id. Since the court was considering summary judgment, the facts as alleged by the Appellant are to be taken as true. Steelvest, Inc. v. Scansteel Service Center, Inc., 807 S.W.2d 476, 480 (Ky.1991) (The record must be viewed in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion for summary judgment and all doubts are to be resolved in his favor.). Those facts clearly establish that Bishop was not acting in good faith, either objectively or subjectively. Every person enjoys the established right to be free from assaults, which is supported by the criminalization of certain assaults or the liability that comes from civil assault. Bishop would certainly be presumed to knowthat is know or reasonably should have known that throwing gas on an open fire when the Appellant was standing nearby could reasonably cause Appellant harm, thus making Bishop's action objectively unreasonable, or in bad faith. Likewise, these actions demonstrate a bad or corrupt motive, even in light of the Appellant's characterization of the action as being a joke or the obvious conclusion that it was done to startle him. The dangerousness of the action, whether Bishop actually intended to harm Appellant or not, demonstrates the willfulness of the actthrowing the gas on the fire even though any reasonable person would have realized the danger to Appellantand demonstrates bad motive, or bad faith. At the heart of either good or bad faith is the element of belief or knowledge. Black's Law Dictionary defines good faith as used in the context of this case as [a] state of mind consisting in (1) honesty in belief or purpose, (2) faithfulness to one's duty or obligation.... Black's Law Dictionary 713 (8th ed.2004). Here, taking the facts as alleged by the Appellant to be true, Bishop could not have honestly or reasonably believed that he was faithfully performing his duty or obligation to Appellant when he threw gas on an open fire while Appellant was standing near it. Consequently, for purposes of summary judgment, it was error for the trial court to conclude that Bishop was entitled to qualified official immunity, and that judgment must be vacated. This case must thus be remanded to the trial court to set aside the summary judgment to Bishop, and proceed to trial on Appellant's claims against Bishop individually. The Court is aware that the facts are at issue in the trial of this matter, but that does not alter its conclusions in regard to whether Bishop was entitled to summary judgment at this point in the controversy.