Suing Government Employees Personally

Typically government employees are entitled to qualified immunity for acts committed within their official job functions. Such official job functions are called usually discretionary functions and for any such discretionary acts, they are usually afforded complete immunity. The only way around this immunity from suit is to prove that the government actor acted with actual malice or intended to cause harm and/or were acting outside the scope of their authority. As is true of any other claim involving either sovereign immunity or official immunity/qualified immunity claims against government agencies and/or employees, it is necessary that a claimant, who has been injured through the acts of a government agency or employee, immediately confer with counsel.
As we have blogged on in the last week or so, there are many pre-suit notification requirements and there is quite a bit of analysis that has to be done to determine whether an individual government employee can be held personally liable in their personal capacity and/or whether there is any waiver of sovereign immunity such that claims can be brought against them in their official capacity. Because time is of the essence in these claims, any person that has a potential claim against a government agent or employee, should confer with counsel immediately.