Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Cal. Gov. Code § 820.21

Liability of Public Employees

Known as the Government Claims Act

The act spans §§ 810–998 (301 sections).

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Christina C. v. County of Orange CA4/3 (2013)

Most recently applied in Gabrielle A. v. County of Orange (March 2017)

Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 977, Sec. 1

How often courts cite this section

20042010201720
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, the civil immunity of juvenile court social workers, child protection workers, and other public employees authorized to initiate or conduct investigations or proceedings pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 200) of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall not extend to any of the following, if committed with malice:

(1) Perjury.

(2) Fabrication of evidence.

(3) Failure to disclose known exculpatory evidence.

(4) Obtaining testimony by duress, as defined in Section 1569 of the Civil Code, fraud, as defined in either Section 1572 or Section 1573 of the Civil Code, or undue influence, as defined in Section 1575 of the Civil Code.

(b) As used in this section, “malice” means conduct that is intended by the person described in subdivision (a) to cause injury to the plaintiff or despicable conduct that is carried on by the person described in subdivision (a) with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others.

Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.