If a public employee acts in good faith, without malice, and under the apparent authority of an enactment that is unconstitutional, invalid or inapplicable, he is not liable for an injury caused thereby except to the extent that he would have been liable had the enactment been constitutional, valid and applicable.
Cal. Gov. Code § 820.6
Liability of Public Employees
Known as the Government Claims Act
The act spans §§ 810–998 (301 sections).
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 24 Cal. 3d 238 - Peterson v. City of Long Beach (1979)
Most recently applied in Thomas v. Dillard (August 2016)
Added by Stats. 1963, Ch. 1681.
How often courts cite this section
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.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.