Labor & Employment Law

Immunity of witnesses

By Harvey Randall, Esq.

Immunity of witnesses
Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adjunctprofs/

Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2008, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved.

Rolan v. Henneman, ___F.3d___ (2d Cir. Feb. 25, 2008), is an interesting public sector employment law case. This case principally concerned immunity of the defendant, an acting police chief, for offering allegedly perjurious testimony at police disciplinary hearings. This hearing was the equivalent to an arbitration. The court affirmed the dismissal of the case because 1) testifying witnesses in police disciplinary hearings of the type at issue have absolute immunity from suit for their testimony; and 2) plaintiff failed to state a constitutionally cognizable deprivation of liberty or property rights as a result of another defendant-officer's alleged false accusations.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq.
_________________________

NOTE: In addition, citing Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219, 227 and Austern v. Chicago Board of Options Exchange, Inc., 898 F.2d 882, the Circuit Court of Appeals also noted that ?because absolute immunity is ?justified and defined by the functions it protects and serves, not by the person to whom it attaches,? we extended the common law protection of immunity accorded to judges to arbitrators in contractually-agreed upon arbitration proceedings.?

According to the court, ?We are persuaded by the policy concerns [of the need for independent judgment, protection from undue influence, and protection from reprisals by dissatisfied litigants,] and agree that the nature of the function performed by arbitrators necessitates protection analogous to that traditionally accorded to judges.?

Furthermore, said the court, ?we note that individuals cannot be expected to volunteer to arbitrate disputes if they can be caught up in the struggle between the litigants and saddled with the burdens of defending a lawsuit. Accordingly, we hold that arbitrators in contractually agreed upon arbitration proceedings are absolutely immune from liability in damages for all acts within the scope of the arbitral process.?

Harvey Randall, Esq.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).