Immunity (law)

“ Qualified immunity protects law enforcement officers from being tried for actions taken in the course of their duties. If the immunity applies, it entitles the officer to be free of the "burdens of litigation." ”

“ That is a matter of federal constitutional law which does not depend upon the interpretation of the New York immunity statute.
The Court's wholly wrong focus upon the particular state immunity statute [2] involved results from its failure to distinguish two different procedural postures in which the question of the scope of immunity required by the Fifth Amendment can be raised. First, an individual may rely on the Fifth Amendment privilege and refuse to answer a question after he has been granted immunity pursuant to an immunity statute and ordered to respond. ”

“ But when the existence of an asserted federal right or immunity depends upon the appraisal of undisputed facts of record, or where reference to the facts is necessary to the determination of the precise meaning of the federal right of immunity, as applied, we are free to reexamine the facts as well as the law in order to determine for ourselves whether the asserted right or immunity is to be sustained. ”

“ We do not believe, however, that advising the police in the investigative phase of a criminal case is so "intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process," Imbler, 424 U.S., at 430, 96 S.Ct., at 995, that it qualifies for absolute immunity. Absent a tradition of immunity comparable to the common-law immunity from malicious prosecution, which formed the basis for the decision in Imbler, we have not been inclined to extend absolute immunity from liability under § 1983. See, e.g., Malley, 475 U.S., at 342, 106 S.Ct., at 1096. ”

“ The term ‘immunity’ is well known to the law and we believe it can be usefully employed in a juristic sense, which is reasonably consistent with prevailing professional usage, and it seems to us unfortunate that an effort was not made to incorporate it in a juristic table where its actual fundamental operation would be disclosed. Nor do we deny that it may rarely be convenient to use a negative category of terms to facilitate communication of ideas, as. ”

“ Such transactional immunity, in my view, steers a well-conceived middle path between, on the one hand, a position that no immunity statute can supplant the constitutional privilege and, on the other, a position that affords the individual the altogether too narrow protection of use immunity as applied to the very government that has compelled him to incriminate himself. ”

“ The question of the occurrence of immunity in malaria has been extensively studied in recent years, not only from the epidemiologic standpoint but from experimental inoculations which have been carried on in both men and animals. ”

“ Fourth, A has an indefinite number of legal immunities, using the term ‘immunity’ in the very specific sense of non-liability, or non-subjection to a power on the part of another person. [18] Thus A has the immunity that no ordinary person can alienate A’s legal interest or aggregate of jural relations to another person; the immunity that no ordinary person can extinguish A’s own privileges of using the land; the immunity that no ordinary person can extinguish A’s right that another person, X, shall not enter on the land, or, in other words, create in X a privilege of entering in the land. ”

“ In nations which have made a false commencement, it would be found that the citizen, or rather the subject, has extorted immunity after immunity, as his growing intelligence and importance have both instructed and required him to defend those particular rights which were necessary to his well-being. ”

“ Most importantly, the subsequent development of our sovereign immunity jurisprudence has only undermined Arizona’s already weak foundations. We recognized in Alden v. Maine, 527 U. S. 706, 718 (1999) , that the Constitution left intact the States’ pre-existing “immunity from private suits”; as the Eleventh Amendment confirms, the States did not “ ‘surrender . . . this immunity in the plan of the convention.’ ” Id., at 717 (quoting The Federalist No. 81, p. 487 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (A. Hamilton) ) ”

“ The earliest federal statute dealing with immunity is the Act of January 24, 1857, 11 Stat. 155, as amended by the Act of January 24, 1862, 12 Stat. 333. This legislation, relating to testimony before either House of Congress, furnished a model for later immunity provisions. Congress was careful to state precisely what it was for which immunity was given: 'No witness shall hereafter be allowed to refuse to testify to any fact or to produce any paper * * *.' 11 Stat. ”

“ It only half protects Hyderabad from floods, it much reduces their intensity, but it does not confer entire immunity. The river Easi has still to be controlled, an even larger and more costly work, but one which can be applied to a purpose which in India is of overwhelming importance in irrigation. It will not come in my time, but I sincerely hope that His Highness who is young and by God's blessing strong and vigorous, will some day complete the whole scheme which he is now here to inaugurate. ”

“ Not because it means progress or any bunk like that, but because unless you had a certain amount of crime, and also criminal lawyers to attack the law, the state would never find out the weaknesses in its statutes. Therefore the more crime there is the more the protective power of the state is built up, just as the fever engendered by vaccine renders the human body immune from smallpox! ”

“ He charges the Department of Transportation with negligently maintaining and repairing the divider, thereby creating a dangerous condition which caused the accident. The Department defends on the basis of immunity afforded by the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 et seq. (hereafter the Act) , particularly plan and design immunity, N.J.S.A. 59:4-6, and discretionary activities immunity, N.J.S.A. 59:3-2.
Immunity is the dominant consideration of the Act. See, e.g., [A344] Malloy v. State, 76 N.J. 515, 519 (1978) . ”

“ See 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III) § 751 et seq., 5 U.S.C.A. § 751 et seq. Such a comprehensive plan for waiver of sovereign immunity, in the absence of specific exceptions, would naturally be regarded as exclusive. ”

“ PROPAGATION AND INFLICTION OF DISEASE A MEDICAL CRIME The extensive propagation and coercive infliction of a dangerous disease, under the false pretense that it is necessary for public good and is safe and harmless, is obviously in the nature of a gross medical malpractice and public crime which is against public policy and public health and should be abolished by Penal Law, just as Smallpox Inoculation was abolished nearly a century ago. ”

“ II.⁠DISCUSSION A.⁠Qualified Immunity “The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted) . In the Fourth Amendment context, " [t] his inquiry turns on the objective legal reasonableness of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were clearly established at the time it was taken." ”

“ Here lies the difference between this case and Regan v. People of State of New York. For after that case arose, New York amended its immunity statute. Instead of conferring automatic immunity on all witnesses who testify before the grand jury, immunity is now conferred 'only by strict compliance with the procedural requirements of our immunity statutes properly enacted * * *.' People v. Laino, 10 N.Y.2d 161, 173, 218 N.Y.S.2d 647, 657, 176 N.E.2d 571, 579. ”

“ Congress at that time and at the request of many of those organizations enacted the Immunities Act. Given the differences between international organizations and nation states, along with the Act’s purposes and the risk of untoward consequences, I would leave the Immunities Act where we found it–as providing for immunity in both commercial and noncommercial suits.
My decision rests primarily not upon linguistic analysis, but upon basic statutory purposes. Linguistic methods alone, however artfully employed, too often can be used to justify opposite conclusions. ”

“ Third, greater requirements or difficulties of proof by a defendant inhere in the rule of absolute immunity. When a witness testifies under the auspices of an immunity act, the immunity he gets does not secure him from indictment or conviction. Heike v. United States, 217 U.S. 423, 30 S.Ct. 539, 54 L.Ed. 821. The witness must plead and prove, as an affirmative defense, that he has received immunity and that the instant prosecution is on account of a matter testified to in exchange for immunity, Heike v. ”

“ There is no question that § 106 (c) effects a waiver of sovereign immunity. The statute, which applies to the Federal Government, the States, and municipalities alike, see 11 U.S.C. § 101 (21) , states in the clearest possible terms that provisions of the Code using any of the trigger words apply to governmental units "notwithstanding any assertion of sovereign immunity," and the legislative history supports that reading. It is well settled that when the Federal Government waives its sovereign immunity, the scope of that waiver is construed liberally to effect its remedial purposes. ”

“ In making that recommendation, the Task Force cited the same basic policy goals used to advance the California statute. Id. at 10-11. In short, the Task Force advocated that the Legislature enact a "selective and intelligent waiver of [] immunity." Id. at 8. Our Legislature responded by adopting the Act and declaring:
The Legislature recognizes the inherently unfair and inequitable results which occur in the strict ap-plication of the traditional doctrine of sovereign immunity. ”

“ The category ‘immunity’—‘disability’ is an empty one—it has absolutely no content. It may be conceded that in the administration of justice the question often may be, and is, litigated whether A has the power to divest the title of B. A either has such a power or he has not. If A has the power, we are not dealing with an immunity but with a liability—something real—a positive concept; but if A does not have the power, even though A asserts it, there are blanks on both sides. ”

“ PROPOSED LAW TO COMPENSATE PARENTS FOR INJURY TO OR DEATH OF VACCINATED CHILDREN As suggested in a previous page, there should be a special act passed by every State, which now requires compulsory vaccination in any form, to indemnify parents or relatives for any injury or death caused by vaccination forced on children or other victims by such unwise law as requires the general infliction of a compulsory disease upon the people. ”

“ The Hall issue so rarely arises because most States, like most sovereign nations, are reluctant to deny a sister State the immunity that they would prefer to enjoy reciprocally. Thus, even in the absence of constitutionally mandated immunity, States normally grant sovereign immunity voluntarily. States that fear that this practice will be insufficiently protective are free to enter into an interstate compact to guarantee that the normal practice of granting immunity will continue. ”

“ As noted, we hold we must apply the Midcal test. Although the States satisfy Midcal's "clear articulation" prong, they fail the second prong requiring them to actively supervise the anticompetitive restraints causing injury. Because private participants in state action enjoy Parker immunity only to the extent the States enjoy immunity, the defendants are not shielded by Parker. [56] Therefore, consistent with the Supreme Court's treatment of hybrid restraints, we hold defendants are not immune under the Parker immunity doctrine. ”

“ Mere use immunity, which protects the individual only against the actual use of his compelled testimony and its fruits, satisfies neither the language of the Constitution itself nor the values, purposes, and policies that the privilege was historically designed to serve and that it must serve in a free country. ”

“ Lamb, 738 F.2d 1005, 1008 (9th Cir.1984) . Because qualified immunity protects government officials from suit as well as from liability, it is essential that qualified immunity claims be resolved at the earliest possible stage of litigation. ”

“ Without at all attempting to limit the kinds of 'proceeding' in which the witness can earn the promised immunity, Congress followed the President's suggestion and provided in the 1966 amendment to the 1903 Immunity Act now before us that the immunity would apply only to individuals testifying in obedience to subpoena and under oath. ”

“ Several of this Court's decisions make clear that much of our state immunity doctrine has absolutely nothing to do with the limit on judicial power contained in the Eleventh Amendment. For example, it is well established that a State may waive its immunity, subjecting itself to possible suit in federal court. ”

“ As we construed §6002 in Kastigar, such immunity is co-extensive with the constitutional privilege. Kastigar requires that respondent’s motion to dismiss the indictment on immunity grounds be granted unless the Government proves that the evidence it used in obtaining the indictment and proposed to use at trial was derived from legitimate sources “wholly independent” of the testimonial aspect of respondent’s immunized conduct in assembling and producing the documents described in the subpoena. ”