Stanleyv.Patterson Et Al.
Court personnel failed to remove a bind-over order from case files sent to a solicitor-general’s office, contributing to the improper arrest and jailing of the plaintiff. The trial court directed a verdict for the court administrator and municipal-court case managers based on quasi-judicial immunity, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed. It held that the alleged negligence involved a routine ministerial task, not a function normally performed by a judge, so quasi-judicial immunity did not protect the defendants. The Court remanded for further proceedings on the negligence claim. A concurrence emphasized that the decision properly limited an earlier precedent so that judicial employees would not receive broad immunity for ordinary administrative acts merely because a judge directed them.
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