Taser Lawsuit Reinstated

Local police officers are not immune from lawsuits under the Iowa Tort Claims Act, which generally shields state officers from liability stemming from their official duties, the court ruled 7-0.

The decision overturns a district judge’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit filed by Joshua N. Thomas against four North Liberty police officers and two Johnson County sheriff’s deputies. It means the case will proceed to trial after years of litigation, unless a settlement is reached.

More broadly, the ruling means that peace officers who work for cities and counties will not enjoy the same legal protections as state troopers and agents.

Thomas contends he was wrongfully assaulted and arrested by officers when he tried to break up a fight at a concert at North Liberty Fun Days in June 2007. He claims that officers grabbed him and repeatedly deployed Tasers on him unnecessarily, which has caused ongoing pain and muscle damage.

Lawyers for the city and county defended the officers’ actions. They persuaded a judge to dismiss the case by arguing the officers were “employees of the state” who were enforcing state laws at the time of the arrest and were therefore immune from damage claims.

Justice Edward Mansfield rejected that argument in Friday’s ruling. He wrote that the officers were municipal employees, regardless of whether they were enforcing local or state laws, and could be sued for claims of assault, battery, false arrest, and malicious prosecution.

Mansfield said that justices were mindful of the concern that state officers and local officers working “side by side in a joint law enforcement operation” will have different legal protections. But he said that characterizing local government employees as state employees when they are enforcing state laws would create other problems when they were accused of misconduct.

“For example, what if a local law enforcement officer is responding to an ordinance violation and investigating a possible violation of state criminal law at the same time? And who pays the bill or provides the defense when a local official enforcing state law is sued —the state or the local entity?” he asked. “Iowa law contains no mechanism for resolving these disputes, which suggests the legislature didn’t anticipate them.”

One of Thomas’ attorneys, Mary Kate Pilcher Hayek, praised the ruling.

“The decision makes it clear that municipal employees, including police officers, are not protected by the same tort immunities, such as assault and battery, as state employees,” she said in a written statement. “The impact on our case is that Josh Thomas will finally have an opportunity to let a jury decide whether the defendants committed the alleged torts against him.”

An attorney representing North Liberty and its officers, Terry Abernathy, said he was still studying the ruling.

“We’ll now have a trial and it will be up to a jury to resolve the fact issues in the case,” he said.