Box v. Oregon State Police

Under ORS 30.265(6)(f), Apparent Authority Immunity “applies to public actors who, acting without bad faith or malice, rely on their plausible interpretation of laws that turn out to be unconstitutional, invalid, or inapplicable” which does not include “preshooting tactical decisions” and “OSP’s preshooting supervisory decisions.”

Box appealed a grant of summary judgment which was granted in favor of Oregon State Police (OSP). Box brought a wrongful death action on behalf of Robert Box after Robert was shot and killed by OSP. On appeal, Box argued that the trial court erred when it granted summary judgment for OSP, where the court found that OSP was entitled to apparent authority immunity (AAI). Box alleged that the “troopers’ pre-shooting conduct was negligent” and that OSP “negligently supervised and trained” the troopers. OSP argued that the lower court erred in concluding that the ORCP 47 E declaration was enough to create an issue of fact regarding the causation element. Under ORS 30.265(6)(f), Apparent Authority Immunity “applies to public actors who, acting without bad faith or malice, rely on their plausible interpretation of laws that turn out to be unconstitutional, invalid, or inapplicable” which does not include “preshooting tactical decisions” and “OSP’s preshooting supervisory decisions.” The court agreed and held that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on the negligence claim to OSP on AAI grounds because AAI does not immunize OSP for the “preshooting negligent conduct of the troopers” or OSP supervisors. Reversed and remanded.