Cameron v. Lang

These appeals concern the interplay between the issues of qualified immunity and proximate cause when a law enforcement officer is sued for damages as a result of a high speed chase of a fleeing suspect. In both actions, the trial court granted summary judgment to the officers and their government employers based on the doctrines of official qualified immunity and sovereign governmental immunity. The Court of Appeals for the State of Georgia affirmed in the City of Savannah case,1 but reversed in the Peach County case based on OCGA § 40-6-6.2

We granted the writ of certiorari to address whether a trial court must consider the issue of qualified immunity before the issue of causation under OCGA § 40-6-6. Because the rationale for qualified immunity is to protect the independent judgment of public employees without the potential threat of liability, we hold that a court must consider as a threshold issue whether the officer is entitled to qualified immunity from personal liability in a lawsuit for damages. Despite the seemingly inconsistent results in these cases, we nevertheless affirm both decisions of the court of appeals.