Shoemaker v. Myers

In Shoemaker v. Myers (1992) 2 Cal.App.4th 1407, the Court held that Government Code section 821.6, which grants immunity to public employees for "instituting or prosecuting any judicial or administrative proceeding within the scope of his employment," is abrogated by Government Code section 19683, a whistleblower statute that applies specifically to public employees. The Court explained that "the coverage of Government Code sections 821.6 and 19683 overlaps where, as here, public employees are accused of using official authority to 'discourage, restrain, interfere with, coerce and discriminate against' another public employee by means of a judicial or administrative proceeding," and held that "because the scope and purposes of Government Code section 19683 are more narrow than those of Government Code section 821.6, the former prevails where the two are in conflict." (2 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1423-1424.) To hold otherwise "would immunize the most egregious conduct undertaken to discourage whistle-blowing" and render the right of the injured party to civil damages for such conduct illusory. (Id. at p. 1424.)