finding summary judgment was not warranted when there was dispute over whether an officer’s conduct constituted willful misconduct when, considering the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, the officer may have knowingly violated department policy
How later courts described this case
- finding summary judgment was not warranted when there was dispute over whether an officer’s conduct constituted willful misconduct when, considering the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, the officer may have knowingly violated department policy
- discussing willful misconduct standard applied in tort actions stemming from police pursuits, following the re *877 jection of a negligence standard in Tice v. Cramer, 133 N.J. 347, 627 A.2d 1090 (1993), as a result of the absolute immunity for injuries that would not have occurred but for the negligence of police conferred by the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, N.J.S.A. 59:5-2b(2)
- holding that “in the context of a police officer's enforcement of the law, including the pursuit of a fleeing vehicle, willful misconduct is ordinarily limited to” such circumstances
- defining "wilful misconduct" in the context of a police pursuit as "the knowing failure to follow specific orders, `knowing' that there is an order and wilfully failing to follow it, i.e., intentionally failing to obey an order"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
STEIN, J.,
concurring in the result.
For affirmance in part and reversal in part — Chief Justice WILENTZ, and Justices HANDLER, POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI and COLEMAN — 6.