Police Brutality & Civil Rights
Governmental Immunity
6 statutes with plain-language summaries, case relevance, source links, and related Michigan practice areas.
Governmental Immunity
6 statutes"Except as otherwise provided in this act, a governmental agency is immune from tort liability if the governmental agency is engaged in the exercise or discharge of a governmental function."Read Full Statute
Michigan's Governmental Immunity Act grants government agencies — including police departments and municipalities — broad immunity from negligence claims arising from governmental functions. A specific statutory exception must apply to overcome this immunity.
Governmental immunity is the primary defense Michigan municipalities raise in civil rights cases brought under state law. Federal § 1983 claims bypass this immunity entirely — which is why civil rights attorneys rely primarily on federal claims.
We rely primarily on federal § 1983 claims to avoid Michigan's broad governmental immunity, while simultaneously identifying any applicable state-law exceptions that allow parallel state claims.
"Each officer and employee of a governmental agency... is immune from tort liability for an injury to a person or damage to property caused by the officer, employee, or member while in the course of employment or service... if... (c) The officer's, employee's, member's, or volunteer's conduct does not amount to gross negligence that is the proximate cause of the injury or damage."Read Full Statute
Individual government employees, including police officers, are personally immune from state-law negligence claims unless their conduct was grossly negligent — substantially more than ordinary negligence — and was the proximate cause of the harm.
This high gross negligence standard makes state-law claims against individual officers extremely difficult to pursue. It is one of the primary reasons civil rights attorneys rely on federal § 1983, which has no such immunity requirement.
We pursue federal § 1983 claims that bypass state immunity protections, while building the factual record to satisfy gross negligence for state-law claims in the strongest cases.
"A judge, a legislator, and the elective or highest appointive executive official of all levels of government are immune from tort liability for injuries to persons or damages to property whenever they are acting within the scope of their judicial, legislative, or executive authority."Read Full Statute
Judges acting within their judicial capacity are broadly immune from state tort liability for acts taken within their jurisdiction.
Claims against judges for conduct during court proceedings are generally barred. In civil rights cases, federal remedies (§ 1983) and administrative complaints provide the primary avenues for challenging judicial misconduct.
In cases involving judicial conduct, we focus on federal constitutional claims and bar association complaints rather than state tort claims against the individual judge.
"A volunteer acting on behalf of a governmental agency is immune from tort liability for an injury to a person or damage to property caused by the volunteer while acting on behalf of the governmental agency if the volunteer is acting or reasonably believes he or she is acting within the scope of his or her authority."Read Full Statute
Volunteers acting on behalf of a governmental agency have limited immunity from personal tort liability when acting reasonably within the scope of their volunteer duties.
Volunteer auxiliary police officers, civilian ride-alongs, and community policing volunteers may have limited immunity protection depending on the nature of their role at the time of the incident.
We analyze the employment and volunteer status of every participant in a civil rights incident to identify which individuals retain immunity and which do not, ensuring we target the right defendants.
"The early Governmental Immunity Act sections define governmental agencies and functions, require governmental agencies to maintain highways in reasonable repair, set knowledge and notice rules for highway-defect claims, preserve liability for negligent operation of government-owned motor vehicles, and create the public-building exception for dangerous or defective public buildings."Read Full Statute
The Governmental Immunity Act broadly protects governmental agencies, but early sections preserve limited exceptions and procedural rules for claims involving highway defects, negligent operation of government-owned motor vehicles, and dangerous or defective public buildings.
When a civil rights incident also involves a government vehicle, public building, road defect, or other statutory exception, a state-law claim may proceed alongside the federal § 1983 claim if the procedural requirements are met.
We assess all applicable immunity exceptions in every civil rights case to build the widest possible net of legal theories and defendants.
"This act does not grant immunity to a governmental agency with respect to providing medical care or treatment to a patient, or to a governmental agency engaged in a proprietary function. Proprietary function means an activity conducted primarily for the purpose of producing a pecuniary profit for the governmental agency, excluding an activity normally supported by taxes or fees."Read Full Statute
A governmental agency is not immune when it is engaged in a proprietary function: an activity conducted primarily to produce a pecuniary profit and not normally supported by taxes or fees.
The proprietary function exception is narrow and fact-specific, but it can matter when a government entity is acting more like a profit-driven business than a traditional government agency.
We analyze the purpose, funding, and revenue structure of government-operated programs to determine whether a proprietary-function theory can support a state-law claim alongside federal civil rights claims.