4.1.4 Privilege to Act within Statutory Authority

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

It is intuitively understood that any conduct which is mandated by statute, or for which a privilege is specifically recognized in a statute, cannot be improper. A situation involving statutory immunity arose in a case involving a physician whose medical license had been revoked. Following the revocation of the license, the physician brought an action, inter alia, for interference with contractual relations and business expectancy against the Board of Medical Examiners and the physicians who reported the misconduct to the board and participated in the Board's deliberative process.[fn287] The Court found for the defendants as a matter of law based on the statutory privilege codified in A.R.S. § 36-445.02 which, at the time, provided for immunity for physicians involved in a peer review process who act without malice and in good faith.[fn288] The Court also noted that a physician has a statutory duty to report any information concerning...