Section 9.24 Officials Protected by Official Immunity

• Library: Local Government Deskbook (2017 Ed.)

B. (§9.24) Officials Protected by Official Immunity

Missouri courts have not applied a consistent rule in determining which public officers or employees are eligible for official immunity. Official immunity cases typically fail to even discuss the issue, focusing instead on the discretionary-ministerial distinction discussed in §9.25 below.

In State ex rel. Eli Lilly & Co. v. Gaertner, 619 S.W.2d 761 (Mo. App. E.D. 1981), the court reasoned that a public officer must exercise some portion of the sovereign’s power in order to be protected by official immunity. The court held that the state-employed doctors, who were defendants in the underlying case, were not public officials exercising the sovereign’s power and were not entitled to official immunity.

In Sherrill v. Wilson, 653 S.W.2d 661 (Mo. banc 1983), however, the Supreme Court held that the treating physician defendants were protected by official immunity. Sherrill was a wrongful death action brought by the mother of an individual killed by...