Office of State Attorney, Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida v. Parrotino
| Decision Date | 02 December 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 81229,81229 |
| Parties | 18 Fla. L. Weekly S611 The OFFICE OF the STATE ATTORNEY, FOURTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA, Petitioner, v. Tina PARROTINO, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Robert E. Warren and J. Baxter Gillespie of Taylor, Moseley & Joyner, Jacksonville, for petitioner.
Darryl D. Kendrick, Jacksonville, for respondent.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Louis F. Hubener, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, amicus curiae for State of Florida.
Arthur I. Jacobs, Fernandina Beach, amicus curiae for Florida Pros. Attys. Ass'n.
Richard A. Barnett, Hollywood, amicus curiae for Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers.
We have for review the following questions certified to be of great public importance:
DID A COMMON LAW DUTY OF CARE RUN FROM THE OFFICE OF THE STATE ATTORNEY TO THE VICTIM, MCFARLAND, DUE TO THE VICTIM'S RELIANCE TO HER DETRIMENT UPON THE VOLUNTARY ASSURANCES OF THE OFFICE OF THE STATE ATTORNEY THAT IT WOULD ACT ON HER BEHALF TO OBTAIN A RESTRAINING ORDER FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROTECTING HER FROM FURTHER HARASSMENT OR VIOLENCE BY JAMES WILSON?
Parrotino v. City of Jacksonville, 612 So.2d 586, 592 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992). We merge and rephrase the questions as follows:
IS A STATE ATTORNEY IMMUNE FROM LIABILITY FOR FAILING TO SEEK AN INJUNCTION FOR PROTECTION ON BEHALF OF A WOMAN SUFFERING VIOLENT ATTACKS BY HER BOYFRIEND?
We have jurisdiction. 1 Art. V, Sec. 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
Tina Parrotino is personal representative of the estate of Diana L. McFarland, who was shot and killed by her abusive boyfriend. Prior to her death, McFarland had repeatedly gone to the Jacksonville Police for help in dealing with her boyfriend's threats and abuse.
On one occasion, the police advised her to go to the State Attorney to seek a restraining order and further help. Someone in the State Attorney's office allegedly assured McFarland that actions would be taken to help her, including seeking a restraining order (called an "injunction for protection"). However, the State Attorney's office misplaced or misfiled the pertinent documents, and as a result no further action was taken on McFarland's behalf. She continued to suffer abusive conduct from the boyfriend and sought further help from police, but eventually was murdered by the boyfriend.
McFarland's estate sued both the City of Jacksonville and the State Attorney. The trial court dismissed all counts for failure to state a cause of action. On appeal, the First District upheld the dismissal as to the City but held that the complaint stated a cause of action against the State Attorney.
American law has long recognized that prosecutorial immunity from suit rests on the same footing as the immunity conferred upon judges and grand juries. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976). This particular type of immunity embraces persons who exercise a judicial or quasi-judicial function; and the immunity rests on the sound public policy that a strict guarantee of immunity is necessary to preserve the effectiveness and impartiality of judicial and quasi-judicial offices. Both judges and prosecutors alike should be free from the threat of suit for their official actions, because permitting suit in this situation could deter a full and unfettered exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial authority.
In that sense, prosecutorial immunity traces its lineage to the earliest days of the common law. While the English courts long ago held that a judge acting wholly without jurisdiction is subject to suit for any injury so caused, In re the Marshalsea, 77 Eng.Rep. 1027 (K.B. 1613), an absolute immunity was conferred upon judges acting within their lawful powers, even where the actions allegedly involved serious misconduct. Floyd v. Barker, 77 Eng.Rep. 1305 (K.B. 1608). This earlier precedent was directly imported into the law of the United States as the common-law basis for judicial immunity, Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 335, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1872), and has continued to be cited as persuasive authority into the present era. Imbler, 424 U.S. at 423 n. 20, 96 S.Ct. at 99 n. 20.
It may be true that in its earliest manifestation judicial immunity emanated from the English sovereign's absolute immunity, because early English judges sat at the pleasure and as legal appendages of the Crown. However, in time even England began recognizing that judges held an office that was to an increasing degree distinct from and beyond the Crown's reach. Floyd. Continuing this same trend, judicial immunity and sovereign immunity completely ceased to be coextensive as conceived in most American states, and in Florida in particular. Article V of the Florida Constitution creates the judicial branch of this state, deliberately separating it from and making it coequal to the other branches of government. Article V also creates the office of State Attorney, implying what is obvious--the State Attorneys are quasi-judicial officers. 2
While the legislature has authority to waive immunity for those organs of government within its purview, the legislature cannot take actions that would undermine the independence of Florida's judicial and quasi-judicial offices. This would violate the doctrine of separation of powers. Art. II, Sec. 3, Fla. Const. For example, subjecting...
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