Misfeasance in Public Office
The police must not act outside of their powers as police officers. An example of this would be when a police officer, knowing that he or she had no reasonable suspicion for believing that an individual had committed an offence, arrests that individual or when an officer lies about his or her actions to justify those actions. If it can be established that the police have acted in this way, then those actions may amount to misfeasance in public office and the harmed individual would be entitled to compensation. In order to succeed in a claim for misfeasance in public office, you must establish that:
- The person you are suing holds a Public Office;
- That they have exercised or failed to exercise a power as a Public Officer;
- That they did this maliciously causing damage to you, of a type that was foreseen by the Police; and
- That the person has suffered loss as a result.
If you feel you have been mistreated by an officer and you have suffered loss as a result of that treatment then please contact a member of our Police Actions team on 0151 933 3333 or email us at info@jamesmurraylaw.com
Case Study
We have recently assisted an individual in bringing a claim for misfeasance in public office and malicious prosecution and obtained a substantial settlement. This case was widely reported in the media. The article for the Liverpool Echo is linked below: