North Dakota Code 43-05-16.6 – Board immunity and privileged communications
1. No member of the board, its committees, its employees, or its staff is liable for civil damages or subject to criminal prosecution for any action undertaken or performed within the scope of the functions of the board when acting without malice or gross negligence and in the reasonable belief the action was warranted.
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 43-05-16.6
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Organization: includes a foreign or domestic association, business trust, corporation, enterprise, estate, joint venture, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership, trust, or any legal or commercial entity. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- written: include "typewriting" and "typewritten" and "printing" and "printed" except in the case of signatures and when the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See North Dakota Code 1-01-37
2. Every communication, oral or written, made by or on behalf of any person, institution, agency, or organization to the board or to any person designated by the board to investigate or otherwise hear matters relating to any disciplinary action, is privileged. No action or proceeding, civil or criminal, is permitted against any person, institution, agency, or organization for submitting a report to the board under section 43-05-16.5.
For any report or communication not required by section 43-05-16.5, no action or proceeding, civil or criminal, is permitted against a person, institution, agency, or organization, except upon proof that the communication or report was made with malice.
3. The protections afforded in this section do not prohibit a respondent or a respondent’s legal counsel from exercising the respondent’s constitutional right of due process under the law, or as prohibiting the respondent from normal access to the charges and evidence filed against the respondent as part of due process under the law.