FTC Attorneys Have Immunity in Data Security Fight

Federal Trade Commission attorneys won’t have to face claims that they retaliated against a company under a data security investigation whose founder lashed out at the agency, a federal court ruled June 1.

The FTC attorneys have qualified immunity because their “actions do not violate any clearly established right absent plausible allegations that their motive” directly caused an enforcement action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled. “Qualified immunity protects all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law,” U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins wrote.

Plaintiff Michael Daugherty alleged that FTC attorneys Alan Sheer ...