In a civil action brought by the Department of Justice against the State of Oregon for wrongful arrest pursuant to an invalid warrant, does the state have any liability or immunity?

We believe that the government reads Oregon tort law too narrowly. In Higgins v. Redding, 34 Or.App. 1029, 580 P.2d 580 (1978), a state judge caused the plaintiff's wrongful arrest by issuing a warrant without observing the proper procedures. The court implied that but for the state judge's immunity, both the judge and the state would have been liable in a false imprisonment action, despite the fact that the arresting officers engaged in no wrongdoing. Id. at 1033-34, 580 P.2d at 582-83. The case indicates to us that Oregon would probably agree with the district court that any arrest pursuant to an invalid warrant constitutes a wrongful and therefore false imprisonment regardless of the arresting officers' lack of fault.