California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Smith v. County of Kern, 20 Cal.App.4th 1826, 25 Cal.Rptr.2d 716 (Cal. App. 1993):
Respondent does not contend that the negligent failure to perform a laboratory test is immune as an exercise of discretion pursuant to section 820.2. 5 Even if the initial agreement to perform the test involved an exercise of discretion, the actual performance of the scientific test was not an immune exercise of discretion. (See McCorkle v. City of Los Angeles (1969) 70 Cal.2d 252, 261, 74 Cal.Rptr. 389, 449 P.2d 453; see generally Bohrer v. San Diego County, supra, 104 Cal.App.3d at p. 162, 163 Cal.Rptr. 419 [prescribing increased medication, while an exercise of professional judgment, was not "exercise of discretion" for immunity purposes]; cf. Newton v. County of Napa (1990) 217 Cal.App.3d 1551, 1558-1559, 266 Cal.Rptr. 682.)
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