What is the good faith defense in the context of a civil case?

Because we are remanding this case for a new trial we comment on the manner in which the good faith defense should function. The district court approached the good faith defense on the assumption that the defendants could have determined their computational error had they taken the trouble to study the plaintiff's file with reasonable care. Haygood v. Younger, 527 F.Supp. at 822-24. While we are not prepared to say that a jury could not have so found, we are convinced, after reviewing the transcript of the trial, that another view of the evidence is not unreasonable. That alternative is that neither the defendants nor their superiors saw any error in their computation and that their interpretation of the law was not unreasonable.

In light of the evidence the district court should have instructed the jury on the good faith defense in the manner required by Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). This is true, although the trial in this case antedates Harlow, because the essence of the defense was clearly established previously. See Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 98 S.Ct. 855, 55 L.Ed.2d 24 (1978). Under Harlow government officials "are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." 457 U.S. at 816, 102 S.Ct. at 2738. Thus, the good faith defense exists if the conduct complained of does not violate "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow's standard is objective. Of course, an official who knows that his conduct violates the law cannot shield himself by insisting that all others were reasonably less well informed.