Hwang v. Cairns, 58PA23

Dr. Cairns was the division chief and Medical Director at the UNC Burn Center, supervising plaintiff Dr. Hwang.
After Dr. Hwang announced his resignation in 2017, a complaint was filed with UNC HR alleging his involvement in inappropriate behavior at an unofficial farewell party.
The parties disputed whether Cairns or another physician initiated the HR complaint, but evidence suggested Cairns was involved and possibly altered his story about the complaint's origin.
Following the complaint and internal investigation (which found no policy violation), Hwang's incentive pay was delayed but later paid.
Hwang sued Cairns and UNC entities for, among other claims, slander per se and tortious interference with contract, alleging Cairns made malicious, false statements about him.
The trial court held Cairns was not entitled to public official immunity, but granted summary judgment for Cairns; the Court of Appeals reversed on immunity but affirmed summary judgment; the Supreme Court granted review.

Issue	Plaintiff’s Argument	Defendant’s Argument	Held
Public Official Immunity	Cairns is a public employee, not official; thus immunity inapplicable	Cairns, as Medical Director/division chief, qualifies as a public official with immunity	Cairns is a public employee, not entitled to public official immunity
Slander per se	Cairns maliciously made false statements, causing harm	Statements were duty-bound, not made with malice; qualified privilege applies	Disputed facts about malice exist; summary judgment improper
Tortious Interference with Contract	Cairns’s alleged interference was intentional and unjustified	Actions were within official duties, protected by immunity	Not immune; summary judgment reversed; claim can proceed
Qualification for Summary Judgment	Genuine disputes exist requiring trial	No triable fact issues, evidence insufficient for malice	Evidence viewed favorably to Hwang shows fact issues; remanded

Miller v. Jones, 224 N.C. 783 (Public official immunity does not extend to ordinary employees of a governmental agency.)
Isenhour v. Hutto, 350 N.C. 601 (Distinguishes employees and officials for immunity; employees may be personally liable for negligence.)
Smith v. Hefner, 235 N.C. 1 (Establishes test for public official immunity: position creation, exercise of sovereign power, discretion.)
State v. Hord, 264 N.C. 149 (Addresses whether a position involves exercise of a portion of sovereign power.)
Smith v. State, 289 N.C. 303 (Statutory creation of positions does not automatically confer public official status.)
Meyer v. Walls, 347 N.C. 97 (Immunity only for lawful, within-scope, and non-malicious discretionary acts.)
West v. King’s Dep’t Store, Inc., 321 N.C. 698 (Elements of slander per se claim.)
Ponder v. Cobb, 257 N.C. 281 (Qualified privilege defeated by showing of malice.)