Can a state employee be held liable for failing to register a sex offender?

In Bradford v. State of California, 36 Cal.App.3d 16, 111 Cal.Rptr. 852, the plaintiff was convicted of a sex offense requiring registration as a sex offender. He was placed on probation and, on his fulfillment of the conditions of probation, the proceedings were dismissed pursuant to the provisions of the Penal Code. This dismissal relieved him of all penalties and disabilities including the duty to register as a sex offender. Provisions of the Penal Code also required that state employees make appropriate record of the dismissal. The plaintiff alleged that the entries were not made; that he was arrested for failure to register, booked, fingerprinted, required to obtain fail, and obliged to hire an attorney to obtain a dismissal of the charge. The complaint was held to state a cause of action for damages regardless of whether the employee failing to make the entry would be immune from liability. (At p. 21, 111 Cal.Rptr. 852.) The reviewing court observed that the statutory requirement of the entry of dismissal was designed to prevent the very type of harm which plaintiff alleged. (At p. 21, 111 Cal.Rptr. 852.)