Can superior civil servants be held liable in negligence for the actions of subordinate civil servants?

The whole tenor of the development of the law in the area under consideration has been to restrict the application of the so-called exception to the general rule. 'A sound public policy supports the general rule of non-liability of superior public officers for the torts of inferior civil service officers and employees and exceptions to that rule should not be extended; otherwise the assumption of public office with liability for the misdeeds of inferiors occupying civil service positions, many times numbering thousands, would indeed be a hazardous undertaking.' Fernelius v. Pierce, 22 Cal.2d 226, 246, 138 P.2d 12, 24,--concurring opinion by Shenk, J.