[p137] Justice WALLACE, JR., delivered the opinion of the Court. In this case we decide whether the verbal threshold, N.J.S.A. 59:9-2(d), of the New Jersey Tort Claims Act (Act), N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 to 12-3, which essentially requires an objective permanent injury to recover damages, applies to a willful misconduct claim against a public employee. Additionally, we decide whether the trial court's failure to charge the jury that the Act's good faith defense, N.J.S.A. 59:3-3, did not apply to plaintiff's false arrest/false imprisonment claim requires a new trial. The Appellate Division held that the verbal threshold applies to a public employee's act of willful misconduct and that, although the trial court erred in its instructions on the good faith defense, that error was harmless. We hold that when a public employee's actions constitute willful misconduct, the plaintiff need not satisfy the verbal threshold and may instead recover the full measure of damages "applicable to a [p138] person in the private sector." N.J.S.A. 59:3-14(a). We further hold that the erroneous instructions on the good faith defense require a new trial.
I. Plaintiff Blase Toto presented evidence at trial to show that on May 3, 2001, he entered the Monmouth County Courthouse to provide expert testimony for a patient in a pending matter. Plaintiff placed his briefcase on the conveyor belt at the security checkpoint, walked through the metal detector, and then went to the restroom while waiting for the Sheriff's Officer assigned to screen all courthouse entrants, defendant Michael Schulze, to inspect his briefcase. When plaintiff returned, Schulze told him to extend his hand and then dropped a pocketknife into it, saying that plaintiff could either return the knife to his car or else have it confiscated. Plaintiff initially was confused because he had passed through security in another courthouse that same morning without incident. Plaintiff told Schulze that he was there to testify in a case and asked the officer to hold the knife until he left the courthouse. Schulze responded, "Don't you speak English?" Plaintiff complained that the officer was rude, but decided to take the pocketknife to his car. Plaintiff testified that when he returned to the courthouse, he again passed through security after which the follow-ing exchange occurred.
[Schulze] goes, you think I was rude to you before? I said, yeah, I think you were very rude. He goes, well, don't you think it's inappropriate to bring a knife into a courthouse? I said, look, I didn't even know it was in there. He said, don't you raise your voice at me. I'll lock you up. I said, well, you know, do whatever you feel you need to do. And he said to me, one more word--I'll never forget this--he said, one more word out of your mouth and I'm going to arrest you.
According to plaintiff, he then walked away and took the elevator to the floor where he was scheduled to meet the attorney, John Rizzo, who had retained him as an expert witness. There, [p139] plaintiff was explaining the incident to Rizzo when Schulze and at least one other officer exited the elevator and approached, arrested, and handcuffed plaintiff. According to plaintiff, Schulze and Officer Rolando Ensuar then escorted him down the hall to a processing room. As they passed a group of students, plaintiff yelled to the students, "When you grow up, get an education. Don't wind up like these guys."
Plaintiff next testified that as soon as they turned the corner, Ensuar demanded that he shut his mouth before slamming him into a concrete wall and exclaiming, "Now you're going to be charged with assaulting a police officer." Plaintiff claimed he felt woozy and experienced pain in his upper back and neck as a result of that incident.