You can't sue him (successfully) in his personal capacity for something he did as mayor. The suit would be tossed by a judge. I did see a successful suit against some local politicians where they were sued in their unofficial capacity and even then they voted to have the county represent them and the county's insurance paid the damages. I do not believe that elected officials can successfully be sued individually for actions taken in office.
Not necessarily true. First, what he did was not entirely in his official capacity. He owned the restaurant which hired the illegal alien and the cop. At a minimum, you have a workman's comp claim against his business. And you can expand on that, depending on how much legal protection he set up. If he had anything to do with the management of the company, he's open for being sued personally. If it was not incorporated, he can be sued personally.
As far as being sued personally for acts you took in your official capacity is concerned, I'll grant you that's harder. However, not impossible. Public officials are sued all the time in their individual capacities. It's a tough standard, but his arrogance of power might be enough in this case.
The fact that you are Mayor does not give you immunity from lawsuits resulting from your actions that are illegal. Here, we've got the Mayor and City Council mandating that the police department violate federal law concerning reporting of illegal immigrants. We've got them requiring businesses to violate similar federal laws. At what point has he gone too far? The City of Denver doesn't make our immigration law. Congress does that.
I say let a jury decide. He might win, but not if I'm on the jury. And one big verdict against one of these guys will make the rest of them sit up and take notice.
I would also sue the City if I were the widow. Yeah, it will come out of the taxpayer's wallet, but if the taxpayer must pay the bill for the illegal conduct of the Mayor and City Council, I think the voters will throw them out of office.
"I do not believe that elected officials can successfully be sued individually for actions taken in office."
That could lead to a terrible Pandora's box. Imagine the President being personally sued for dead soldiers. "That helicopter wasn't safe enough!"
We can win this battle through the election process. Empowering the judiciary is a very, very bad idea.