Alabama State Docks Terminal Ry. v. Lyles

• Citation: 797 So.2d 432
• Parties: ALABAMA STATE DOCKS TERMINAL RAILWAY v. Daniel D. LYLES.
• Decision Date: 23 February 2001
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

797 So.2d 432

ALABAMA STATE DOCKS TERMINAL RAILWAY v. Daniel D. LYLES.

1991022.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

February 23, 2001.

Rehearing Denied May 4, 2001.

Christopher E. Peters and K. Paul Carbo, Jr., of Peters, Redditt, Willoughby, Zoghby & Carbo, Mobile, for appellant.

J. Harry Blalock of Blalock & Blalock, P.C., Birmingham, for appellee.

LYONS, Justice.

Daniel D. Lyles sued the Alabama State Docks Terminal Railway ("Terminal Railway") under provisions of the Federal Employers' Liability Act ("FELA"), 45 U.S.C. § 51 et seq.; the Boiler Inspection Act, 45 U.S.C. § 22 et seq.; and the Safety Appliance Act, 45 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., alleging that negligence on the part of the Terminal Railway had caused him to suffer personal injury while working within the line and scope of his employment with the Terminal Railway. The Terminal Railway denied the material allegations in Lyles's complaint and asserted numerous affirmative defenses, including the defense of sovereign immunity. The trial court granted Lyles's motion to strike the Terminal Railway's defense of sovereign immunity, and the parties proceeded to a jury trial. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Lyles for $700,000 and the trial court entered a judgment on that verdict. The Terminal Railway appeals. We reverse.

The Terminal Railway raises a number of issues, one being whether it is entitled to immunity from an action for money damages. Because we hold that the Terminal Railway is immune from an action for money damages, we pretermit discussion of the other issues.

I. Immunity

We first acknowledge the undisputed fact that the Alabama State Port Authority, formerly known as the Alabama State Docks Department, is an agency of the State of Alabama. See § 33-1-2, Ala. Code 1975.¹ See also State Docks Comm'n v. Barnes, 225 Ala. 403, 143 So. 581 (1932); Benniefield v. Valley Barge Lines, 472 F.Supp. 314, 316 (S.D.Ala.1979). The Legislature has explicitly granted the Alabama State Port Authority the power to "acquire, own, lease, locate, install, construct, hold, maintain, control, and operate at seaports a line of terminal railroads." See § 33-1-16, Ala.Code 1975. The Terminal Railway is a subdivision of the Alabama State Port Authority. See Coleman v. Alabama State Docks Terminal Ry., 596 So.2d 912 (Ala.1992). The Terminal Railway cannot be sued for money damages, because it is a subdivision of the Alabama State Port Authority, which is an agency of the State. "There are cases in abundance sustaining the proposition that [the Alabama State Docks Department, now the Alabama State Port Authority] and its agencies are immune from suit under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Jones v. Alabama State Docks, 443 So.2d 902 (Ala. 1983), State Docks Commission v. Sossaman, 227 Ala. 700, 149 So. 923 (1933), and State Docks Commission v. Barnes, 225 Ala. 403, 143 So. 581 (1932)." Fikes v. Alabama State Docks, 627 So.2d 462, 463 (Ala.Civ.App.1993).

The immunity that protects the Alabama State Port Authority and its agencies from an action for money damages is based upon two distinct, yet closely related, legal theories: state sovereign immunity and the immunity provided by the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

A. Article I, § 14, Immunity

The long-standing legal principle of state sovereign immunity is written into Alabama's Constitution. "Article I, § 14, Alabama Constitution of 1901, provides that `the State of Alabama shall never be made a defendant in any court of law or equity.' Under this provision, the State and its agencies have absolute immunity from suit in any court." Ex parte Franklin County Dep't of Human Res., 674 So.2d 1277, 1279 (Ala.1996) (citing Barnes v. Dale, 530 So.2d 770 (Ala.1988)). Neither the State nor the Alabama State Port Authority has the power to waive that immunity:

"It is familiar law in this state that § 14 `wholly withdraws from the Legislature, or any other state authority, the power to give consent to a suit against the state.' Dunn Construction Co. v. State Board of Adjustment, 234 Ala. 372, 376, 175 So. 383, 386 (1937). This Court has recognized the `"almost invincible" "wall" of the state's immunity, as established "by the people through their Constitution."' Jones v. Alabama State Docks, 443 So.2d [902] at 905 [(Ala. 1983)], quoting Hutchinson v. Board of Trustees of University of Alabama, 288 Ala. 20, 24, 256 So.2d 281, 284 (1971). Therefore, it is clear that neither the [L]egislature nor the State Docks had the power to waive, either expressly or impliedly, the state's immunity under § 14 and thereby consent to a damages action against the state."

Alabama State Docks v. Saxon, 631 So.2d 943, 946 (Ala.1994). (See Ex parte Cranman, 792 So.2d 392 (Ala.2000), for history and background regarding the development of state-agent immunity.) Article I, § 14, of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 thus removes subject-matter jurisdiction from the courts when an action is determined to be one against the State.

"We have held that the circuit court is without jurisdiction to entertain a suit against the State because of Sec. 14 of the Constitution. J.R. Raible Co. v. State Tax Commission, 239 Ala. 41, 194 So. 560 [(1939)]. And this court has said that it will take notice of the question of jurisdiction at any time or even ex mero motu. Horn v. Dunn Brothers, Inc., 262 Ala. 404, 79 So.2d 11 [(1955)]; Scott v. Alabama State Bridge Corporation, 233 Ala. 12, 169 So. 273 [(1936)]. Therefore, it appears that a trial court or an appellate court should, at any stage of the proceedings, dismiss a suit when it becomes convinced that it is a suit against the State and contrary to Sec. 14 of the Constitution."

Aland v. Graham, 287 Ala. 226, 229, 250 So.2d 677, 678 (1971). This constitutionally guaranteed principle of sovereign immunity, acting as a jurisdictional bar, precludes a court from exercising subject-matter jurisdiction. Without jurisdiction, a court has no power to act and must dismiss the action. "`The question of jurisdiction is always fundamental, and if there is an absence of jurisdiction over either the person, or the subject matter, a court has no power to act, and jurisdiction over the subject matter cannot be created by waiver or consent.'" Mobile & Gulf R.R. v. Crocker, 455 So.2d 829, 831 (Ala.1984) (quoting Norton v. Liddell, 280 Ala. 353, 356, 194 So.2d 514, 517 (1967)). If an Alabama court has jurisdiction to hear Lyles's action, it must come through some abrogation of the State's immunity.

B. Eleventh Amendment Immunity

The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "[t]he judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state." U.S. Const. amend. XI. "While the Amendment by its terms does not bar suits against a State by its own citizens, this Court has consistently held that an unconsenting State is immune from suits brought in federal courts by her own citizens as well as by citizens of another State." Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 662-63, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890).

While the Eleventh Amendment governs the jurisdiction of federal courts over the states and immunizes the states from certain actions in the federal courts, the Eleventh Amendment is not the source of a state's immunity from actions in its own courts. Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706, 119 S.Ct. 2240, 144 L.Ed.2d 636 (1999). A state's immunity from actions in its own courts derives from other bases, including common-law sovereign immunity and state constitutional sovereign immunity, such as the immunity guaranteed the State of Alabama by Art. I, § 14, Alabama Constitution of 1901. See Alden. While Parden v. Terminal Railway of the Alabama State Docks Department, 377 U.S. 184, 84 S.Ct. 1207, 12 L.Ed.2d 233 (1964), did create the doctrine of constructive waiver of state sovereign immunity, Parden did not change the source or basis of state sovereign immunity.

A defense of Eleventh Amendment immunity need not necessarily be invoked in the trial court in order to be preserved for consideration on appeal. See Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. at 677-78, 94 S.Ct. 1347. But see Wisconsin Dep't of Corr. v. Schacht, 524 U.S. 381, 118 S.Ct. 2047, 141 L.Ed.2d 364 (1998) (holding that a court has no obligation to raise the issue of Eleventh Amendment immunity sua sponte). See also United States ex rel. Long v. SCS Business & Technical Institute, 173 F.3d 890 (D.C.Cir.1999), for Judge Silberman's thoughtful and scholarly analysis of the peculiar nature of the Eleventh Amendment's application as a jurisdictional bar to actions against a state.

The Eleventh Amendment was ratified in 1798, in reaction to Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. (2 Dall.) 419, 1 L.Ed. 440 (1793). It was adopted to protect states from monetary judgments and to reaffirm their independent and distinct sovereignty within the federal system. See Alden v. Maine, supra, 527 U.S. at 712-28, 119 S.Ct. 2240, for a thorough statement of the history of the political and legal backdrop that led to the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment.

There are only two conditions under which a state may be made a defendant in a federal court: 1) if the state has consented to be sued, by waiving its immunity or 2) if Congress has expressed a clear and unmistakable intent to make the state subject to suit, pursuant to Congress's right to enforce the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. See, e.g., Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44, 116 S.Ct. 1114, 134 L.Ed.2d 252 (1996). See also Roger C. Hartley, The Alden Trilogy: Praise and Protest, 23 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 323 (2000).

The plaintiff, Daniel D. Lyles, is a citizen of Alabama; he based his action against the Terminal Railway upon ...