Breazeale v. Board of Trustees of University of South Alabama
| Citation | 575 So.2d 1126 |
| Parties | 66 Ed. Law Rep. 880 James R. BREAZEALE, et al. v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA, et al. 2900091. |
| Decision Date | 04 January 1991 |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Henry H. Caddell of Thiry, Brunson & Caddell, Mobile, for appellants.
Mylan R. Engel and Edgar P. Walsh of Engel, Walsh & Zoghby, Mobile, for appellees.
This is an appeal from an order granting the appellees' motion to dismiss in a mandamus and injunctive action.
The appellants filed a class action suit on behalf of all nonfaculty employees of the University of South Alabama (USA), "seeking to enforce and implement the provisions of Section 8.3 of the STAFF EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK of the University of South Alabama requiring annual, formal performance evaluations and seeking review of the merit pay decisions made for nonfaculty USA employees in the fall of 1988 in the absence of mandated employee performance evaluations." The appellees filed a motion to dismiss, claiming primarily that they have constitutional sovereign immunity from suit. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss, and this appeal was filed. We reverse and remand.
At the outset, we note that a motion to dismiss is proper when it appears beyond a doubt that there is no set of facts in support of the claim of the plaintiff that would entitle him or her to relief. Stark v. Troy State University, 514 So.2d 46 (Ala.1987).
The appellants contend that they have a right to seek mandamus or injunctive relief to enforce the appellees' implementation of formal performance evaluation and salary increase policies and that such right was not barred by constitutional sovereign immunity. More specifically they contend that, although the Staff Employee Handbook states that employees of the USA will receive evaluation by a supervisor at least once a year and a letter from the president of USA to faculty and staff members in October 1988 states that salary increases will be recommended based on department evaluations and recommendations, there has been no implementation of the performance evaluation system upon which the pay increase was to be based.
The appellees respond by claiming that, since the appellants are requesting retroactive monetary relief by seeking a recalculation of merit pay increases, the suit is merely one seeking a substantial monetary award from the state and is barred by the doctrine of constitutional sovereign immunity.
Although Ala. Const. art. I, § 14, provides for the sovereign immunity of the state and this immunity extends to the state's institutions of higher learning, Taylor v. Troy State University, 437 So.2d 472 (Ala.1983), the institutions are not immune from all suits. Id.; Belcher v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 474 So.2d 1063 (Ala.1985). Actions brought to compel state officials to perform their legal duties or ministerial acts do not come within the prohibition of § 14. Taylo...
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