Ex Parte Alabama Dmhmr, 1041172.

• Decision Date: 10 March 2006
• Docket Number: 1041172.
• Citation: 937 So.2d 1018
• Parties: Ex parte ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION et al. (In re Terri Sanders, as guardian of Charles "Marty" Green v. Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation et al.).
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

937 So.2d 1018

Ex parte ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL RETARDATION et al. (In re Terri Sanders, as guardian of Charles "Marty" Green v. Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation et al.).

1041172.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

March 10, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Troy King, atty. gen., and Courtney W. Tarver, deputy atty. gen. and gen. counsel, Alabama Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation, for petitioners.

Kenneth J. Mendelsohn, Thomas E. James, and Ellenann B. Yelverton of Jemison, Mendelsohn & James, P.C., Montgomery, for respondent.

SEE, Justice.

The Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation ("DMHMR"); its acting commissioner, John H. Houston; two former directors of the J.S. Tarwater Development Center; and five former employees of the J.S. Tarwater Development Center petition this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to enter a summary judgment in their favor on the grounds of sovereign immunity and State-agent immunity. We grant the petition in part and deny it in part.

Facts

Charles "Marty" Green was, at the time of the incidents giving rise to this action, a mentally retarded resident of the J.S. Tarwater Development Center ("the Tarwater Center").¹ On May 11, 2000, Lonnie Floyd, an employee of the Tarwater Center, assaulted Green. Then, on January 16, 2002, Ernest Holmes, another employee of the Tarwater Center, assaulted Green. It is undisputed that, at the time of each assault, Green was under the care, custody, and control of the Tarwater Center and DMHMR.

Terri Sanders, as Green's guardian, sued Holmes and Floyd in their individual capacities.² Sanders also sued DMHMR and its then commissioner Kathy Sawyer in her individual and official capacities. The original action also named as defendants Dr. Ellen Gillespie, the director of the Tarwater Center at the time the assaults took place, and her successor, Judith Johnston, in their individual and official capacities.³ Sanders later added as defendants, in their individual and official capacities, Tommy Judd, Joan Owens, and Doretta Strength, who were involved in hiring Floyd and/or Holmes. Sanders also added as defendants, in both their individual and official capacities, Bridgette Johnson and Teresia Marshall, employees of the Tarwater Center who witnessed the assault by Holmes. Sanders requested monetary damages from DMHMR, and she requested monetary damages from all the other defendants in their individual and official capacities.⁴

In October 2003, DMHMR, former commissioner Sawyer, Gillespie, and Johnston petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to enter a summary judgment in their favor on the ground that DMHMR is entitled to sovereign immunity and that former commissioner Sawyer, Gillespie, and Johnston are each entitled to sovereign and State-agent immunity. They also requested that we direct the trial court to vacate a scheduling order because, they said, Sanders had allowed all the discovery deadlines to pass without taking any action. By order, this Court denied the petition based on procedural considerations no longer present. Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Mental Health & Mental Retardation (No. 1030036, October 30, 2003).⁵

The trial court subsequently entered a summary judgment in favor of former commissioner Sawyer, Gillespie, and Johnston in their individual capacities, leaving Sanders's claims against (1) DMHMR; (2) former commissioner Sawyer, Gillespie, Johnston, Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall in their official capacities; and (3) Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall in their individual capacities.

Asserting sovereign immunity, DMHMR moved for a summary judgment on Sanders's claims against it, and former commissioner Sawyer, Gillespie, and Johnston moved for a summary judgment on Sanders's remaining claims against them in their official capacities. Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall moved for a summary judgment on Sanders's claims against them in their official and individual capacities on the grounds of sovereign immunity and State-agent immunity. The trial court held a hearing and denied the summary-judgment motion.

DMHMR, acting DMHMR commissioner John H. Houston,⁶ Gillespie, Johnston Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall (collectively "the DMHMR defendants") petition this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to enter a summary judgment in their favor on Sanders's claims seeking monetary relief against them in their official capacities based on sovereign immunity. Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall also assert that they are entitled to a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to enter a summary judgment in their favor on Sanders's claims seeking monetary relief against them in their individual capacities based on State-agent immunity.⁷

Standard of Review

Although the denial of a motion for a summary judgment is generally not reviewable, "`the denial of a motion for summary judgment grounded on a claim of immunity is reviewable by a petition for writ of mandamus.'" Ex parte City of Tuskegee, 932 So.2d 895, 900 (Ala.2005) (quoting Ex parte Rizk, 791 So.2d 911, 912 (Ala.2000)). "`"`Mandamus is a drastic and extraordinary writ to be issued only where there is (1) a clear legal right in the petitioner to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty upon the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) properly invoked jurisdiction of the court.'"'" Ex parte Vance, 900 So.2d 394, 397 (Ala.2004) (quoting Ex parte Sears, Roebuck and Co., 895 So.2d 265 (Ala.2004), quoting other cases). The standard of review applicable to a mandamus petition challenging the denial of a summary-judgment motion grounded on a claim of immunity is as follows:

"If there is a genuine issue as to any material fact on the question whether the movant is entitled to immunity, then the moving party is not entitled to a summary judgment. Rule 56, Ala. R. Civ. P. In determining whether there is a material fact on the question whether the movant is entitled to immunity, courts, both trial and appellate, must view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, accord the nonmoving party all reasonable favorable inferences from the evidence, and resolve all reasonable doubts against the moving party, considering only the evidence before the trial court at the time it denied the motion for a summary judgment."

Ex parte Wood, 852 So.2d 705, 708 (Ala. 2002) (citing Ex parte Rizk, 791 So.2d at 912).

Analysis

I. Sovereign Immunity

DMHMR contends that it is entitled to a summary judgment on the ground of sovereign immunity as to Sanders's claims against it seeking monetary damages. Commissioner Houston, Gillespie, Johnston, Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall also contend that they are entitled to a summary judgment on the ground of sovereign immunity on Sanders's claims for monetary damages against them in their official capacities. We agree.

Sovereign immunity is a jurisdictional bar that deprives a court of subject-matter jurisdiction. Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 837 So.2d 808, 810-11 (Ala.2002). The principle of sovereign immunity, set forth in Article I, § 14, Alabama Constitution of 1901, is a wall that is "nearly impregnable." Patterson v. Gladwin Corp., 835 So.2d 137, 142 (Ala.2002). The implications of sovereign immunity are "`not only that the state itself may not be sued, but that this cannot be indirectly accomplished by suing its officers or agents in their official capacity, when a result favorable to plaintiff would be directly to affect the financial status of the state treasury.'" Patterson, 835 So.2d at 142 (quoting State Docks Comm'n v. Barnes, 225 Ala. 403, 405, 143 So. 581, 582 (1932)).

Sovereign immunity bars claims against State agencies on the rationale that a damages award against a State agency would result in a monetary loss to the State treasury. Ex parte Davis, 930 So.2d 497, 500 (Ala.2005). For this reason, DMHMR, as a State agency, is entitled to absolute immunity against Sanders's claims for monetary damages. Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Mental Health, 837 So.2d at 810-11 (holding that DMHMR was entitled to absolute sovereign immunity and that former commissioner Sawyer was entitled to sovereign immunity on claims for monetary damages) (citing Larkins v. Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 806 So.2d 358 (Ala. 2001), and Ex parte Franklin County Dep't of Human Res., 674 So.2d 1277 (Ala. 1996)).

Sanders's claims for monetary damages against Commissioner Houston, Gillespie, Johnston, Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall in their official capacities are also barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity because "[a] complaint seeking money damages against a State employee in his or her official capacity is considered a complaint against the State, and such a complaint is barred by Art. I, § 14, Alabama Constitution of 1901." Ex parte Butts, 775 So.2d 173, 177 (Ala.2000) (citing Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Forensic Sciences, 709 So.2d 455, 457 (Ala.1997)); see also Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Mental Health, 837 So.2d at 810-11 (holding that former commissioner Sawyer was entitled to sovereign immunity on claims for monetary damages) (citing Larkins, supra, and Ex parte Franklin County Dep't of Human Res., supra).

Thus, DMHMR and Commissioner Houston, Gillespie, Johnston, Judd, Owens, Strength, Johnson, and Marshall have demonstrated a clear legal right to a summary judgment in their favor on the ground of sovereign immunity on the claims brought against DMHMR and against the individual defendants in their official capacities. We grant their petition and direct the trial court to enter a summary judgment in their favor on Sanders's claims for monetary damages against DMHMR and the individual defendants in their official...