Jackson v. Georgia Dept. of Transp.

• Decision Date: 25 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 92-8334,92-8334
• Parties: Gaye JACKSON, Barbara Bowens, Plaintiffs-Appellees, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Plaintiff, v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Defendant, Don King, Gene Malcom, Defendants-Appellants, Joe Street, Don Senkbeil, Bobby Melton, Edwin Thompson, Van Ethridge, Don Watson, Allan Childers, Defendants, Jimmy Vaughn, Brian Summers, Jerry Hillhouse, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1573

16 F.3d 1573

62 USLW 2619

Gaye JACKSON, Barbara Bowens, Plaintiffs-Appellees State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Plaintiff, v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Defendant Don King, Gene Malcom, Defendants-Appellants Joe Street, Don Senkbeil, Bobby Melton, Edwin Thompson, Van Ethridge, Don Watson, Allan Childers, Defendants Jimmy Vaughn, Brian Summers, Jerry Hillhouse, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 92-8334.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

March 25, 1994.

George P. Shingler, Sr., Eric A. Brewton, Cathy A. Cox-Brakefield, Asst. Attys. Gen., Atlanta, GA, for defendants-appellants.

William B. Hardegree, Hatcher, Stubbs, Land, Hollis & Rothschild, Charles A. Gowen, F. Houser Pugh, Columbus, GA, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Before BLACK and CARNES, Circuit Judges, and RONEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

BLACK, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal we determine whether individuals employed by a state agency are entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit in federal court when they are sued in their individual capacity but are nevertheless eligible for insurance protection from the state's voluntarily established liability insurance trust fund, through which the state will pay the verdict. We hold that a state's liability insurance trust fund voluntarily established to protect its employees against personal liability for damages does not make the state the real party in interest for purposes of Eleventh Amendment immunity. We therefore affirm the district court's ruling denying the employees' motion to dismiss.

I.

Sometime between midnight and 3:00 a.m. on March 17, 1990, a road culvert in Stewart County, Georgia, washed out after the area received thirteen inches of rain in the previous twenty-four hours. The roadway sunk approximately three and one-half feet. Elijah Bowens and his passengers Jerry Franklin Jackson and Jerry Mark Jackson were killed when Bowens drove into the depressed section of roadway and hit the opposite bank.

Gaye Jackson and Barbara Bowens, Alabama citizens, brought a tort action in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction against the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and numerous employees. The suit alleged negligent inspection of the culvert that collapsed and negligent review of the inspection reports. The district court dismissed the GDOT, finding it immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment. After a five-day trial, the jury found Appellants Don King, Gene Malcom, Jimmy Vaughn, Brian Summers, and Jerry Hillhouse liable for negligence. ¹

II.

The primary ² question presented in this case is whether the GDOT employees enjoy the state's Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit in federal court. To answer this, we must determine in which capacity the defendants were sued and whether the state's voluntarily established liability insurance trust fund, which will pay the damages judgment, makes the state the real party in interest in this action.

A.

Under the Eleventh Amendment, state officials sued for damages in their official capacity are immune from suit in federal court. E.g., Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 169, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3107, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985). In contrast, the Eleventh Amendment does not protect state employees sued in their individual capacity for employment-related acts. Hafer v. Melo, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 112 S.Ct. 358, 362-63, 116 L.Ed.2d 301 (1991); Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 238, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1687, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Hobbs v. Roberts, 999 F.2d 1526, 1527 (11th Cir.1993). ³ In this case, neither the complaint's caption nor the complaint itself clearly state whether the GDOT employees were sued in their individual capacity, their official capacity, or both. When it is not clear in which capacity the defendants are sued, the course of proceedings typically indicates the nature of the liability sought to be imposed. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 167 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3106, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985); Hobbs, 999 F.2d at 1528.

The parties and the district court in this case proceeded as if the Defendants were sued in their individual capacity. In particular, the district court dismissed the GDOT as immune from suit in federal court under the Eleventh Amendment, while permitting the suit to proceed against the employees. During argument on the employees' motion to dismiss pursuant to the Eleventh Amendment and Georgia law, made after jury selection but immediately before trial began, the Plaintiffs' attorney argued that the Eleventh Amendment did not provide a defense to state employees sued in their individual capacity. The district court reserved judgment on the motion when it was made and denied it again at the conclusion of the trial. These actions indicate that the district court understood the employees were not sued in their official capacity, or it would have dismissed them as it had the GDOT. Finally, not only did the complaint name the individuals as well as the GDOT, it also sought joint and several liability. See Hobbs, 999 F.2d at 1531. We conclude that the GDOT employees were sued in their individual capacity.

B.

It is unfortunate that this Court must resolve on appeal the capacity in which defendants are sued. As we stated above, the answer to that issue determines whether the suit may go forward in federal court. Additionally, the defenses to liability available to defendants vary according to the capacity in which they are sued. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. at 166-67, 105 S.Ct. at 3105-06.

This inquiry would not be necessary if the Plaintiffs had been required to identify the capacity in which they sued the GDOT employees. The absence of such a requirement results in the detailed analysis that occurred here and in Hobbs, in order for this Court to determine whether the defendants were sued in their individual capacity, their official capacity, or both. The district courts in this Circuit are in a position to ensure a more effective use of judicial resources. They should consider establishing a means by which the record would clearly reflect whether the case was brought against a defendant in an individual or official capacity. One way to accomplish this would be by a local rule. Cf. Knighton v. Watkins, 616 F.2d 795, 798 n. 2 (5th Cir.1980) (expressing the court's belief that the problem of Sec. 1988 attorney's fees petitions filed post judgment would be handled best by a local rule), cited with approval in White v. New Hampshire Dep't of Employment Sec., 455 U.S. 445, 454 n. 16, 102 S.Ct. 1162, 1168 n. 16, 71 L.Ed.2d 325 (1982).

C.

We now turn to the question of whether, when a state voluntarily provides liability insurance to protect its employees from personal liability for money damages, the state's Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit is thereby extended to its employees sued in their individual capacity. It is undisputed that the money damages in this case will be paid through the state's liability insurance trust fund, which provides liability insurance for state officers and employees as protection against personal liability for damages arising out of the performance of their duties. ⁴

Appellants assert that the State of Georgia is the real party in interest because it will pay the judgment from its liability insurance trust fund. Appellees counter that Eleventh Amendment immunity applies only when a judgment must be paid out of state funds and that, while the judgment binds the employees, the state is not compelled to pay the judgment: it only does so because it has voluntarily established the liability insurance trust fund.

The Eleventh Amendment bars suit against a state as a named defendant in federal court. ⁵ Osborn v. Bank of United States, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 738, 6 L.Ed. 204 (1824). It also bars suit when state officials are named defendants if the state is the "real, substantial party in interest and is entitled to invoke its sovereign immunity from suit." Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury, 323 U.S. 459, 464, 65 S.Ct. 347, 350, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945). The general test for determining whether the state is the real party in interest, even though it is not a named defendant, is whether the relief sought against the nominal defendant would in fact operate against the state, especially by imposing liability damages that must be paid out of the public fisc. E.g., Pennhurst State School & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 101 & n. 11, 104 S.Ct. 900, 908 & n. 11, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1355-56, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974).

We note first that as an individual capacity suit this action is not "in essence one for the recovery of money from the state." Ford Motor Co., 323 U.S. at 464, 65 S.Ct. at 350. The essence of an individual capacity suit is that the plaintiff is seeking to recover from the individual defendant, who is personally liable for the judgment. ⁶ Gamble v. Florida Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 779 F.2d 1509, 1513 (11th Cir.1986).

Moreover, this Court has previously reasoned that Eleventh Amendment immunity applies only if the judgment must, under all circumstances, be paid out of state funds. Travelers Indem. Co. v. School Bd., 666 F.2d 505, 509 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 834, 103 S.Ct. 77, 74 L.Ed.2d 74 (1982). This reasoning is congruous with the Supreme Court's teaching. In Edelman v. Jordan, for example, the Supreme Court stated that "the rule has evolved that a suit by private parties seeking to impose a liability which must be paid from public funds in the state treasury is barred by the Eleventh Amendment." 415 U.S. at 663, 94 S.Ct. at 1356; see also Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. at 167-68, 105 S.Ct. at 3106-07 (holding that, when a plaintiff prevails in a Sec. 1983 suit against state employees in their individual capacities, the state cannot be held responsible for attorney's fees). The...