Taylor v. Troy State University
| Decision Date | 12 August 1983 |
| Citation | 437 So.2d 472 |
| Parties | 13 Ed. Law Rep. 910 Joseph R. TAYLOR v. TROY STATE UNIVERSITY, et al. 82-23. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
J. Victor Price, Jr., Montgomery, for appellant.
Dow T. Huskey of Johnson, Huskey, Hornsby & Etheredge Dothan, and Richard F. Calhoun of Brantley & Calhoun, Troy, for appellees.
This appeal arises from an action filed in the Circuit Court for Pike County. The appellant, Joseph R. Taylor, filed a petition for an alternative writ of mandamus to Troy State University; Ralph W. Adams, its president; and Robert M. Paul, vice-president of Troy State University, Dothan/Ft. Rucker. Taylor alleged that he was a tenured professor of Troy State University, and that his employment had been wrongfully terminated, notice of such termination having failed to comply with the rules and regulations of Troy State University regarding termination of tenured employees. Taylor sought to require the defendants to deliver to him a contract of employment for the 1982-1983 school year.
After the trial court issued the alternative writ of mandamus, the defendants filed an answer, denying all the material allegations. They also filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that Troy State University and Ralph W. Adams were not proper parties to the action, that the petition failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, and that the petition was barred by the constitutional immunity of the State of Alabama from suit pursuant to Article 1, Section 14, Constitution of Alabama 1901. The circuit court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, and Taylor filed this appeal.
The following issue and questions raised thereby are dispositive of this appeal:
Was the trial court correct in granting the defendants' motion to dismiss?
a. Is the petition for writ of mandamus barred by the Constitutional immunity of the State of Alabama?
b. Does the petition fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted?
We affirm the lower court's judgment in dismissing defendant Troy State University from the suit. As regards the two individual defendants, we reverse.
Article 1, § 14, Constitution of Alabama 1901, states:
Sec. 14. State not to be made defendant.
That the State of Alabama shall never be made a defendant in any court of law or equity.
Because of this section, Alabama has been held to have virtually complete sovereign immunity. Sanders Lead Co. v. Levine, 370 F.Supp. 1115 (M.D.Ala.1973). This immunity extends to the state's institutions of higher learning. See, e.g., Hutchinson v. Board of Trustees of University of Alabama, 288 Ala. 20, 256 So.2d 281 (1971); Harmon v. Alabama College, 235 Ala. 148, 177 So. 747 (1937). The State's immunity bars suits for relief by way of mandamus or injunction, no less than suits for any other remedy. See Engelhardt v. Jenkins, 273 Ala. 352, 141 So.2d 193 (1962).
Our cases adhere to the view that the State has an interest such as will prohibit suit against the State official or employee where the action is, in effect, against the State. DeStafney v. University of Alabama, 413 So.2d 391 (Ala.1982). However, this Court has held that certain categories of actions do not come within the prohibition of § 14: (1) actions brought to compel State officials to perform their legal duties; (2) actions brought to enjoin State officials from enforcing an unconstitutional law; (3) actions to compel State officials to perform ministerial acts; and (4) actions brought under the Declaratory Judgment Act seeking construction of a statute and its application in a given situation. Gunter v. Beasley, 414 So.2d 41 (Ala.1982); Aland v. Graham, 287 Ala. 226, 250 So.2d 677 (1971). Other non-prohibited actions are inverse condemnation actions brought against State officials in their representative capacity and actions brought against State officials in their representative capacity and individually where it is alleged that they have acted fraudulently, in bad faith, beyond their authority, or in a mistaken interpretation of law. Gunter v. Beasley, supra; Ex parte Carter, 395 So.2d 65 (Ala.1980).
This court has held that where discretion of a state official is exhausted and that which remains to be done is a ministerial act, mandamus will lie to require the act. See Hardin v. Fullilove Excavating Company, Inc., 353 So.2d 779 (Ala.1977). Thus, a writ of mandamus has been issued to require the State Board of Health to issue septic tank permits, when the court found that the denial of the permits was outside the realm of the Board's standard practice, and no justification for the variance was presented by the Board. State Board of Health v. Atnip Design & Supply Center, Inc., 385 So.2d 1307 (Ala.1980). Likewise, this court has held that mandamus would lie to require University of Alabama in Birmingham officials to pay an architect's fee due under contract, if the facts showed that payment was being withheld arbitrarily. Dampier v. Pegues, 362 So.2d 224 (Ala.1978). Based on the foregoing, we conclude in the instant case that, if the individual defendants have not acted toward the plaintiff in accordance with their own rules and regulations, their acts are arbitrary, and an action for writ of mandamus will not be barred by the sovereign immunity clause of the Constitution of 1901.
With regard to whether the petition fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, we must examine the substance of the petition, which follows:
1. Plaintiff is a tenured professor employed by defendant Troy State University holding such status under rules and regulations of said defendant in effect on the date of his employment. As such he may be dismissed only for proven cause. Plaintiff is currently completing his eighth consecutive year of employment as an assistant professor.
2. Defendant Ralph W. Adams is President of Troy State University and is its chief executive officer responsible for seeing that rules and regulations of Troy State University are carried out, and is responsible for and has authority to terminate employment of contract employees at Troy State University.
3. Defendant Robert M. Paul is Vice-President of Troy State University, Dothan/Ft. Rucker, and was at all times pertinent to these proceedings. He has no authority to terminate employment of contract employees such as the plaintiff.
4. Plaintiff received on January 13, 1982, notice that Defendant Robert M. Paul, Vice-President of Troy State University, Dothan/Ft. Rucker,...
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