Waldrop v. Northwest-Shoals Cmnty. Col., 2100328 (ala.civ.app. 8-5-2011)

77 So. 3d 159, 2011 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 203, 2011 WL 3375653
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedAugust 5, 2011
Docket2100328
StatusPublished

This text of 77 So. 3d 159 (Waldrop v. Northwest-Shoals Cmnty. Col., 2100328 (ala.civ.app. 8-5-2011)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waldrop v. Northwest-Shoals Cmnty. Col., 2100328 (ala.civ.app. 8-5-2011), 77 So. 3d 159, 2011 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 203, 2011 WL 3375653 (Ala. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

BRYAN, Judge.

Tracy Ann Waldrop, Melissa Carol Kee-ton, and Kemalie Jane Grissom, the plaintiffs below, appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of Northwesl^Shoals Community College (“the College”) and Humphrey Lee, the defendants below. This case concerns whether the defendants violated § 16-22-15, Ala.Code 1975, in the hiring of a secretary. We affirm.

In May 2008, Teresa Harrison left her position performing secretarial work for the College’s vice president of instruction, Glenda Faye Colagross. Colagross testified that her office was shorthanded after Harrison left. At the time, Adriana Wuot-to was working at the College as a client-relations specialist. Colagross testified that Wuotto regularly began helping Cola-gross in her office to compensate for Harrison’s departure. Colagross stated that Wuotto, on two or three occasions before Harrison left in May 2008, had helped Colagross’s staff “write a grant” when the staff was shorthanded.

Colagross testified that, either in the summer of 2008 or the fall of 2008 — she could not remember which — she submitted a request that the College fill the vacancy created by Harrison’s departure. Consequently, on January 20, 2009, the College posted a notice of vacancy for a “Secretary III” position to work under Colagross. The notice for the Secretary III position was posted for a 14-day period ending on February 3, 2009. Several people applied for the Secretary III position, including Wuotto and the plaintiffs, Waldrop, Kee-ton, and Grissom, who were secretaries at the College. The College formed a five-member search committee to help fill the position. From the pool of applicants, the search committee selected Wuotto, the three plaintiffs, and three other applicants for interviews; one applicant later withdrew herself from consideration before interviews. During the interviews, each search-committee member scored the six applicants based on their responses to certain questions. Wuotto and two of the plaintiffs, Grissom and Waldrop, received the highest combined scores from the search committee. Lee, the College’s president, interviewed the three finalists, and he selected Wuotto to fill the Secretary III position. On June 1, 2009, the College offered Wuotto the Secretary III position, and she accepted it.

[161]*161In February 2010, Waldrop, Keeton, and Grissom sued the College and Lee, seeking a judgment declaring that the defendants had failed to comply with § 16-22-15, Ala. Code 1975, regarding the hiring of Wuotto for the Secretary III position. The defendants filed a motion for a summary judgment asserting, among other things, that they had complied with the requirements of § 16-22-15 and that the College was entitled to State immunity. After the plaintiffs filed a response to the summary-judgment motion, the trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of the defendants, without specifying a reason. The plaintiffs appealed to the supreme court, and the supreme court transferred the appeal to this court, pursuant to § 12-2-7(6), Ala.Code 1975.

“In reviewing the disposition of a motion for summary judgment, ‘we utilize the same standard as the trial court in determining whether the evidence before [it] made out a genuine issue of material fact,’ Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So.2d 860, 862 (Ala.1988), and whether the movant was ‘entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ Wright v. Wright, 654 So.2d 542 (Ala.1995); Rule 56(c), Ala. R. Civ. P. When the movant makes a prima facie showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to present substantial evidence creating such an issue. Bass v. SouthTrust Bank of Baldwin County, 538 So.2d 794, 797-98 (Ala.1989). Evidence is ‘substantial’ if it is of ‘such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved.’ Wright, 654 So.2d at 543 (quoting West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989)). Our review is further subject to the caveat that this Court must review the record in a light most favorable to the nonmovant and must resolve all reasonable doubts against the movant. Wilma Corp. v. Fleming Foods of Alabama, Inc., 613 So.2d 359 (Ala.1993); Hanners v. Balfour Guthrie, Inc., 564 So.2d 412, 413 (Ala.1990).”

Hobson v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 690 So.2d 341, 344 (Ala.1997).

Initially, we address the College’s argument that it is immune from suit under the doctrine of State immunity, also known as sovereign immunity. Ex parte Tirey, 977 So.2d 469, 470 (Ala.2007).

“Section 14, Ala. Const.1901, provides: ‘[T]he State of Alabama shall never be made a defendant in any court of law or equity.’.... ‘The wall of immunity erected by § 14 is nearly impregnable.’ Patterson v. Gladwin Corp., 835 So.2d 137, 142 (Ala.2002). Indeed, as regards the State of Alabama and its agencies, the wall is absolutely impregnable. Ex parte Alabama Dep’t of Human Res., 999 So.2d 891, 895 (Ala.2008) (‘Section 14 affords absolute immunity to both the State and State agencies.’) ... ‘Absolute immunity’ means just that — the State and its agencies are not subject to suit under any theory.”

Alabama Dep’t of Corr. v. Montgomery Cnty. Comm’n, 11 So.3d 189, 191 (Ala. 2008) (emphasis omitted). “[State] immunity extends to the state’s institutions of higher learning,” Taylor v. Troy State Univ., 437 So.2d 472, 474 (Ala.1983), which includes the State’s community colleges, such as the College in this case. Williams v. John C. Calhoun Cmty. Coll., 646 So.2d 1, 2 (Ala.1994); and Shoals Cmty. Coll. v. Colagross, 674 So.2d 1311, 1313 (Ala.Civ.App.1995). Therefore, the College is absolutely immune from suit under Art. 1, § 14, Ala. Const.1901. Accordingly, the trial court properly entered a summary judgment in favor of the College.

[162]*162With respect to the plaintiffs’ action against Lee, the president of the College and the other defendant in this case, we briefly note the following. An action against a State official in his or her official capacity brought under the Declaratory Judgment Act seeking construction of a statute and its application in a given situation is not considered to be an action “against the State” for § 14 purposes. Alabama Dep’t of Transp. v. Harbert Int’l, Inc., 990 So.2d 831, 840 (Ala.2008). However, an action against a State official in his or her official capacity is considered “ ‘ “one against the [S]tate when a favorable result for the plaintiff would directly affect a contract or property right of the State, or would result in the plaintiffs recovery of money from the [SJtate.” ’ ” Id. (quoting Alabama Agric. & Mech. Univ. v. Jones, 895 So.2d 867, 873 (Ala. 2004), quoting in turn Shoals Cmty. Coll. v. Colagross, 674 So.2d at 1314) (emphasis omitted). The plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment regarding the construction of § 16-22-15 and its application in this case. Accordingly, Lee is not entitled to State immunity. Therefore, we now address the plaintiffs’ arguments with respect to Lee.

Section 16-22-15, Ala.Code 1975, provides, in pertinent part:

“(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:
“(1) Board of education or board- [T]he State Board of Education as applied to two-year postsec-ondary education institutions^1]

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Related

Wilma Corp. v. Fleming Foods of Alabama
613 So. 2d 359 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1993)
Ex Parte Alabama Dept. of Human Resources
999 So. 2d 891 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2008)
Bass v. SOUTHTRUST BANK OF BALDWIN CTY.
538 So. 2d 794 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1989)
Hobson v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co.
690 So. 2d 341 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1997)
Bussey v. John Deere Co.
531 So. 2d 860 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1988)
Ex Parte Tirey
977 So. 2d 469 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2007)
Alabama Department of Corrections v. Montgomery County Commission
11 So. 3d 189 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2008)
Shoals Community College v. Colagross
674 So. 2d 1311 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1995)
ALABAMA AGR. AND MECHANICAL UNIV. v. Jones
895 So. 2d 867 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2004)
Taylor v. Troy State University
437 So. 2d 472 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1983)
Alabama Dept. of Transp. v. Harbert Intern., Inc.
990 So. 2d 831 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2008)
Hanners v. Balfour Guthrie, Inc.
564 So. 2d 412 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1990)
Wright v. Wright
654 So. 2d 542 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1995)
Williams v. JOHN C. CALHOUN COM. COLLEGE
646 So. 2d 1 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1994)
West v. Founders Life Assur. Co. of Florida
547 So. 2d 870 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1989)
Patterson v. Gladwin Corp.
835 So. 2d 137 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2002)

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77 So. 3d 159, 2011 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 203, 2011 WL 3375653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waldrop-v-northwest-shoals-cmnty-col-2100328-alacivapp-8-5-2011-alacivapp-2011.