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Carpenter v. Mobile County6/28/2002
This is a wrongful-death action filed against Mobile County, the City of Mobile, and others by Dana Carpenter, the administratrix of the estate of a deceased prisoner of the City of Mobile, who died detained in the Mobile Metro Jail, a jail facility constructed and maintained jointly by the City of Mobile and Mobile County pursuant to the terms of an "Agreement Concerning Joint Jail Facility" ("the agreement"). The agreement was executed by Mobile County, the sheriff of Mobile County, and the City of Mobile.
The sole question presented on this appeal is whether Mobile County can be held legally responsible for the death of a prisoner of the City under the provisions of the agreement, which was attached to plaintiff's complaint, on the ground that Mobile County, in executing the agreement, assumed a duty it did not have to assume under the laws of the State of Alabama. The trial judge granted Mobile County's Rule 12(b)(6), Ala. R. Civ. P., motion to dismiss on the ground that Mobile County, by executing the agreement, did not assume a duty, and the court made the judgment final pursuant to the provisions of Rule 54(b), Ala. R. Civ. P. Carpenter appealed. We reverse and remand.
Before the agreement was executed, both the City of Mobile and Mobile County operated separate jail facilities. After the agreement was executed and after the joint jail facility was built, both the City of Mobile and Mobile County used the newly built facility, which was called the Mobile Metro Jail.
The agreement that is the center of the controversy in this case provided for the construction of the new facility and, among other things, provided that the City of Mobile and Mobile County would share the costs of operating the facility. The section of the agreement that is pertinent to the present controversy is section "E" entitled "Responsibility of County." That section reads, in part, as follows:
"1. The County agrees to accept and provide for the secure custody, care and safekeeping of City prisoners in accordance with laws, standards, policies, procedures or court orders applicable to the operations of the joint jail facility."
Carpenter, although admitting that under State law Mobile County could not be held responsible for the death of a City prisoner, nevertheless claims that the County assumed a duty under the above-quoted provision that it otherwise would not have had had it not executed the agreement.
Facts and Procedural History
Carpenter is the administratrix of the estate of James Carpenter, who, at the time of his death, was a "City detainee" in the Mobile Metro Jail.
Carpenter, in her capacity as the representative of James Carpenter's estate, sued Mobile County, the City of Mobile, and others seeking damages for James Carpenter's alleged wrongful death. In her complaint, she alleged:
"10. On July 12, 2000, City of Mobile police officers arrested plaintiff's decedent, James Carpenter, on misdemeanor charges.
"11. City of Mobile police officers took Carpenter to the Mobile Metro Jail where, pursuant to and upon the City's authority, Mr. Carpenter, as a 'City detainee,' was detained pending his trial on the misdemeanor charges ... from July 12, 2000, until his death in the Mobile Metro Jail on or about July 28, 2000.
"12. While James Carpenter was a 'City detainee' at the Mobile Metro Jail between July 12 and July 28, 2000, personnel at the Mobile Metro Jail placed handcuffs and leg irons around James Carpenter's wrists and ankles in such a manner that they cut or abraded his wrists and ankles thereby causing serious and life threatening infections at the sites of the open, fest
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