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City of Crossville v. Haynes8/12/2005
s that Corley would attempt to harm himself, this lack of foreseeability was a result of the defendants' negligence or wantonness in failing to have in place a training program, failing to have an intake system in place for incoming arrestees and prisoners, and failing to have a working camera monitoring system in place in the jail.
On January 28, 2004, the trial court entered summary judgments in favor of Chief Priest, Officer Chris West, and Officer Jacky Clayton. The trial court concluded that these defendants were protected by police-officer immunity under § 6-5-338(a), Ala. Code 1975, and/or State-agent immunity under Ex parte Cranman, 792 So. 2d 392 (Ala. 2000). The trial court stated that at the time of Corley's suicide Chief Priest, Officer West, and Officer Clayton were (1) police officers, (2) performing law-enforcement-related duties (3) that required the exercise of judgment, and (4) their conduct did not depart from any statute, rule, regulation, or procedure adopted by the City of Crossville, and (5) that Haynes had not presented any evidence to establish that Chief Priest, Officer West, or Officer Clayton had acted willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, or in bad faith.
However, the trial court denied the summary-judgment motions filed by the dispatchers, McLendon and Towns. The trial court found that Towns and McLendon were not peace officers and that they, thus, were not entitled to the immunity granted under § 6-5-338(a), Ala. Code 1975. Cf. Swan v. City of Hueytown, [Ms. 1031058, April 15, 2005] ___ So. 2d ___ (Ala. 2005) (concluding, for purposes of that appeal and, on the basis that the appellant did not dispute the issue, that a police dispatcher was a "peace officer" as contemplated by § 6-5-338(a), Ala. Code 1975). Further, the trial court held that even if a police dispatcher could seek peace-officer immunity under § 6-5-338(a) Towns and McLendon would not be entitled to such immunity because substantial evidence had been presented indicating that McLendon and Towns had failed to comply with written policies and procedures for the Crossville city jail, which required dispatchers to visually check on the prisoners in their cells at least once every hour. The trial court held that under Howard v. City of Atmore, 887 So. 2d 201 (Ala. 2003) (holding that when a State agent fails to discharge duties that are set pursuant to detailed rules or regulations, State-agent immunity does not apply), McLendon and Towns were not entitled to State-agent immunity. The trial court also held that as to the claims asserted against the City of Crossville under a theory of respondeat superior, the City of Crossville was entitled to immunity based on the claims asserted against Chief Priest, Officer West, and Officer Clayton but was not entitled to immunity based on the claims asserted against McLendon and Towns.
The trial court also addressed the claim asserted by Haynes directly against the City of Crossville under § 11-47-190, Ala. Code 1975, alleging neglect, carelessness, or unskillfulness, or the failure to remedy some defect after the defect has been called to the city's attention or after the defect had existed for such unreasonable length of time as to raise a presumption of knowledge of the defect. The trial court addressed Haynes's claim that the failure of the camera monitor contributed to Corley's death. The trial court held that Haynes had failed to present substantial evidence to support this direct claim against the City of Crossville, and it entered a summary judgment on that claim for the City of Crossville.
Finally, the trial court addressed the foreseeability of Corley's suicide. Relying on Popham v. City of Talladega, 582 So. 2d 541 (Ala. 1991), the
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