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City of Crossville v. Haynes8/12/2005
trial court held that sufficient evidence had been presented to create a genuine issue of material fact on the issue whether Corley manifested suicidal proclivities in the presence of one or more of the individual defendants. Therefore, the trial court held that the issue whether the individual defendants, and vicariously the City of Crossville, should have foreseen an excessive risk of self-inflicted harm by Corley was a question of fact for the jury.
Haynes subsequently moved the trial court to vacate part of its summary judgment. Haynes argued that the City of Crossville was liable for negligently or wantonly failing to train the officers and employees of the police department in how to supervise, evaluate, and monitor its arrestees and prisoners and that the claim could proceed directly against the City of Crossville under § 11-47-190, Ala. Code 1975, even though Chief Priest was protected by immunity under § 6-5-338(a), Ala. Code 1975. The trial court, relying on Couch v. City of Sheffield, 708 So. 2d 144 (Ala. 1998), agreed and, on June 1, 2004, vacated its summary judgment as to the "direct" claim against the City of Crossville. The trial court allowed Haynes to proceed with her claim that the City of Crossville was liable for the neglect, carelessness, or unskillfulness of some agent, officer, or employee.
In August 2004, Haynes's claims against Towns, McLendon, and the City of Crossville went to trial. At the conclusion of the evidence, the City of Crossville, Towns, and McLendon moved for a judgment as a matter of law. The defendants argued that Haynes failed to establish as to any of the remaining defendants a duty, a breach, and causation. Additionally, the defendants argued that Chief Priest was responsible for making administrative decisions for the police department, including training the employees of the department in supervising, evaluating, and monitoring arrestees and prisoners. The City of Crossville argued that because Chief Priest was shielded by police-officer immunity for his decisions in that regard, the City of Crossville was also immune from liability for those decisions. The trial court denied the motion and submitted the claims to the jury.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of Towns and McLendon, finding that they had not acted negligently or wantonly. However, the jury returned a verdict against the City of Crossville on Haynes's claim of failure to train. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $550,000.
The City of Crossville filed a motion to remit the jury verdict to $100,000, pursuant to § 11-93-2, Ala. Code 1975. The City of Crossville also renewed its motion for a judgment as a matter of law, and, in the alternative, moved to alter, amend, or vacate the judgment or for a new trial. On September 13, 2004, the trial court entered an order remitting the judgment from $550,000 to $100,000, pursuant to § 11-93-2, Ala. Code 1975.
The City of Crossville appeals, raising the following issues:
"1. Whether the trial court erred in allowing the negligent training claim to go forward against the City, where plaintiff failed to show sufficiently that the deceased had manifested suicidal proclivities in the presence of any of the [individual] defendants, and thus failed to sufficiently show that [Corley's] suicide was foreseeable under Alabama law.
"2. Whether the trial court erred in denying the City the immunity provided under Alabama Code § 6-5-338(b).
"3. Whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's Rule 59[, Ala. R. Civ. P.,] motion where the jury found that the jailers/dispatchers had used reasonable care toward [Corley], thus eliminating the causation between any neglig
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