Case Title: Ellison v. Abbott

Citation: 337 So. 2d 756

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1976-09-24T00:00:00Z

Document:
337 So. 2d 756 (1976)
Grover L. ELLISON and Arnold Brent Ellison
v.
Rudy ABBOTT et al.
SC 1979.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 24, 1976.
J. Richard Carr, Gadsden, for appellants.
Merrill, Porch, Doster & Dillon, Anniston, for appellees.
MADDOX, Justice.
The sole issue: Is Jacksonville State University a state instrumentality and therefore immune from suit?
Plaintiff, Arnold Brent Ellison, signed a pre-enrollment application for a grant-in-aid *757 baseball scholarship with Jacksonville State, and was awarded a scholarship; however, the scholarship was withdrawn because Ellison's application was filed late in the Commissioner's office. Ellison sued Jacksonville State, and agents for Jacksonville State, for breach of contract. Jacksonville State filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming immunity from suit under Section 14 of the Constitution of Alabama, 1901. The court granted the motion. We affirm.
Section 14 of the Constitution provides "That the State of Alabama shall never be made a defendant in any court of law or equity." One of the early cases applying this section to state universities is Cox v. Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, 161 Ala. 639, 49 So. 814 (1909). It referred to two previous decisions of the Supreme Court and stated:
Another case on the same point is Denson v. Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 220 Ala. 433, 126 So. 133 (1930). In that decision the court cited the Cox case and said:
The most recent case dealing with governmental immunity of a state institution is Hutchinson v. Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, 288 Ala. 20, 256 So. 2d 281 (1972).
We conclude that Jacksonville State University is an instrumentality of the State of Alabama, and is therefore immune from suit.
AFFIRMED.
HEFLIN, C. J., and BLOODWORTH, FAULKNER, ALMON, SHORES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.
EMBRY, J., concurs in the result.
JONES, J., dissents.
JONES, Justice (dissenting).
I cannot agree to extend the State's constitutional immunity to Jacksonville State University. It is a public or quasi-public corporation created by the legislature and derives a portion of its financial support from the State. But this does not equate Jacksonville State University with the State of Alabama for purposes of immunity.
I respectfully dissent.