Opinion ID: 2213266
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sovereign Immunity of DHS.

Text: The defendant DHS raised an affirmative defense of sovereign immunity in its answer to plaintiff's section 1983 claim and also asserted that defense as one of the grounds of its motion for summary judgment. On appeal, it seeks to save the judgment on that ground notwithstanding this court's conclusions concerning the other immunity claims discussed in the prior division. We are committed to the view that an appellee who prevailed as the result of improper legal conclusions of the district court may seek affirmance of the judgment based on the validity of other legally valid grounds which were presented to that court. See Lowery Inv. Corp. v. Stephens Indus., Inc., 395 N.W.2d 850, 852 (Iowa 1986); Kroblin Refrigerated X Press Inc. v. Ledvina, 256 Iowa 229, 233, 127 N.W.2d 133, 136 (1964); McCuddin v. Dickinson, 230 Iowa 1141, 1143, 300 N.W. 308, 309 (1941). States and agencies, which act as the alter ego of the state, are not subject to suit under section 1983 in federal court by reason of the eleventh amendment to the federal constitution. Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 39 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979). In addition, many courts have held as a matter of statutory interpretation that section 1983 does not create a cause of action against a state or its alter ego agencies in a state court. State v. Green, 633 P.2d 1381 (Alaska 1981); Pyne v. Meese, 172 Cal.App.3d 392, 403, 218 Cal.Rptr. 87, 92 (1985); Merritt v. State, 108 Idaho 20, 26, 696 P.2d 871, 877 (1985); DeVargas v. State ex rel. N.M. Dep't of Corrections, 97 N.M. 447, 449, 640 P.2d 1327, 1329 (N.M.Ct. App.1981). Other courts have suggested that section 1983 claims may be brought against states and their alter ego agencies in state courts if sovereign immunity has been waived by a state. See Gay Students Servs. v. Texas A & M Univ., 612 F.2d 160, 164-65 (5th Cir.1980); Thiboutot v. State, 405 A.2d 230, 236-37 (Me.1979); DeBleecker v. Montgomery County, 292 Md. 498, 512-13, 438 A.2d 1348, 1356 (1982); Lowery v. Department of Corrections, 146 Mich. App. 342, 354-56, 380 N.W.2d 99, 105-06 (1985); Smith v. State, 122 Mich.App. 340, 349-52, 333 N.W.2d 50, 54-56 (1983). In adopting the latter position, the Michigan court in Lowery v. Department of Corrections, 146 Mich.App. at 354-56, 380 N.W.2d at 105-06, concluded that the Michigan Department of Corrections could not be sued in the courts of that state because the applicable legislation authorizing tort claims against state agencies did not embrace section 1983 actions. DHS urges that the situation presented to the Michigan court in the Lowery case is involved in the present case as a result of Iowa Code chapter 25A (1985). It argues that both the language of inclusion found in Iowa Code section 25A.2(5)(a) (1985) and the language of exclusion found in Iowa Code section 25A.14(4) (1985) lead to this result. Assuming, without deciding, that plaintiff's claims qualify, either as damage or loss to property or on account of personal injury, so as to be embraced by the definition in section 25A.2(5)(a), we agree with that portion of the DHS argument based on the exclusionary language of section 25A.14(4). The latter section identifies excluded claims in terms of the type of wrong inflicted. The gravamen of plaintiff's claim in the present case is the functional equivalent of false arrest or false imprisonment, which are both section 25A.14(4) exceptions to the Iowa Tort Claims Act. Consequently, we agree with the position of DHS that the State has not waived its sovereign immunity or that of its alter ego agencies with respect to the type of claim presented in this case. It is unnecessary in the present case to elect between the positions of courts finding that section 1983 does not permit damage claims against states or their alter ego agencies in any instance and courts holding that such claims are permitted if sovereign immunity has been waived. Under either line of cases, DHS is entitled to immunity on the facts of the present case. [1] The motion for summary judgment was properly granted as to the defendant DHS.