Opinion ID: 1558724
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applicability of Doctrine of State Immunity

Text: Article I, § 14, Alabama Constitution of 1901, provides [t]hat the State of Alabama shall never be made a defendant in any court of law or equity. This Court has extended the restriction on suits against the State found in § 14 `to the state's institutions of higher learning' and has held those institutions absolutely immune from suit as agencies of the State. Ex parte Troy Univ., 961 So.2d 105, 109 (Ala.2006). Consequently, we vacate the judgment as to the University and dismiss the University as a defendant. See Alabama Agric. & Mech. Univ. v. Jones, 895 So.2d 867, 873 (Ala.2004). The Department is a State agency. See § 9-2-1 et seq., Ala.Code 1975. Therefore, § 14 affords it absolute immunity from suit and deprives the trial court of subject-matter jurisdiction insofar as the Department is concerned. Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Transp., 990 So.2d 366, 368 (Ala.2008). We vacate the trial court's judgment insofar as the Department is concerned and dismiss the Department as a defendant. Similarly, the Authority is a public corporation and instrumentality of the state. § 9-14B-4(a), Ala.Code 1975. Consequently, it is also entitled to the absolute immunity afforded by § 14. The trial court's judgment is vacated as to the Authority, and we dismiss the Authority as a defendant. Although three defendants have been dismissed, the presence of the remaining defendants is sufficient to require our consideration of the merits of these appeals.