Opinion ID: 2495239
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The City's Liability for Acts of Detention Personnel

Text: Walker asserts additional claims against the City based on the acts of the detention officers and the jail nurse on duty during Walker's detention. Regarding the detention officers and the jail nurse, Walker argues that the trial court erred in considering the City's second motion for a summary judgment addressing the claims related to them because, she argues, the motion was untimely. The parties dispute whether that second motion related to a new issue raised in Walker's reply to the City's first motion for a summary judgment or to issues Walker had previously argued. In any event, the transcript of the summary-judgment hearing shows that, although Walker objected, her counsel responded to the substance of the City's arguments. Additionally, the trial court twice asked Walker's counsel whether she wanted more time to respond in writing to the City's second motion, but Walker's counsel did not respond affirmatively. In its order, the trial court concluded that Walker had adequate time to address the issues in the [City's] second motion for summary judgment and had amply addressed those same issues in her opposition brief filed [previously]. This Court has stated: It is ... well settled `that a party may not induce an error by the trial court and then attempt to win a reversal based on that error. A party may not predicate an argument for reversal on `invited error,' that is, `error into which he has led or lulled the trial court.'' Mobile Infirmary Med. Ctr. v. Hodgen, 884 So.2d 801, 808 (Ala.2003) (quoting Atkins v. Lee, 603 So.2d 937, 945 (Ala. 1992), quoting in turn Dixie Highway Express, Inc. v. Southern Ry., 286 Ala. 646, 651, 244 So.2d 591, 595 (1971)). White Sands Group, L.L.C. v. PRS II, LLC, 998 So.2d 1042, 1057 (Ala.2008). If the trial court erred in considering the City's second summary-judgment motion, Walker invited that error by failing to ask the trial court for more time to respond when she had the opportunity to do so. We will not reverse the trial court's judgment on this ground. We note that Walker did not name either the detention officers or the jail nurse as defendants in this action. However, this Court has stated: The vicarious liability of a putative master under the rule of respondeat superior depends upon the liability of the putative servant. See Larry Terry Contractors, Inc. v. Bogle, 404 So.2d 613, 614 (Ala.1981) ...; Franklin v. City of Huntsville, 670 So.2d 848 (Ala.1995) (holding that a city could not be held vicariously liable for the act of a magistrate who was immune from liability). Thus, if a putative servant is not liable, either because he is innocent or because he is immune, no liability exists to be visited upon the putative master under the rule of respondeat superior. Id.  Hollis, 885 So.2d at 141-42. See also City of Bayou La Batre, supra. Therefore, because the liability of a master, in this case the City, is contingent on the liability of its servants, i.e., the detention officers and the jail nurse, we will consider whether those agents would be entitled to State-agent immunity under Cranman if they had been named as defendants.
Walker alleges against the City claims of negligence, and the tort of outrage based on the acts of the detention officers, specifically based on the detention officers' failure to provide Walker with medical care. Walker argues that the detention officers are not peace officers within the meaning of § 6-5-338(a), Ala.Code 1975, because, she argues, they were not police officers and did not have the powers listed in § 6-5-338(a). [6] To support this argument, Walker relies on Ex parte Shelley, 53 So.3d 887 (Ala.2009), and Howard v. City of Atmore, 887 So.2d 201 (Ala. 2003). In Shelley, this Court determined that a sheriff's jailer was not entitled to State immunity as an alter ego of a constitutional officer under § 14 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901. This Court did not address whether a municipal detention officer may be entitled to State-agent immunity under Cranman. Therefore, this Court's decision in Shelley has no bearing on the question Walker presents in this case. In Howard, this Court determined that a city police officer who was working as a jailer/dispatcher was performing law-enforcement duties. In a footnote, this Court expressly declined to answer the question whether the immunity afforded by § 6-5-338(a) applies to a city-jail guard who is not a regular municipal police officer. 887 So.2d at 204 n. 1. We now hold that a municipal jailer who lacks the authority of a police officer cannot claim immunity under concepts applicable to the immunity of a State agent under § 6-5-338(a), which requires that the individual be empowered by the laws of this state to execute warrants, to arrest and to take into custody persons who violate, or who are lawfully charged by warrant, indictment, or other lawful process, with violations of, the criminal laws of this state. The detention officers in this proceeding, unlike the jailer in Howard, did not, according to the evidence before us, have such authority. We conclude that the detention officers at the City's jail are not entitled to immunity as peace officers under § 6-5-338(a) or as State agents under Cranman.
Walker asserts a claim of negligence against the City based on the actions of the jail nurse. The defendants argue that the jail nurse is entitled to State-agent immunity under Cranman. Walker argues that the jail nurse was not entitled to State-agent immunity, citing Wilson v. Manning, 880 So.2d 1101 (Ala. 2003). Although there was some question regarding whether the jail nurse was employed by the City or by a local hospital, none of the evidence in the record shows that the jail nurse was an employee of the State. The record on appeal contains little evidence regarding the duties of the jail nurse. Of that evidence, nothing shows that the jail nurse was employed or appointed as a peace officer or that he or she exercised the duties of a peace officer identified in § 6-5-338(a), such as the enforcement of or the investigation of criminal laws. See note 6, supra. The jail nurse, therefore, was not a State employee, nor was he or she an officer of the State under 6-5-338. Accordingly, the jail nurse is not entitled to immunity as a peace officer under § 6-5-338(a) or as a State agent under Cranman.