Opinion ID: 393752
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: immunity of the individual defendants

Text: 11 The Supreme Court has noted on numerous occasions that state officials cannot invoke state sovereign immunity under the eleventh amendment simply because they committed a tort in the course of their employment. 12 (I)mmunity from suit is a high attribute of sovereignty a prerogative of the State itself which cannot be availed of by public agents when sued for their own torts. The Eleventh Amendment was not intended to afford them freedom from liability in any case where, under color of their office, they have injured one of the State's citizens. To grant them such immunity would be to create a privileged class free from liability for wrongs inflicted or injuries threatened. Public agents must be liable to the law, unless they are to be put above the law. 13 Hopkins v. Clemson College, 221 U.S. 636, 642-643, 31 S.Ct. 654, 656, 55 L.Ed. 890 (1911). See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 238, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1687, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974) (damages against individual defendants are a permissible remedy in some circumstances notwithstanding the fact that they hold public office.); Ford Co. v. Department of Treasury of Indiana, 323 U.S. 459, 462, 65 S.Ct. 347, 349, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945) (Eleventh Amendment does not extend to wrongful individual action....); Great Northern Insurance Co. v. Read, 322 U.S. 47, 50-51, 64 S.Ct. 873, 874-75, 88 L.Ed. 1121 (1944); Johnson v. Lankford, 245 U.S. 541, 545, 38 S.Ct. 203, 204, 62 L.Ed. 460 (1918). 14 As we read Ronwin's complaint he is bringing suit against Dickinson and Shapiro personally for the allegedly libelous remarks contained in the student note. From the evidence introduced in the district court we might conclude that if the Arizona Law Review as an entity had been sued it would be protected by eleventh amendment immunity. 4 See Brennan v. University of Kansas, 451 F.2d 1287, 1290 (10th Cir. 1971) (University Press of Kansas); Dacey v. Florida Bar, Inc., 414 F.2d 195, 198 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 909, 90 S.Ct. 906, 25 L.Ed.2d 89 (1970) (Flordia Bar Journal). Ronwin is suing the defendants individually, however; he is not suing the Law Review. Dickinson and Shapiro are not like the Board of Regents in that the state will have to pay the judgment if it is to be paid at all. Ronwin might attempt to satisfy any judgment from Dickinson and Shapiro personally. Funds from the State of Arizona are potentially involved in this case only if the State has voluntarily assumed the obligation of covering such risks under its indemnification program. 5 We agree with Professor Tribe that a state should not be able to turn a purely intramural arrangement with its officers into an extension of sovereign immunity. L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 132-33 n.22 (1978). In rejecting an eleventh amendment claim similar to this one, the court in Palmer v. Penn-Ohio Road Materials, Inc., 470 F.Supp. 1199, 1203 (W.D.Pa.1979), noted the incongruous result that would follow if the state, by creating a fund to compensate victims, has somehow extended immunity (to state employees) so as to deny payment to the class of intended beneficiaries. We conclude that Dickinson and Shapiro are not protected by eleventh amendment immunity because the claim against them does not constitute a suit against the State of Arizona. 15