Opinion ID: 1841238
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Randall's Alleged Failure to Require Written Medication-Authorization Forms

Text: The Department's minimum standards require a home-day-care operator to obtain a written medication authorization from a child's parents before administering any medication to that child. The home-day-care operator is required by Department regulation to keep a copy of the written authorization in the child's records located at the day care for up to two years after the child leaves the day care. As required by law and the Department's regulations, Randall reviewed the records of the children in Poplin's care during her evaluation of Poplin's day care on April 9, 2002. Randall discovered during the review of the children's records that Poplin had no written medication-authorization forms on file. Rather than indicate that Poplin was noncompliant in failing to have any written medication-authorization forms, Randall indicated on the records checklist that this requirement was not applicable to Poplin. Randall explained that a written medication-authorization form was required to be in a child's records only if Poplin had administered medication to that child in the past. Randall's explanation of requiring a written medication-authorization form to be in a child's records only if Poplin had administered medication to the child is entirely consistent with the Department's policy against blanket authorization forms found in section E.2.d(1) of the Department's minimum standards. Randall testified in her affidavit that she discussed with Poplin the Department's regulation that medication be administered to a child only after obtaining a written medication-authorization form from the child's parents and that Poplin assured her that she complied with that regulation. Randall indicated on the licensing-evaluation form that she had discussed with Poplin that regulation. Additionally, Randall confirmed that Poplin had a written operating policy for her home day care, as required by the Department, indicating that medication would be administered to a child only with written authorization from the child's parents. The Hernandezes point to the facts that it is unlikely that Poplin had never had to administer medication to a child, that Poplin certified to Randall that she had a measuring device she used for administering medication, and that she certified to Randall that she returned medication to the parents when the medication was no longer needed, in support of their argument that Randall should have known that Poplin was administering medication to the children in her care without first obtaining the written medication-authorization forms from the children's parents. Randall's fault with regard to the matters forming the basis for this action is failing to probe more deeply to get to the truth. Of course, a reasonable person is not required to accept an improbable explanation in absence of proof to the contrary a reasonable person should reject such an explanation. The parents, when the evidence is viewed, as it must be, in their favor, have assembled facts that could reasonably support the conclusion that Randall was either quite gullible or negligent or perhaps even reckless in accepting Poplin's statements at face value and completing the licensing-evaluation form based on those statements. But no evidence suggests that Randall was in collusion with Poplin or that she had some impermissible motive to look the other way. Randall's failure to detect that Poplin must have been administering medication without proper documentation is consistent only with negligent or wanton behavior. This Court has previously held that poor judgment or wanton misconduct, an aggravated form of negligence, does not rise to the level of willfulness and maliciousness necessary to put the State agent beyond the immunity recognized in Cranman. See Giambrone, 874 So.2d at 1057 (holding that State-agent immunity is not abrogated for negligent and wanton behavior; instead, immunity is withheld only upon a showing that the State agent acted willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, in bad faith, or beyond his or her authority). The dissenting opinion appears to treat as exhaustive the list illustrating the basis of immunity in Cranman. This Court in Howard v. City of Atmore, 887 So.2d 201, 206 (Ala.2003), rejected that notion by acknowledging that the list in Cranman was illustrative and not exhaustive. (On its face, Cranman disclaims the rigidity, or exclusivity, attributed to it by Howard. In other words, Cranman states categories, but does not purport to set forth an exhaustive list of activities falling within each category.) Cranman is only a restatement; it is not a statute. Additionally, category (2) of Cranman refers to a State agent's exercising his or her judgment in the administration of a department or agency of government, including, but not limited to, examples such as and there follow certain specific activities. 792 So.2d at 405 (emphasis added). Thus, Randall cannot be faulted for her failure to identify in her petition an illustration that applies neatly to her situation. Randall was charged by statute with duties necessary to the administration of the Department. Randall did not erroneously report an objective fact, such as whether a swimming pool was enclosed by a fence, as was the case in Phillips v. Thomas, 555 So.2d 81, 86 (Ala.1989), in which immunity was denied. On the other hand, the ability to sift through false information in a way that elicits the truth is not on the same level of judgment in furtherance of a state activity analogous to electing between potholes while operating an automobile. See Town of Loxley v. Coleman, 720 So.2d 907 (Ala.1998) (holding that steering a police vehicle around potholes does not involve the type of judgment to which immunity applies). A good case has been made that Randall exercised poor judgment in the discharge of duties imposed upon her by statute. However, these circumstances are insufficient to deprive her of State-agent immunity under Cranman. The dissent would deny immunity to a State agent who would have clearly been entitled to immunity before this Court's restatement of Cranman. The Hernandezes have failed to present substantial evidence indicating that Randall acted willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, in bad faith, or beyond her authority, or under a misinterpretation of the law in discharging her duties in completing the Department's licensing-evaluation form as it pertained to the Department's policy requiring day-care operators to obtain written medication-authorization forms before administering medication to children in their care. Reynolds, supra. Accordingly, we conclude that Randall is entitled to State-agent immunity as to all claims asserted by the Hernandezes arising out of the alleged failure to require the written medication-authorization forms. Cranman, supra .