Opinion ID: 2782473
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: John Selig, in His Individual Capacity

Text: Next, we address the school districts’ suit against John Selig individually. We hold that, to the extent the school districts make any claims against Selig individually, they are barred by Arkansas Code Annotated section 19-10-305(a) (Supp. 2013), which provides, Officers and employees of the State of Arkansas are immune from liability and from suit, except to the extent that they may be covered by liability insurance, for damages for acts or omissions, other than malicious acts or omissions, occurring within the course and scope of their employment. Under Arkansas Code Annotated section 19-10-305(a), state officers and employees are statutorily protected by sovereign immunity. Fuqua v. Flowers, 341 Ark. 901, 20 S.W.3d 388 (2000). More particularly, this court has held that such officers and employees acting without malice within the course and scope of their employment are immune from an award of damages in litigation. Id. Thus, for a plaintiff to counter an assertion of sovereign immunity, he or she must allege sufficient facts in his or her complaint to support the claim of malicious conduct by the defendant. Id. In defining malice, we have stated, 6 We recognize that the school districts, in their response to appellants’ motion to dismiss, conceded that “in a suit of this nature attorney’s fees and costs are not normally permitted by law and that they, therefore, do not seek such relief in this case to the extent not permitted.” 9 Cite as 2015 Ark. 81 It is true that in law malice is not necessarily personal hate. It is rather an intent and disposition to do a wrongful act greatly injurious to another. Malice is also defined as “the intentional doing of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse, with an intent to inflict an injury or under circumstances that the law will imply an evil intent. . . . A conscious violation of the law . . . which operates to the prejudice of another person. A condition of the mind showing a heart . . . fatally bent on mischief.”• Arkansas Dep’t of Envtl. Quality v. Al-Madhoun, 374 Ark. 28, 35, 285 S.W.3d 654, 660 (2008) (citations omitted). Here, the school districts did not allege any malicious acts or omissions by John Selig, nor did they allege that he acted outside the scope of his employment. Therefore, to the extent that the school districts allege that John Selig is liable in his individual capacity, we reverse and dismiss.