Opinion ID: 1706880
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the amended sovereign immunity statute extends immunity to acts of a political subdivision which are arbitrary and capricious

Text: ¶ 8. Fortune next asserts that the sovereign immunity statute, as amended, does not extend immunity to a political subdivision when its acts are arbitrary and capricious. Fortune relies on Coplin v. Francis, 631 So.2d 752 (Miss.1994) for the proposition that immunity does not attach when the governmental entity exceeds its statutory authority. However, in that case, the issue was whether Pete Francis, an individual supervisor, had exceeded his discretionary authority in deciding to rebuild a single lane bridge on a two lane road in his District. Coplin, 631 So.2d at 755. ¶ 9. Coplin thus dealt with qualified immunity in the context of the liability of a supervisor sued in his individual capacity. In Mohundro v. Alcorn County, 675 So.2d 848 (Miss.1996), this Court held that Alcorn County and its Board of Supervisors enjoyed the protection of sovereign immunity and remanded solely for a determination of any possible liability on the part of an individual supervisor who, the record indicated, may have exceeded his statutory authority. Mohundro, 675 So.2d at 854. This Court determines that this Court's holding in Coplin should not be applied to the suit in the present case, which was filed against the Board of Supervisors as a whole, and not against any of the supervisors in their individual capacities. As in Mohundro, this Court determines that Lee County, acting through the Board of Supervisors, enjoys the protection of sovereign immunity in the present case. This point of error is overruled.