Opinion ID: 1579313
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: We first consider the State's jurisdictional argument. Before reaching the legal issues presented for review, it is the duty of an appellate court to settle jurisdictional issues presented by a case. Dawes v. Wittrock Sandblasting & Painting, 266 Neb. 526, 667 N.W.2d 167 (2003). The State argues that Martin's petition for declaratory judgment is barred by sovereign immunity. An action against a public officer to obtain relief from an invalid act or from an abuse of authority by the officer or agent is not a suit against the state and is not prohibited by sovereign immunity. State ex rel. Steinke v. Lautenbaugh, 263 Neb. 652, 642 N.W.2d 132 (2002). However, suits which seek to compel an affirmative action on the part of state officials are barred by sovereign immunity. Id. The facts of this case closely resemble those presented in Perryman v. Nebraska Dept. of Corr. Servs., 253 Neb. 66, 568 N.W.2d 241 (1997), disapproved, Johnson v. Clarke, 258 Neb. 316, 603 N.W.2d 373 (1999), in which an inmate brought a declaratory judgment action to determine whether DCS officials properly revoked his good time credit and to compel restitution of his good time credit. This court held that the inmate's action against the defendants was barred by sovereign immunity because he was seeking to compel an affirmative action on the part of the officials. See id. This court stated that the inmate's good time credit had already been taken away from him and that the inmate sought to compel immediate restitution of his good time credit. See id. The relief sought was affirmative and within the scope of sovereign immunity. See id. Therefore, the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. See id. However, we overruled Perryman in Johnson, supra . In Johnson, an inmate brought a declaratory judgment action against officials of the DCS seeking declaratory relief regarding his rights under parole eligibility statutes and seeking restoration of his parole eligibility. We read the petition as seeking a determination of whether defendants invalidly determined that he was not eligible for parole on the parole eligibility date he claims he was originally given. Id. at 320, 603 N.W.2d at 376. We held that the inmate sought to restrain the defendants from performing an invalid act, and we disapproved Perryman, supra, to the extent that it characterized such relief as affirmative. See Johnson, supra . Relying in part upon Johnson, we also rejected the State's claim of sovereign immunity in Lautenbaugh, supra . In Lautenbaugh, the relators, a political candidate and an individual voter, brought an action against a county election commissioner seeking a writ of mandamus compelling the commissioner to restore the original district number to the adjusted territory of a school board election subdistrict. We concluded that the action was not, in reality, an action brought against the State or one of its political subdivisions, because the action did not seek affirmative relief. See id. We noted that the basis for the relators' claims was that the election commissioner exceeded his statutory authority to adjust subdistrict boundaries, and the relators sought relief from what they alleged to be an invalid act or an abuse of authority by the election commissioner. See id. We stated that [i]n this situation, the relief requested is affirmative only to the extent that it requests [the election commissioner's] actions be nullified if determined to be invalid. State ex rel. Steinke v. Lautenbaugh, 263 Neb. 652, 662, 642 N.W.2d 132, 140 (2002). Because the mandamus was brought only to remedy alleged unlawful acts of the official, the court did not lack subject matter jurisdiction due to sovereign immunity. See id. Based on our recent decisions in Johnson and Lautenbaugh, we conclude that the district court did not lack jurisdiction in the present case. The basis for Martin's claim is that the defendants exceeded their statutory authority in forfeiting Martin's good time credits, and his petition essentially seeks a declaration that the defendants have executed that forfeiture invalidly. Compare, Lautenbaugh, supra ; Johnson v. Clarke, 258 Neb. 316, 603 N.W.2d 373 (1999). The relief requested (at least, after dismissal of the 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims) was affirmative only to the extent it requested that the defendants' actions be nullified if determined to be invalid. Compare Lautenbaugh, supra . Consequently, we conclude that the State's sovereign immunity argument is without merit, and the district court did not lack subject matter jurisdiction over Martin's petition. The State also argues, in what it claims is a jurisdictional defect, that the district court erred by permitting Martin to use a declaratory judgment action to collaterally attack disciplinary determinations that should have been directly appealed under the Administrative Procedure Act. See, e.g., Billups v. Nebraska Dept. of Corr. Servs. Appeals Bd., 238 Neb. 39, 469 N.W.2d 120 (1991); Moore v. Black, 220 Neb. 122, 368 N.W.2d 488 (1985); Dailey v. Nebraska Dept. of Corr. Servs., 6 Neb.App. 919, 578 N.W.2d 869 (1998). However, the rule against collateral attacks on prior judgments is based upon the doctrine of res judicata. See Kirkland v. Abramson, 248 Neb. 675, 538 N.W.2d 752 (1995) (final judgment on merits of claim before administrative agency is res judicata and may not be relitigated). Cf. Moore, supra . Res judicata is an affirmative defense which must ordinarily be pleaded to be available. DeCosta Sporting Goods, Inc. v. Kirkland, 210 Neb. 815, 316 N.W.2d 772 (1982). The State's answer to Martin's operative amended petition does not plead res judicata as a defense, nor does the record contain any indication that res judicata was raised as an issue by any filing in the district court. Compare id. While we may invoke the doctrine on our own motion, see Abramson, supra, we decline to do so in this case, and we do not consider the State's argument that Martin's petition is a collateral attack on a prior judgment.