Court Opinion

ID: 9942566
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-21 16:04:49.767783+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:48:15.709155
License: Public Domain

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                 _____________________________

                        No. 1D2022-2620
                 _____________________________

RICKY D. DIXON, Secretary of the
Florida Department of
Corrections,

    Appellant,

    v.

STACEY ANTONIO SCOTT, JR.,
LEAH JAMES FRAME, et al.,

    Appellees.
                 _____________________________

On appeal from the County Court for Leon County.
Augustus D. Aikens, Jr., Judge.

                       February 21, 2024

PER CURIAM.

     Appellee filed a complaint against several employees of the
Florida Department of Corrections, alleging they mishandled his
personal property. Appellant Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary of the
Florida Department of Corrections, moved to dismiss the
complaint, arguing, among other things, that Secretary Dixon was
entitled to sovereign immunity pursuant to section 768.28(9)(a),
Florida Statutes. The lower court denied the motion to dismiss.
This timely appeal followed.
    An order denying a motion to dismiss is a non-final order and
not typically reviewable on appeal. However, Florida Rule of
Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(F)(ii) allows appeals of non-final
orders that deny a motion that asserts entitlement to immunity
under section 768.28(9). This Court can therefore review the
denial of the sovereign immunity claim.

     Appellee’s complaint alleges that certain Department of
Corrections employees destroyed his boxes of legal documents. He
alleges that the employees’ actions were retaliatory and
intentionally done in bad faith with a malicious purpose. The state
is immune from tort claims that are based on an employee acting
in bad faith or with a malicious purpose. So, as pled, Secretary
Dixon, in his official capacity as the head of the Department of
Corrections, is immune.

    REVERSED.

RAY, BILBREY, and LONG, JJ., concur.

                 _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Kelly R. Forren, Assistant
Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Stacy Antonio Scott, Jr., Leah James Frame, et al., pro se,
Appellees.

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