Ex parte Board of Trustees of the Univ. of Alabama, et al., [Ms. SC-2024-0210, Aug. 30, 2024] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2024). The Court (Shaw, J.; Parker, C.J., and Wise, Bryan, Sellers, Mendheim, Stewart, Mitchell, and Cook, JJ., concur) unanimously issues a writ of mandamus to the Jefferson Circuit Court directing it to dismiss an action filed by Dr. William Thompson, an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (“UAB”) against The University of Alabama at Birmingham and eight fictitiously named defendants. Thompson asserted negligence and breach-of-contract claims stemming from the destruction of his research materials which were destroyed when refrigeration equipment at UAB failed. Ms. *2.
The Court reiterates that “the restriction on suits against the State found in § 14 [extends] to the state’s institutions of higher learning and … those institutions [are] absolutely immune from suit as agencies of the State.” Ms. *8, internal quotation marks omitted. The Court holds the “original complaint naming only UAB as a defendant was both void ab initio and failed to trigger the subject-matter jurisdiction of the trial court. This conclusion is not altered either by Dr. Thompson’s identification of fictitiously named defendants in addition to UAB or by his subsequent addition of named defendants or substitution of named defendants for fictitiously named defendants.” Ms. * 9.
Of note, in support of its holding that a jurisdictional cannot be cured by amendment, the Court cites with approval the decision in Maclin v. Congo, 106 So. 3d 405, 408 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012) holding that “[the plaintiffs’] action against [a deceased individual] was therefore void ab initio. … The trial court had no jurisdiction to entertain an amendment of the complaint or any further motions or pleadings .…’” Ms. *11, emphasis added by Ex parte Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama.