Rel: August 21, 2026
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
SPECIAL TERM, 2026
SC-2025-0784
Ex parte Escambia County Commission and Steven Dickey,
Larry White, Brandon Smith, Karean L. Reynolds, and Raymond
Wiggins, individually and in their official capacities as
Commissioners of the Escambia County Commission
PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS
(In re: Grady L. Floyd, Jr., Gabrielle Floyd, and Charlie Floyd,
Jr.
v.
Escambia County Community Hospital, Inc., et al.)
(Escambia Circuit Court: CV-24-900219)
SC-2025-0784
SHAW, Justice.
The Escambia County Commission and Escambia County
Commissioners Steven Dickey, Larry White, Brandon Smith, Karean L.
Reynolds, and Raymond Wiggins, in their official and individual
capacities ("the County defendants"), petition for a writ of mandamus
directing the Escambia Circuit Court to grant their motion seeking to
dismiss on immunity grounds the claims asserted against them by Grady
L. Floyd, Jr., Gabrielle Floyd, and Charlie Floyd, Jr. ("the plaintiffs"). We
grant the petition and issue the writ.
Facts and Procedural History
Grady L. Floyd, Jr., and Gabrielle Floyd are the children of Grady
L. Floyd, Sr. ("Grady"); Charlie Floyd, Jr., is Grady's brother. Grady died
in Escambia County on May 31, 2023. At the time of Grady's death, Dr.
J. Daniel Raulerson apparently served as the Escambia County Medical
Examiner. The county morgue was located on the premises of the
Escambia County Community Hospital, Inc., d/b/a D.W. McMillan
Memorial Hospital ("the hospital").
Following Grady's death, Dr. Raulerson apparently took possession
of Grady's remains to be transported to the Alabama Department of
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Forensic Sciences ("ADFS") for an autopsy, and, at that time, he
purportedly informed Grady's family members that Grady's body would
be released to them in two days for burial. Thereafter, however,
according to the plaintiffs, Dr. Raulerson "essentially dumped the body
at the morgue" and left town. By the time that Dr. Raulerson returned,
purportedly on June 6, 2023, Grady's body was allegedly in such an
advanced state of decomposition that no autopsy was performed. It is
unclear why this advanced decomposition occurred; however, the
plaintiffs' complaints make brief reference to the morgue's purported lack
of "requisite refrigeration" and also alleges that the body "was not
properly stored." Regardless, that advanced decomposition, according to
the plaintiffs, deprived them of knowing the cause of Grady's "sudden
and untimely" death and of the ability to embalm Grady's remains for
viewing in an open-casket funeral service. Also according to the
plaintiffs, Dr. Raulerson allegedly "gave permission for [Grady's] remains
... to be cremated," limiting the family to mourning him exclusively at a
memorial service. The plaintiffs later sued the County defendants and
the hospital, alleging claims of negligence, wantonness, and the tort of
outrage and seeking to recover both compensatory and punitive damages.
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It appears undisputed from the materials before us that Dr. Raulerson
had died before the plaintiffs filed their original complaint. Following
the filing of their original complaint, the plaintiffs filed a first amended
complaint, which did not alter their claims in any material respect.
The County defendants, in response, moved, pursuant to Rule
12(b)(1) and (b)(6), Ala. R. Civ. P., to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaint, as
amended. Among other things, the County defendants sought dismissal
on the basis of the statutory immunity afforded to Dr. Raulerson under §
45-27-60.11, Ala. Code 1975 (Local Laws, Escambia County) (which
provides the Escambia County Medical Examiner immunity from suit),
and on principles of legislative and State-agent immunity.
While the County defendants' motion remained pending, the
plaintiffs obtained leave from the trial court to file a second amended
complaint. That second amended complaint added ADFS as a defendant,
supplemented the plaintiffs' factual allegations, and added a declaratoryjudgment count based on allegations that all the "defendants, jointly,
separately and severally owed [the plaintiffs] the affirmative duty to
perform a ministerial function of the proper preservation of [Grady's
remains]." A close reading of the second amended complaint, which is at
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times unclear, indicates that, at best, the plaintiffs appear to allege that
the County defendants were responsible for the misconduct or omissions
attributed to Dr. Raulerson. More specifically, the plaintiffs' second
amended complaint does not appear to allege that the County defendants
independently breached any purported duty owed by them to the
plaintiffs. To the extent that the second amended complaint does suggest
that the County defendants were responsible for sufficiently funding Dr.
Raulerson's office to ensure adequate support for death investigations
within Escambia County, it fails to include a related allegation that
inadequate funding was in any way connected to, or responsible for, the
refrigeration and/or storage conditions at the morgue or the purported
failure to preserve Grady's body.1 Accordingly, the plaintiffs appear to
be proceeding against the County defendants based exclusively on a
theory of vicarious liability for the acts of Dr. Raulerson.
At around the same time the plaintiffs' second amended complaint
was filed, the trial court denied the County defendants' initial motion to
dismiss.
1The second amended complaint does allege that the hospital
breached a purported affirmative duty to ensure that the morgue was
"properly maintained for ... storage and refrigeration."
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The County defendants, thereafter, moved, pursuant to Rule
12(b)(1) and (b)(6), to dismiss the plaintiffs' second amended complaint.
In that motion, the County defendants asserted, among other
contentions, that they were immune from suit based on principles of
legislative immunity, State immunity, State-agent immunity, and
immunity under § 45-27-60.11. They further argued that the claims
against them were legally unsupportable. ADFS filed a separate motion
seeking dismissal of the claims against it on, among other grounds, State
immunity.
Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion of the County
defendants but granted the motion filed by ADFS based on a finding that
"ADFS is immune from suit." The County defendants subsequently
petitioned this Court for mandamus review; we ordered answers and
briefs.2
Standard of Review
"A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy, and it
will be 'issued only when there is 1) a clear legal right in the
petitioner to the order sought; 2) an imperative duty upon the
respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; 3)
the lack of another adequate remedy; and 4) properly invoked
2The claims against the hospital remain pending in the trial court.
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jurisdiction of the court.' Ex parte United Service Stations,
Inc., 628 So. 2d 501, 503 (Ala. 1993)."
Ex parte Alabama Dep't of Forensic Scis., 709 So. 2d 455, 457 (Ala. 1997).
See also Ex parte Scott, 422 So. 3d 80, 84 (Ala. 2025) (" 'The denial of a
motion to dismiss " 'grounded on a claim of immunity' " is properly
reviewable by a petition for a writ of mandamus.' " (citations omitted)).
Discussion
The County defendants contend that they have a clear legal right
to have the plaintiffs' claims against them dismissed. In support, among
other arguments, they note that the plaintiffs' complaint, as amended,
identifies no independent tortious conduct by the County defendants and,
therefore, exclusively seeks to hold them vicariously liable for alleged
tortious acts committed by Dr. Raulerson. The plaintiffs, in their answer
to the mandamus petition, do not dispute this characterization of their
claims. In fact, they state: "[T]he act giving rise to the [plaintiffs'] claims
and causes of action is simply dumping [Grady's] body and left it [sic] in
a body bag." Answer at 14-15. Elsewhere, they characterize the duties
that were owed them and allegedly breached as the "fail[ure] to care for
and preserve" Grady's body and the failure to handle his body with
dignity. Answer at 2, 3, and 7.
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Even taking as true the plaintiffs' allegations that Dr. Raulerson
committed the allegedly tortious acts of which the plaintiffs complain, §
45-27-60.11 expressly provides:
"Neither the county medical examiner nor any member
of the staff, nor the Director of the Alabama Department of
Forensic Sciences, nor any member of the staff or agent of the
department, shall incur any civil or criminal liability for
duties performed pursuant to this article[, i.e., Title 45.
Chapter 27, Article 6]."
Under § 45-27-60.11, Dr. Raulerson was indisputably immune from civil
liability for all actions taken by him in the performance of his duties as
medical examiner -- a circumstance that the plaintiffs' answer to the
mandamus petition fails to dispute.
We now consider the potential vicarious liability of the County
defendants for those same actions.
"[G]enerally, the vicarious liability of a putative master under
the rule of respondeat superior depends upon the liability of
the putative servant. See Larry Terry Contractors, Inc. v.
Bogle, 404 So. 2d 613, 614 (Ala. 1981) (' "[W]hen [a] principal
and his agent are sued in [a] joint action in tort for
misfeasance or malfeasance of the servant, and his liability
for the conduct of said servant is under the rule of respondeat
superior, a verdict in favor of the servant entitles the master
to have the verdict against him set aside." ' (quoting Louisville
& Nashville R.R. v. Maddox, 236 Ala. 594, 600, 183 So. 849,
853 (1938))), and Gore v. City of Hoover, 559 So. 2d 163, 165
(Ala. 1990) (holding that a city could not be held vicariously
liable for the act of a magistrate who was immune from
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liability), overruled on other grounds, Franklin v. City of
Huntsville, 670 So. 2d 848 (Ala. 1995). ' "Thus, if a putative
servant is not liable, either because he is innocent or because
he is immune, no liability exists to be visited upon the
putative master under the rule of respondeat superior." '
Wheeler v. George, 39 So. 3d 1061, 1090 (Ala. 2009) (quoting
Hollis [v. City of Brighton], 885 So. 2d [135] at 141 [(Ala.
2004)])."
Rogers v. Cedar Bluff Volunteer Fire Dep't, [Ms. SC-2025-0055, Aug. 29,
2025] ___ So. 3d ___, ___ (Ala. 2025) (emphasis added). See also Wheeler
v. George, 39 So. 3d 1061, 1090 (Ala. 2009) (providing that when " 'a
putative servant is not liable, either because he is innocent or because he
is immune, no liability exists to be visited upon the putative master' "
(citation omitted)). In sum, because, under § 45-27-60.11, Dr. Raulerson
would be immune from civil liability for his actions as medical examiner,
the County defendants, as his alleged principals, may not be held liable
for those same actions.
It is unclear whether the remaining declaratory-judgment count
seeks a declaration regarding the County defendants. To the extent that
it does so, we reiterate that no other viable claim for relief against the
County defendants remains in this case. Thus, the count presents no
controversy under the Declaratory Judgment Act, § 6-6-220 et seq., Ala.
Code 1975. See Creola Land Dev., Inc. v. Bentbrooke Hous., L.L.C., 828
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So. 2d 285, 288 (Ala. 2002) ("A controversy is justiciable where present
'legal rights are thwarted or affected [so as] to warrant proceedings under
the Declaratory Judgment statutes.' " (quoting Town of Warrior v.
Blaylock, 275 Ala. 113, 114, 152 So. 2d 661, 662 (1963))); Hunt Transition
and Inaugural Fund, Inc. v. Grenier, 782 So. 2d 270, 272 (Ala. 2000) ("For
a court to grant declaratory relief, it must have before it a bona fide,
presently existing justiciable controversy that affects the legal rights or
obligations of the parties."); and § 6-6-221, Ala. Code 1975 (stating that
the "purpose" of a declaratory judgment "is to settle and to afford relief
from uncertainty and insecurity with respect[ ] to rights, status, and
other legal relations" (emphasis added)). It is, therefore, likewise due to
be dismissed.
Conclusion
Based on the foregoing, the County defendants have demonstrated
a clear legal right to have the plaintiffs' claims against them dismissed.
Because this issue is determinative, we pretermit discussion of any
alternate theory of immunity advanced by the County defendants in their
mandamus petition.
PETITION GRANTED; WRIT ISSUED.
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Stewart, C.J., and Wise, Bryan, Sellers, Mendheim, Cook, McCool,
and Parker, JJ., concur.
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