Alabama Wrongful Death Lawsuit Dismissed
A Houston County judge removed the City of Dothan from a lawsuit recently after determining the city is immune from liability.
Circuit Judge Larry Anderson granted summary judgment to the City of Dothan in a wrongful death suit brought by Mary Downing, whose husband was killed by an intoxicated driver in January 2007, just minutes after she had been stopped and released by police officers.
The lawsuit alleges police officers should have arrested Tabitha Farmer on the evening of Jan. 13, 2007, for driving under the influence near downtown Dothan. Later the same evening Farmer’s vehicle struck and killed the 60-year-old Downing, crushing him against the wall of the outside of the building at Southern Family Market, now Bruno’s.
Attorneys for the City of Dothan filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming Alabama law protects the discretionary decisions of officers, so long as those decisions are not made maliciously, fraudulently, or in bad faith.
“The plaintiff has not put forth any evidence that the officer acted willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, or in bad faith, or beyond his or her authority, or under mistaken interpretation of the law,” Anderson wrote in his ruling, dated March 5.
Farmer, 27, pleaded guilty to murder in Downing’s death, and was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison. Prosecutors convicted Farmer of the murder charge because she was under the influence of an inhalant after she’d apparently been “huffing” in the car.
Farmer and Southern Family Markets remain defendants in the wrongful death suit.
“The court’s ruling points to the Alabama Legislature’s answer to the problems caused when law enforcement is not allowed to make their own decisions,” Dothan City Attorney Len White said in a written statement.