# Smith v. Houston County Hospital Board

> Supreme Court of Alabama · December 2, 1971 · 287 Ala. 705

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9858907

## Case

- **Full name:** James Edward SMITH v. HOUSTON COUNTY HOSPITAL BOARD
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Alabama
- **Decided:** December 2, 1971
- **Citations:** 287 Ala. 705; 255 So. 2d 328; 1971 Ala. LEXIS 793
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Maddox
- **Judges:** McCall, Coleman, Bloodworth, Heflin, Maddox
- **Cited by:** 10 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9858907

## Opinion text

MADDOX, Justice
(concurring specially).
I believe this appeal to us for the second time points out the futility of attempting to widen the crack made in the “governmental immunity” wall by Paul v. Escambia County Hospital Board, 283 Ala. 488 , 218 So.2d 817 (1969).
My own personal view is that this Court should have never insulated county operated hospitals from tort liability in cases involving paying patients on the ground that counties operating such hospitals are engaged in a “governmental function.” But it has, and not on just one occasion, but on several. See Jenkins v. Houston County Hospital Board, 284 Ala. 180 , 223 So.2d 583 (1969); Thompson v. Druid City Hospital Board, 279 Ala. 314 , 184 So.2d 825 (1966) ; Clark v. Mobile County Hospital Board, 275 Ala. 26 , 151 So.2d 750 (1963); Garrett v. Escambia County Hospital Board, 266 Ala. 201 , 94 So.2d 762 (1957); Moore v. Walker County, 236 Ala. 688 , 185 So. 175 (1938); Laney v. Jefferson County, 249 Ala. 612 , 32 So.2d 542 (1947).
As I said as author of the opinion in Hutchinson v. University Board of Trustees, (decided November 11, 1971), 287 Ala. -, 256 So.2d 281 , the question of governmental responsibility is a pressing one, but the Legislature is the body which will have to deal with it in view of the interpretations which have been heretofore rendered with regard to governmental immunity.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9858907. Public record. Not legal advice.