Opinion

Willis v. University of North Alabama

  • 826 So. 2d 118
  • 2002 Ala. LEXIS 14
  • 2002 WL 64623
Court
Supreme Court of Alabama
Filed
Jan 18, 2002
Status
Published
Author
Johnstone
On the bench
Houston, Johnstone, Woodall
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 15.1%

explaining that under the Alabama Constitution, courts do not have subject-matter jurisdiction over claims against the state

How later courts described this case

  • explaining that under the Alabama Constitution, courts do not have subject-matter jurisdiction over claims against the state
  • affirming a summary judgment in favor of two of the three appellees because, on appeal, the appellant presented argument challenging only one of the two grounds upon which those ap-pellees had based their summary-judgment motion
  • holding that an inverse-condemnation claim requires a physical taking of property

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

I respectfully dissent. Injuring Willis's property without compensating him does violate § 23, Alabama Constitution of 1901, which does apply to the UNA, in that injuring the property is taking it to the extent of the injury. When one man has killed another, we say that the killer has taken the other's life. This ordinary English usage is a good reason why we should not only reverse the summary judgment against Willis but also respect our own precedents of Foreman v. State , 676 So.2d 303 (Ala. 1995), and Barber v. State , 703 So.2d 314 (Ala. 1997), as well as the doctrine of stare decisis .

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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