This case arises from the events of March 11, 2005, when Brian Nichols escaped Fulton County deputies while awaiting trial at the Fulton County Courthouse and killed several individuals, including Judge Rowland Barnes, before surrendering in the suburbs north of Atlanta. Appellants Susan Christy and Gina Clarke collectively “the Appellants”, who worked as case manager and assistant case manager to Judge Barnes at the time of the incident, instituted these suits against Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman and various other individuals, which suits we have consolidated for the purposes of appeal. The trial court granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss the suits, and we now reverse, for the reasons that follow. We review de novo a grant of a motion to dismiss a complaint,1 understanding that a motion to dismiss should not be granted unless it appears to a certainty that the plaintiff would be entitled to no relief under any state of facts which could be proved in support of his claim. All facts in the pleadings are to be construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff with all doubts resolved in his favor even though unfavorable constructions are possible.2 Taking the Appellants’ pleadings as true, at the time of the events in question, Defendant Myron Freeman was the Fulton County Sheriff, Defendant Lucious D. Johnson was a Major in the Jail Division of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department “the Department”, Defendant Chelisa Lee was a Captain in the Court Services Section of the Department, Defendant Twantta Clerk-Mathis was a Captain in the Court Services Section of the Department, Defendant Jerome Dowdell was a Sergeant in the Training Division of the Department, Defendant Grantley White was a Sergeant in the Court Services Section of the Department,3 Defendant Paul Tamer was a Deputy Sheriff III in the Court Services Section of the Department, and Defendant Alphonso Wright was a Civilian-Security Specialist in the Court Services Section of the Department.
In 2004, Brian Nichols was charged with rape, aggravated assault, and burglary, and his second trial on those charges was set to begin on March 7, 2005. In February 2005, Defendant Dowdell was informed of threats made by Nichols that he was planning to overpower a deputy, take the deputy’s weapon, and escape. Although Dowdell alerted Officer Jenkins of the Court Services Division of the Department of the threat, he did not inform Jenkins of the specifics of what he learned and merely told the officer that Nichols threatened to “act out” if the verdict did not go his way. Dowdell also failed to follow numerous Department procedures after learning of Nichols’s threat, which would have led to higher security around Nichols; however, Dowdell met with Nichols at the County Jail and told him “not to do anything stupid.”
