McKinnon v. Gardner

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment dismissing his civil action brought against the defendants, six employees of the Department of Correction, in both their individual and official capacities, pursuant to federal statute (42 U.S.C. § 1983). The plaintiff claimed that the court improperly dismissed his action for lack of personal jurisdiction. Held: The trial court improperly granted the defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, as it was undisputed that the plaintiff complied with the service of process requirements in the relevant statutes (§§ 52-57 (a) and 52-64 (b)). This court concluded that the doctrine of sovereign immunity deprived the trial court of subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claims against the defendants in their official capacities, and, therefore, the trial court's dismissal of the plaintiff's action in that regard was not improper. This court declined to address the merits of the defendants' alternative ground of affirmance with respect to the doctrine of qualified immunity, as a motion to dismiss was not the proper procedural vehicle to raise the quali- fied immunity defense in response to claims brought pursuant to § 1983, and the trial court did not rule on the defendants' contention that the plaintiff's claims were barred by the qualified immunity defense. Argued November 20, 2025—officially released April 28, 2026