Members of the Birmingham Board of Education and the superintendent of the Birmingham City School System (“defendants”) appealed the Jefferson Circuit Court's judgment in favor of "classified employees" of the Birmingham Board of Education (“plaintiffs”). The trial court held that the plaintiffs' salaries had been miscalculated, based on the Board of Education’s pay policies, and awarded them monetary relief. The defendants argued, among other things, that they are entitled to immunity from the plaintiffs' claims.

On appeal, plaintiffs argued that the Board of Education was not entitled to immunity because the Board of Education is obligated to follow its own duly adopted salary schedule. The Alabama Supreme Court stated that the issue was “whether the defendants acted arbitrarily in interpreting and implementing the Board's policy. If they did not act arbitrarily, they are entitled to § 14 immunity.” Specifically, the issue in the present case is whether the language in the introduction to the salary schedule unambiguously created a legal duty for the defendants to assign then classified employees to steps on the salary schedule that directly corresponded to their years of service when they were converted to the new salary schedule. If so, the payment of the claimed backpay and benefits would be a ministerial act the defendants had no discretion to avoid, and § 14 would not bar the plaintiffs' claims insofar as they seek to compel the defendants to pay the backpay and benefits. The Court found that the defendants’ interpretation of the policy in question was not arbitrary because the policy refers only to "certified" employees or "teachers," not classified employees like the plaintiffs. Accordingly, the Court held that the defendants were entitled to immunity, and thus the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.