Searle v. Town Of Bucksport, Docket No. Kno-09-319.
| Citation | 3 A.3d 390 |
| Decision Date | 31 August 2010 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. Kno-09-319. |
| Parties | John W. SEARLE v. TOWN OF BUCKSPORT et al. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.
Steven D. Silin, Esq., Robert H. Furbish, Esq. (orally), Berman & Simmons, Lewiston, ME, for John W. Searle.
Melissa A. Hewey, Esq., Jonathan M. Goodman, Esq. (orally), Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon, Portland, ME, for the Town of Bucksport.
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, LEVY, SILVER, MEAD, GORMAN, and JABAR, JJ.
[¶ 1] John W. Searle appeals from a summary judgment entered in the Superior Court (Knox County, Hjelm, J.) in favor of the Town of Bucksport and the Bucksport School Department on his complaint asserting negligent maintenance of the visitors' bleachers at the Bucksport High School football field. Searle contends that the Superior Court erred in holding that the bleachers are not a public building or an appurtenance to a public building pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 8104-A(2) (2009) of the Maine Tort Claims Act (MTCA) and, therefore, no exception to the immunity conferred on governmental entities by the MTCA applies. We affirm the judgment.
[¶ 2] The following facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, are established in the summary judgment record. See Estate of Fortier v. City of Lewiston, 2010 ME 50, ¶ 2, 997 A.2d 84, 85. On the evening of October 27, 2006, John Searle attended a football game at Bucksport High School. While at the game, he fell through an opening in the visitors' bleachers caused by a missing board and was injured. One or two days before the game, the high school's maintenance director noticed the missing board, but did not replace it or cordon off the area as a potential hazard.
[¶ 3] A parking lot, road, and grassy incline separate the high school building from the football field. A track runs outside the perimeter of the field. A chain-link fence surrounds the track and field. Outside the fence, bleachers are placed parallel to each sideline.
[¶ 4] At the time of the accident, the visitors' bleachers consisted of a metal frame structure with wooden boards as seats. They were ten tiers high, about thirty-six feet long, and were placed upon a gravel base. These bleachers were previously placed upon the opposite side of the field and used as the home side bleachers. In 1999, the bleachers were dismantled and placed in storage before being reassembled at a later point on the visitors' side of the field. At some point after Searle's injury, the visitors' bleachers were again dismantled and removed. Their current location and use are not established in the record.
[¶ 5] The high school uses the field for sporting events and charges members of the public an admission fee to attend its football games. When the field and bleachers are not being used for school events, they are open for use by the general public. Walkers and joggers use the track, subject to posted restrictions, and other members of the public play unorganized group sports on the field. The Town's recreation department uses the field for its Pop Warner football program.
[¶ 6] After his fall, Searle filed a complaint alleging that the School Department's and the Town's negligent maintenance of the visitors' bleachers caused his injuries. The Town and the School Department filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that, pursuant to the MTCA, they were entitled to immunity from Searle's claim. The Superior Court granted the motion for summary judgment on the ground that no exception to the Town's or the School Department's governmental immunity applied. Specifically, the court found that the visitors' bleachers were not a public building or an appurtenance to a public building as contemplated by 14 M.R.S. § 8104-A(2). The court did not expressly address the question of whether the bleachers were excluded from the public building exception as “structures, facilities or equipment designed for use primarily by the public in connection with public outdoor recreation” pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 8104-A(2)(A)(3). Following the court's entry of a final judgment, Searle filed this appeal.
[¶ 7] We review a grant of a motion for summary judgment de novo. Picher v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, 2009 ME 67, ¶ 7, 974 A.2d 286, 289. In the instant case, where there are no genuine issues of material fact, we must interpret the MTCA to determine whether the Town and the School Department are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. See id.
[¶ 8] We review issues of statutory interpretation de novo with the primary objective of giving effect to the Legislature's intent. Rodriguez v. Town of Moose River, 2007 ME 68, ¶ 29, 922 A.2d 484, 492. The use of interpretive aids is necessary only when the plain language of the statute is ambiguous. Windham Land Trust v. Jeffords, 2009 ME 29, ¶ 12, 967 A.2d 690, 695. As a general rule, words and phrases that are not expressly defined in a statute “must be given their plain and natural meaning and should be construed according to their natural import in common and approved usage.” Goodine v. State, 468 A.2d 1002, 1004 (Me.1983); see also 1 M.R.S. § 72(3) (2009). Also, statutes are interpreted “to avoid absurd, illogical, or inconsistent results.” Windham Land Trust, 2009 ME 29, ¶ 12, 967 A.2d at 695 (quotation marks omitted).
[¶ 9] The MTCA confers immunity on governmental entities for all tort claims seeking recovery of damages, except that the immunity is limited by several statutory provisions. 14 M.R.S. § 8103(1) (2009). One such exception, known as the public building exception, provides, “A governmental entity is liable for its negligent acts or omissions in the construction, operation or maintenance of any public building or the appurtenances to any public building.” 14 M.R.S. § 8104-A(2). The immunity exceptions are strictly construed so as to adhere to immunity as the general rule. Sanford v. Town of Shapleigh, 2004 ME 73, ¶ 10, 850 A.2d 325, 329.
[¶ 10] Dictionary definitions of the term building indicate an edifice enclosed by walls and covered by a roof. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines a “building” as follows:
1: a thing built: a: a constructed edifice designed to stand more or less permanently, covering a space of land, usu. covered by a roof and more or less completely enclosed by walls, and serving as a dwelling, storehouse, factory, shelter for animals, or other useful structure-distinguished from structures not designed for occupancy (as fences or monuments) and from structures not intended for use in one place (as boats or trailers) even though subject to occupancy.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary 292 (2002). Black's Law Dictionary defines a building as “[a] structure with walls and a roof.” Black's Law Dictionary 222 (9th ed.2009). The bleachers at issue here do not fit these definitions and therefore do not constitute a public building pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 8104-A(2). The remaining issue is whether they qualify as an appurtenance to a public building.
[¶ 11] “[F]or purposes of section 8104-A(2), an appurtenance is an object or thing that belongs or is attached to a public building, and does not include personal property maintained outside the building.” Sanford, 2004 ME 73, ¶ 11, 850 A.2d at 329. As an initial matter, it is undisputed that the high school is a public building within the meaning of the MTCA. See Lightfoot v. Sch. Admin. Dist. No. 35, 2003 ME 24, ¶¶ 7-8, 816 A.2d 63, 65-66. In this case, the bleachers are an appurtenance if they (1) belong to the school and (2) are not personal property.
[¶ 12] Sanford builds upon case law that had evolved over the previous decade. In Stretton v. City of Lewiston, we determined that an athletic field associated with a high school was not an appurtenance to the high school building for purposes of the MTCA. 588 A.2d 739, 741 (Me.1991). We reached this result despite the fact that the plaintiff was injured during activities being conducted on the public field as part of the regular physical education program. Id. at 739-40. In Kitchen v. City of Calais, we concluded that a raised portion of blacktopped curbing was not an appurtenance to a police station despite the fact that the curbing was created to prevent drivers from parking too close to the station. 666 A.2d 77, 78-79 (Me.1995).
[¶ 13] The test, thus, is not a superficial and singular inquiry as to whether something belongs to a building based upon a simple functional connection between the building and the thing in question. In Kitchen and Stretton, the “things” clearly had a functional connection with the public buildings, but we declined to deem them appurtenances for MTCA purposes. See Kitchen, 666 A.2d at 78-79; Stretton, 588 A.2d at 739-41. If any doubts lingered regarding our rejection of a functional-connection test, Sanford laid them to rest. We stated:
[W]e acknowledge that the function-based definition employed by the Superior Court in concluding that the trash bin is an appurtenance is sensible and offers a practical standard. Nonetheless, for the reasons that follow, we decline to adopt a function-based approach and rely instead on a more restrictive understanding of ... [appurtenance].
Sanford, 2004 ME 73, ¶ 8, 850 A.2d at 328.
[¶ 14] We instead decided to apply the well-established definition of a fixture to determine whether an object was an appurtenance. Id. ¶ 9, 850 A.2d at 328-29. Items of personal property, such as trash containers, cannot be considered fixtures and thus could never constitute appurtenances. Id. ¶ 12, 850 A.2d at 329. In Sanford, we observed that the function-based approach “would expand governmental...
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