Archer v. State ex rel. Wyo. Dep't of Transp.
Decision Date | 14 March 2018 |
Docket Number | S-17-0177 |
Citation | 413 P.3d 142 |
Parties | Timothy ARCHER and Ryann Archer, individually and as wrongful death representatives of Sophia Archer, a minor, deceased, and as wrongful death beneficiaries and as natural parents and next friend of MA, a minor, LA, a minor, and OA, a minor, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. STATE of Wyoming, EX REL., WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; City of Riverton, A Wyoming governmental entity and local government; and Riverton Public Works Director Kyle Butterfield, individually and in his official capacity, Appellees (Defendants). |
Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Representing Appellants: Cynthia K. Van Vleet, Wind River Law Center, P.C., Riverton, Wyoming; Collin C. Hopkins, The Law Office of Collin Hopkins, P.C., Riverton, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Hopkins.
Representing Appellee State of Wyoming, ex rel. Wyoming Department of Transportation: Peter K. Michael, Wyoming Attorney General; Daniel E. White, Deputy Attorney General; Jesse B. Naiman, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Mr. Naiman.
Representing Appellees City of Riverton and Riverton Public Works Director Kyle Butterfield: John D. Bowers, Bowers Law Firm, PC, Afton, Wyoming.
Before BURKE, C.J., and HILL* , DAVIS, FOX, and KAUTZ, JJ.
[¶1] This is a wrongful death case arising from the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl, who was struck and killed in a crosswalk on her way home from school. The driver held a valid Wyoming driver's license even though she had monocular vision, a glass eye, and could not have passed the eye exam, which was administered by an employee of the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT). The child's parents sued the WYDOT, the City of Riverton, Fremont County School District No. 25, and various employees of those governmental entities, asserting claims for wrongful death, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and loss of parental consortium (on behalf of the child's siblings). The claims against the school district and its employees were dismissed and Appellants do not appeal that decision. The district court held that governmental immunity barred the claims against the WYDOT, the City of Riverton, and their employees, and dismissed the complaint. Appellants appeal that order, and we affirm.
[¶2] 1. Does the WYDOT's performance of eye exams constitute a public service for which governmental immunity has been waived by Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-108 ?
2. Did the City of Riverton provide a public service for which governmental immunity has been waived by Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-108 when it provided a marked street crossing?
3. Did the Appellants preserve a claim that the governmental entities waived immunity under the insurance coverage exception at Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-118(b)(i) ?
[¶3] Because this is an appeal from an order granting motions to dismiss, "we accept the facts stated in the [amended] complaint as true and view them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff[s]." Town of Pine Bluffs v. Eisele , 2017 WY 117, ¶ 8, 403 P.3d 126, 128 (Wyo. 2017).
[¶4] Sophia Archer and her sister, LA, were crossing the street at a marked crosswalk on their way home from school when Sophia was struck by a motor vehicle driven by Sandra Pennock. Sophia's mother, Ryann Archer, and her sister, OA, arrived at the scene while witnesses were performing CPR and before police officers had arrived. Sophia Archer suffered numerous injuries and likely died at the scene. Sandra Pennock received a driver's license from the WYDOT after successfully completing an eye exam, which it would have been impossible for her to pass in light of her monocular vision and glass eye. The WYDOT issued a handicapped vehicle identification to Ms. Pennock in 2015, two months before the accident, which noted her severe visual or audio handicap. The amended complaint alleges that the WYDOT eye examiner, defendant Jane Doe, "was a public employee acting within the scope of her employment and duties with the Wyoming Department of Transportation ...."1 Allegations against the City of Riverton and its employee, Kyle Butterfield,2 "acting within the scope of his employment and duties,"3 are that they were negligent in some way that caused the damage.
[¶5] The district court granted the motions to dismiss of the WYDOT and the City, finding that no exception to governmental immunity applied. This appeal was timely filed.
[¶6] The Archers present several arguments to avoid the harsh results of governmental immunity under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (WGCA), Wyo. Stat. Ann §§ 1-39-101 through 1-39-121 (LexisNexis 2017). First, they contend, the actions of the WYDOT and the City fall under the exception to governmental immunity for operation of public utilities at Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-108. The Archers further argue that immunity is waived by the WYDOT because the eye exam service is also available through private parties. With respect to both the WYDOT and the City, the Archers contend that the "insurance coverage exception" to governmental immunity at Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-118(b)(i)"may waive immunity." Finally, the Archers argue that strict application of governmental immunity is simply unconscionable. We will address the latter argument first.
[¶7] In 1978, this Court abolished the doctrine of municipal immunity and declared that "[h]enceforth, the rule is liability and the exception is immunity ...." Oroz v. Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs of Carbon Cty. , 575 P.2d 1155, 1158 (Wyo. 1978). In response, in 1979, the Wyoming legislature enacted the WGCA, recognizing the "inherently unfair and inequitable results which occur in the strict application of the doctrine of governmental immunity," yet seeking "to balance the respective equities between persons injured by governmental actions and the taxpayers of the state of Wyoming whose revenues are utilized by governmental entities on behalf of those taxpayers."
Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-102(a). That balance was struck by a general grant of immunity to "a governmental entity and its public employees while acting within the scope of duties ... except as provided by W.S. 1-39-105 through 1-39-112." Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-104(a) (emphasis added). Now that the legislature has determined by statute how these equities should be balanced, it is the job of the courts to apply those statutes to the facts before them. The Archers suggest that this Court should decide, as we did in Brown v. City of Casper , 2011 WY 35, ¶ 43, 248 P.3d 1136, 1146 (Wyo. 2011), to depart from precedent "to vindicate plain, obvious principles of law and remedy continued injustice." There, however, we did not presume to override the statutory balance enacted by the legislature, but, rather, we recognized that our caselaw interpreting the statutory and constitutional provisions on jurisdiction had been mistaken. Id. at ¶ 9, 248 P.3d at 1139.
Fugle v. Sublette Cty. Sch. Dist. No. 9 , 2015 WY 98, ¶ 8, 353 P.3d 732, 734-35 (Wyo. 2015) (quoting Stroth v. North Lincoln Cty. Hosp. Dist. , 2014 WY 81, ¶ 7, 327 P.3d 121, 125 (Wyo. 2014) ).
[¶8] The Archers contend that the WYDOT's performance of eye exams is a public service for which immunity is waived. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-108(a) provides:
(Emphasis added.)
[¶9] The district court held that "[t]he issuance of drivers' licenses, or the examination of license applicants' visual ability, are not in the same genre as the utilities or services listed in § 108," and therefore does not fall under the § 1-39-108 public utility exception. We agree. In Sponsel v. Park Cty. , 2006 WY 6, ¶ 12, 126 P.3d 105, 109 (Wyo. 2006), we recognized that the word "including" suggests "that there are other items includable, though not specifically enumerated." So although "public utilities and services" might include items in addition to "gas, electricity, water, solid or liquid waste collection or disposal, heating and ground transportation," we held in Sponsel that "[t]he statutory construction rule of ejusdem generis instructs us that the legislature must have intended a catch-all phrase to include things similar to those specifically listed." Id. at ¶ 16, 126 P.3d at 109. In Rice v. Collins Commc'ns, Inc. , 2010 WY 109, ¶ 20, ...
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