Bakunduwukomeye v. Shroyer

• Decision Date: 02 June 2022
• Docket Number: 21-8065
• Parties: ANNA BAKUNDUWUKOMEYE, surviving spouse and wrongful death representative of Life Maisha, decedent, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. KAYCEE SHROYER, Defendant-Appellee, and HARMAN PREET BHANGU; GEODYNE, LLC, d/b/a Geodyne Transport; CRAIG HUTCHERSON; BROTHERS TRUCKLINES CORPORATION; OCEAN BLUE TRANSPORT; KAMAL PREET SINGH, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

ANNA BAKUNDUWUKOMEYE, surviving spouse and wrongful death representative of Life Maisha, decedent, Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
KAYCEE SHROYER, Defendant-Appellee,

and HARMAN PREET BHANGU; GEODYNE, LLC, d/b/a Geodyne Transport; CRAIG HUTCHERSON; BROTHERS TRUCKLINES CORPORATION; OCEAN BLUE TRANSPORT; KAMAL PREET SINGH, Defendants.

No. 21-8065

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

June 2, 2022

D.C. No. 2:20-CV-00087-ABJ, (D. Wyo.)

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, HOLMES and ROSSMAN, Circuit Judges.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT ^[*]

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Jerome A. Holmes, Circuit Judge

Anna Bakunduwukomeye appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendant Kaycee Shroyer on the ground that she failed to comply with the notice requirements of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (WGCA) in this wrongful-death suit. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

On March 13, 2019, a snowstorm caused several semitrucks to skid off I-80 in Wyoming. Ms. Bakunduwukomeye's husband, Life Maisha, was driving one of those trucks. Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Kaycee Shroyer arrived at the scene and tried to assist the drivers, but the accidents continued. Another truck crashed into Trooper Shroyer's patrol car; this truck then was moved and parked alongside Mr. Maisha's truck. Mr. Maisha was standing between his truck and the moved truck when a third truck crashed into the moved truck, pushing it into Mr. Maisha's truck and crushing him to death.

Acting as the surviving spouse and personal representative of Mr. Maisha, Ms. Bakunduwukomeye brought a diversity action against several defendants. As relevant to this appeal, she asserted a negligence claim against Trooper Shroyer in his individual capacity. She gave notice of her claim to Trooper Shroyer and the Wyoming Highway Patrol before filing this lawsuit. But she did not give notice to the general services division of the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information (A&I), which is the WGCA-designated recipient for notice of claims against the state. See Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-113(c). Trooper Shroyer sought summary judgment on the ground that the WGCA required Ms. Bakunduwukomeye

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to present notice of her claim against him to A&I. The district court agreed and granted summary judgment to Trooper Shroyer. It then certified its decision as a final, appealable decision under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b).

DISCUSSION

We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Dullmaier v. Xanterra Parks & Resorts, 883 F.3d 1278, 1283 (10th Cir. 2018). Summary judgment is appropriate when "the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). Because this is a diversity action, we apply the substantive law of the forum state, here Wyoming. Dullmaier, 883 F.3d at 1283. "When interpreting [state] law, we must look to rulings of the highest state court, and, if no such rulings exist, must endeavor to predict how that high court would rule." Marcantel v. Michael & Sonja Saltman Fam. Tr., 993 F.3d 1212, 1221 (10th Cir. 2021) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The sole issue before us is whether Ms. Bakunduwukomeye was required to present to A&I notice of her claim against Trooper Shroyer. We have not located any decisions of the Wyoming Supreme Court deciding this issue, but we predict that the court would hold that she was required to do so.

Under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-113(a), "[n]o action shall be brought under this act against a governmental entity unless the claim upon which the action is based is presented to the entity as an itemized statement in writing within two (2) years of the date of the alleged act, error or omission . . . ." Further, § 1-39-113(c) provides that

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"[a]ll claims against the state shall be presented to the general services division of the department of administration and information. Claims against any other governmental entity shall be filed at the business office of that entity." The district court held that although "[t]he WGCA does not specifically refer to public employees in Section 113,...