Brunsvold v. State, 90-277

• Decision Date: 23 December 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-277,90-277
• Citation: 820 P.2d 732,250 Mont. 500
• Parties: Milton D. BRUNSVOLD, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. STATE of Montana, the Montana Department of Institutions, Henry Risley, James Bennett, Probation Officer, Defendants and Respondents.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 732

820 P.2d 732

250 Mont. 500

Milton D. BRUNSVOLD, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. STATE of Montana, the Montana Department of Institutions Henry Risley, James Bennett, Probation Officer Defendants and Respondents.

No. 90-277.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs May 23, 1991.

Decided Oct. 31, 1991.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 23, 1991.

Leonard J. Haxby, Daniel R. Sweeney, Butte, for plaintiff and appellant.

Marc Racicot, Atty. Gen., Norman C. Peterson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Helena, for defendants and respondents.

GRAY, Justice.

Milton D. Brunsvold appeals from a Decision and Order of the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, granting summary judgment in favor of all defendants in his suit for damages alleging wrongful incarceration in the Montana State Prison. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

On March 8, 1978, the Richland County District Court convicted appellant Milton D. Brunsvold (Brunsvold) on a guilty plea to a felony charge of issuing bad checks. Brunsvold was granted a deferred sentence for a period of three years and placed on probation. The court attached certain conditions to the deferred sentence.

On January 2, 1980, based on violations of conditions of probation, the District Court revoked Brunsvold's deferred sentence and sentenced him to three years in prison with execution of the entire three-year sentence conditionally suspended. When Brunsvold again failed to abide by the conditions, the court revoked his suspended sentence on August 27, 1980. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended; he began serving his sentence on September 12, 1980, and was discharged from the Montana State Prison on May 12, 1981.

On the day he was discharged, Brunsvold requested permission to travel to Idaho. His probation officer granted Brunsvold's request under the condition that Brunsvold return to Montana on May 27, 1981. Thereafter, James Bennett, a probation officer of Montana's Department of Institutions, noted that Brunsvold had not returned as ordered and also had failed to contact any parole or probation officer since he left the State. Based on these facts, Bennett determined that Brunsvold had again violated the conditions of his suspended sentence. Thereafter, on June 2, 1982, Bennett filed a Report of Violation recommending a hearing regarding Brunsvold's violation of conditions and revocation of the two-year suspended sentence. In the report, Bennett stated:

[I]n reference to the recent Miller/Blackerby rulings, which requires good time be given while on a suspended sentence, this officer has computed this subject's discharge date as at approximately July 25, 1982.

Bennett was referring to two unpublished cases, Miller v. State (1982), No. 81-565 and State v. Gray (1982), No. 82-164, in which we directed the Department of Institutions to credit good time allowances to sentences where the defendants were on probation while serving a suspended or deferred sentence.

The county attorney subsequently filed a petition to revoke Brunsvold's suspended sentence and an information charging Brunsvold with bail jumping. Brunsvold's affidavit states that he tried unsuccessfully to contact Bennett while in jail awaiting the revocation hearing; he wanted to tell Bennett that he believed he was being held improperly because his suspended sentence had been discharged. Under a plea bargain agreement and on advice of counsel, appellant pled guilty to the bail jumping charge and did not resist the petition to revoke his suspended sentence. On March 2, 1983, the District Court revoked Brunsvold's suspended sentence and resentenced him to two years in prison. Brunsvold was imprisoned on March 17, 1983.

After arriving at the prison, Brunsvold states he tried unsuccessfully to communicate the information concerning his alleged improper incarceration to Warden Henry Risley. In July of 1983, Brunsvold filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus on the grounds that he had discharged all of his sentences, based on accrued but uncredited good time, prior to the March 2, 1983 revocation hearing. On September 1, 1983, the Powell County District Court heard testimony on Brunsvold's petition. The transcript of the Habeas Corpus hearing reveals that Bennett's good time calculations were incorrect; indeed, based on accrued good time, Brunsvold's entire suspended sentence had expired not only prior to the time the Richland County District Court revoked it, but prior to the time the petition to revoke was filed. Based on this testimony, the court ordered Brunsvold's immediate release. On December 14, 1984, following his release, Brunsvold filed a civil suit alleging wrongful incarceration. He named as defendants the State of Montana, the Department of Institutions, Warden Henry Risley of the Montana State Prison and probation officer James Bennett, who incorrectly calculated his good time credits. The District Court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment on the basis of Sec. 2-9-112, MCA, the judicial immunity statute, and this Court's decision in Knutson v. State (1984), 211 Mont. 126, 683 P.2d 488.

Brunsvold appeals from the grant of summary judgment. The sole issue we address, since it was the dispositive issue in the District Court's Decision and Order, is the following:

Did the District Court err in holding that each of the named defendants is entitled to immunity as a matter of law under Sec. 2-9-112, MCA?

Brunsvold argues on appeal that the identity and acts of the named defendants herein are not "on all fours" with Knutson, and that nothing in Sec. 2-9-112, MCA, or its legislative history suggests an intention to apply judicial immunity to probation officers and prison officials. The defendants contend that Knutson extends judicial immunity to all who participate in any way in judicial acts. It is clear that the District Court felt compelled by Knutson to grant summary judgment to all of the defendants herein on the basis of their participation in the judicial act of sentencing. InKnutson, we said clearly that sentencing is a judicial act. Knutson, 211 Mont. at 128, 683 P.2d at 490. We also said that the immunity statute protects "any governmental agency involved in the judicial act of sentencing." Knutson, 211 Mont. at 129, 683 P.2d at 490. Perhaps understandably, the District Court concluded that Knutson was controlling as to all defendants herein.

The judicial immunity statute, Sec. 2-9-112, MCA, must be construed and applied as to each defendant. The starting points, of course, must be the language of the statute and, if appropriate, the legislative intent behind it; but a brief discussion of the history of the principle of judicial immunity may help set the stage for the appropriate application of the statute to the facts in this case and such clarification of Knutson as may be necessary.

Judicial immunity is essentially a common law principle existing as early as 1354 (Book of Assizes, 27 Edw. III, pl. 18). It became a well recognized rule after the decision in Floyd and Barker, 12 Co.Rep. 23, 77 Eng.Rep. 1305 (1608), and was recognized in this country as early as 1868. Randall v. Brigham (1868), 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 523, 19 L.Ed. 285. Simply stated, the common law rule is that judges are not liable in a civil action for damages for judicial acts. The policy rationale for the rule was, and is, to assure that judges exercise their judicial functions with independence and without fear of consequence.

As a general rule, the 1972 Montana Constitution abrogated the doctrine of sovereign immunity. It also provided that immunity from suit could be established only by a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature. Art. II, Sec. 18, 1972 Mont. Const. The legislature so acted in 1977, passing several immunity statutes; among them was Sec. 2-9-112, MCA, the judicial immunity statute at issue herein.

The legislative history of Sec. 2-9-112, MCA, provides no concrete assistance in ascertaining the scope and parameters of judicial immunity intended by the legislature. In any event, the language used by the legislature is clear and unambiguous and its application to the specific facts before us is determinative of the issue on appeal.

It is clear that in order to fall within the judicial immunity shield, the State and the Department must be sued "for acts or omissions of the judiciary," while Risley and Bennett each must be a "member, officer, or agent" of the judiciary discharging "an official duty associated with judicial actions of the court." Section 2-9-112, MCA. Thus, the relationship of each of the defendants to the court in performing the functions or activities for which claims have been asserted against them must be examined.

To begin at the beginning: It is clear that the "determination and imposition of sentence are the exclusive duty of the court" (Sec. 46-17-301(4), MCA) and, thus, that the court itself is not liable for the judicial act of sentencing. Section 2-9-112(2), MCA. Brunsvold has not asserted such liability. The statute is also clear that "the state and other governmental entities are immune from suit for acts or omissions of the judiciary." Section 2-9-112(1), MCA. Thus, to the extent that Brunsvold's claims against the State and the Department arise solely from their actions in implementing the judicial act of sentencing by incarcerating Brunsvold, those entities are entitled to judicial immunity. As to these defendants and the referenced actions of each, Knutson is controlling.

As to defendants Risley and Bennett, it is clear that neither is a member of the judiciary; nor are they officers of the court, since each is an employee of the executive branch. The question, then, is whether either was an agent of the court in this factual setting.

It is clear that Risley was an agent of the court in accepting Brunsvold into the Montana State Prison. He acted in direct obedience to, and discharge of, the court's...