Burton v. Lehman

• Decision Date: 13 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 74731-8.,74731-8.
• Citation: 153 Wn.2d 416,153 Wash.2d 416,103 P.3d 1230
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: Lonnie BURTON; Gordon Lebar; James Bringham; and Michael Holmberg, individually and on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals, Petitioners, v. Joseph LEHMAN and Jane Doe, Lehman, husband and wife; Doug Waddington and Jane Doe Waddington, husband and wife; Maggie Miller-Stout and John Doe Miller-Stout, husband and wife; Kathy Kaatz and John Doe Kaatz, husband and wife; Richard Morgan and Jane Doe Morgan, husband and wife; Patricia Gorman and John Doe Gorman, husband and wife; Carol Porter and John Doe Porter; and John Does and Jane Does 1 Through 20, Respondents.

103 P.3d 1230

153 Wn.2d 416

153 Wash.2d 416

Lonnie BURTON; Gordon Lebar; James Bringham; and Michael Holmberg, individually and on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals, Petitioners, v. Joseph LEHMAN and Jane Doe, Lehman, husband and wife; Doug Waddington and Jane Doe Waddington, husband and wife; Maggie Miller-Stout and John Doe Miller-Stout, husband and wife; Kathy Kaatz and John Doe Kaatz, husband and wife; Richard Morgan and Jane Doe Morgan, husband and wife; Patricia Gorman and John Doe Gorman, husband and wife; Carol Porter and John Doe Porter; and John Does and Jane Does , Respondents.

No. 74731-8.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued September 28, 2004.

Decided January 13, 2005.

Michael John Rasch, Thomas Juhl, Seattle, for Petitioners.

Douglas Wayne Carr, Olympia, for Respondents.

OWENS, J.

Petitioners Lonnie Burton and three other inmates (Burton) filed suit against the Department of Corrections (DOC), the DOC secretary, and several DOC superintendents claiming that DOC Policy 440.000 violates RCW 72.02.045. RCW 72.02.045(3) states that "[w]hen convicted persons are released from the confines of the institution either on parole, transfer, or discharge, all ... valuable personal property in the possession of the superintendent belonging to such convicted persons shall be delivered to them." In contrast, DOC Policy 440.000, section IX limits the amount of property that DOC will ship free of charge to two boxes along with state issued transport and clothing bags.¹ All excess property must be shipped at inmates' expense, donated, or destroyed. Id. Based on DOC's practices under Policy 440.000, Burton made additional claims for due process violations; fraud; conversion; violations of the Washington Criminal Profiteering Act (WCPA), chapter 9A.82 RCW; and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968. The superior court found that the term "transfer" did not apply to intra-DOC inmate movement and dismissed all of Burton's claims pursuant to a CR 12(b)(6) motion. The Court of Appeals affirmed on other grounds, holding that "transfer" does include intra-DOC movement but that inmates effectively receive "constructive delivery" under Policy 440.000.

I. FACTS

DOC Policy 440.000, section IX states that DOC will ship a limited amount of property free of charge when an inmate is transferred to another DOC facility and that any excess property must be shipped at the offender's expense, donated, or destroyed.² Items such as typewriters, musical instruments, televisions, and stereo equipment are generally excluded from the two box limit. In contrast, RCW 72.02.045 states in relevant part as follows:

(3) The superintendent shall be the custodian of all funds and valuable personal property of convicted persons as may be in their possession upon admission to the institution, or which may be sent or brought in to such persons, or earned by them while in custody, or which shall be forwarded to the superintendent on behalf of convicted persons....When convicted persons are released from the confines of the institution either on parole, transfer, or discharge, all funds and valuable personal property in the possession of the superintendent belonging to such convicted persons shall be delivered to them.

(Emphasis added.)

Burton's complaint alleges several transfers between DOC institutions where DOC required the payment of shipping costs for property in excess of the Policy 440.000 limit. The complaint requested class certification, alleging that DOC Policy 440.000 and its implementation violates the RCW 72.02.045(3) requirement that superintendents "shall" deliver all personal property to the inmate upon "transfer." Burton further alleged due process violations, fraud, conversion, violations of the WCPA, and violations of RICO. Burton requested several types of relief, including compensatory damages, punitive damages, treble damages, costs and attorney fees, statutory penalties, declaratory relief, an injunction, and pre- and postjudgment interest. Judge Daniel J. Berschauer granted DOC's CR 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss before any discovery was conducted, concluding that RCW 72.02.045 did not require DOC to pay for the transport of property upon an inmate's transfer to another DOC institution. The court found the word "transfer" in RCW 72.02.045 to be ambiguous and adopted DOC's view that "transfer" means transfer to the street, rather than to another DOC institution. Because the court concluded that all of Burton's additional claims were dependent upon a violation of the statute, it did not address those claims individually, but rather dismissed the complaint entirely.

Burton appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed on other grounds. Burton v. Lehman, 118 Wash.App. 307, 309, 76 P.3d 271 (2003). The court held that "transfer" in RCW 72.02.045(3) was not ambiguous and "clearly suggests" transfers between DOC institutions. Id. at 312-13, 76 P.3d 271. However, the court went on to hold that the term "delivery" was ambiguous because it could refer to actual or constructive delivery. Id. at 314, 76 P.3d 271. The Court of Appeals reasoned that "constructive delivery" was the appropriate definition because RCW 72.02.045(3) states that the superintendent is the custodian of inmate property and WAC 137-36-030(3) allows the superintendent to determine the type and amount of inmate property. Id. Using the constructive delivery definition, the court held that DOC Policy 440.000 does not violate RCW 72.02.045(3) because constructive delivery occurs when inmates are given the option to (1) arrange for pickup by a nonincarcerated person, (2) pay to ship the property, or (3) leave the property to the transferring DOC institution for donation or destruction. Id. at 310, 314, 76 P.3d 271. Burton's motion for reconsideration was denied, and this court granted review on June 2, 2004.

II. ISSUES

1. Does DOC Policy 440.000, requiring inmates to either pay the shipping costs for some of their property or lose ownership of that property, violate the requirement in RCW 72.02.045(3) that DOC superintendents shall deliver inmate property upon transfer?

2. Were Burton's claims for constitutional rights violations, fraud, conversion, violations of the WCPA, and violations of RICO properly dismissed pursuant to CR 12(b)(6)?

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Whether a dismissal was appropriate under CR 12(b)(6) is a question of law that an appellate court reviews de novo. Tenore v. AT & T Wireless Servs., 136 Wash.2d 322, 329-30, 962 P.2d 104 (1998). Under CR 12(b)(6), dismissal is only appropriate if "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff cannot prove any set of facts which would justify recovery." Id. at 330, 962 P.2d 104. In undertaking such an analysis, "a plaintiff's allegations are presumed to be true and a court may consider hypothetical facts not included in the record." Id. Statutory interpretation is also a question of law that is reviewed de novo. W. Telepage, Inc. v. City of Tacoma Dep't of Fin., 140 Wash.2d 599, 607, 998 P.2d 884 (2000).

IV. ANALYSIS

A. Statutory Violation of RCW 72.02.045(3)

Where statutory language is plain and unambiguous, a court will not construe the statute but will glean the legislative intent from the words of the statute itself, regardless of a contrary interpretation by an administrative agency. See Bravo v. Dolsen Cos., 125 Wash.2d 745, 752, 888 P.2d 147 (1995)

; Smith v. N. Pac. Ry. Co., 7 Wash.2d 652, 664, 110 P.2d 851 (1941). A statutory term that is left undefined should be given its "usual and ordinary meaning and courts may not read into a statute a meaning that is not there." State v. Hahn, 83 Wash.App. 825, 832, 924 P.2d 392 (1996). If the undefined statutory term is not technical, the court may refer to the dictionary to establish the meaning of the word. Heinsma v. City of Vancouver, 144 Wash.2d 556, 564, 29 P.3d 709 (2001). In undertaking this plain language analysis, the court must remain careful to avoid "unlikely, absurd or strained" results. State v. Stannard, 109 Wash.2d 29, 36, 742 P.2d 1244 (1987).

In contrast, an ambiguous statute requires judicial construction. A statute is ambiguous only if susceptible to two or more reasonable interpretations, but a statute is not ambiguous merely because different interpretations are conceivable. State v. Keller, 143 Wash.2d 267, 276, 19 P.3d 1030 (2001). If a statute is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation, the court should construe the statute to effectuate the legislature's intent. Davis v. Dep't of Licensing, 137 Wash.2d 957, 963, 977 P.2d 554 (1999). Only where the legislative intent is not clear from the words of a statute may the court "resort to extrinsic aids, such as legislative history." Biggs v. Vail, 119 Wash.2d 129, 134, 830 P.2d 350 (1992).

Throughout this litigation, the parties' dispute has focused on the meaning of two undefined terms in RCW 72.02.045(3): "transfer" and "deliver[y]." Although varying interpretations of these terms are conceivable in the metaphysical sense, we conclude that a plain language analysis of each is both necessary and sufficient to dispose of the question presented.

1. Transfer

The dictionary succinctly defines "transfer" as follows: "to carry or take from one person or place to another: ... to move or send to a different location." WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 2426-27 (2002). Similarly, Black's Law Dictionary defines "transfer" as a verb meaning "[t]o convey or remove from one place or one person to another." BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 1536 (8th ed.2004). The application of these ordinary definitions to the phrase "released from the confines of the institution ... on ... transfer" requires us to give the terms "release" and "confine[ment]" their plain meaning as well. The term "release" is defined as "[t]he action of freeing or the fact of being freed from restraint...