Cairns v. Shugrue

• Citation: 441 A.2d 185,186 Conn. 300
• Parties: , 2 Ed. Law Rep. 1083 Cheryl CAIRNS v. James SHUGRUE, Commissioner of Transportation.
• Decision Date: 23 February 1982
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut

Page 185

441 A.2d 185

186 Conn. 300, 2 Ed. Law Rep. 1083

Cheryl CAIRNS v. James SHUGRUE, Commissioner of Transportation.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 4, 1981.

Decided Feb. 23, 1982.

Thomas F. McDermott, Jr., West Haven, for appellant (plaintiff).

John C. Bullock, Waterbury, with whom, on the brief, was Anthony M. Fitzgerald, Waterbury, for appellee (defendant).

Before HEALEY, PARSKEY, ARMENTANO, SHEA and WRIGHT, JJ.

SHEA, Justice.

The question presented in this appeal is whether a person who is injured as a result of the claimed defective condition of a road within the grounds of a state educational institution, which the commissioner of transportation is obliged to maintain under General Statutes § 13b-30, for redress must proceed to bring an action against the commissioner pursuant to § 13a-144 or must resort to the claims commissioner pursuant to §§ 4-141-4-165b. ¹

The plaintiff brought an action against the defendant transportation commissioner alleging that on January 19, 1976, while she was a student at the University of Connecticut, she was injured when she slipped upon an accumulation of ice on Whitney Road which she was crossing. She alleged that the defendant was under a duty to maintain the section of the road where she fell and had neglected to perform this duty properly. Upon a motion of the defendant and in reliance upon admissions and stipulations of the parties, the trial court ² concluded that Whitney Road was not part of the "state highway system" as defined in § 13a-14 and, therefore, granted summary judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff has appealed.

There is no dispute about the facts relied upon by the trial court in rendering summary judgment. Whitney Road is located on the campus of the University of Connecticut at Storrs. It is one of several highways which provide access to the facilities of this state educational institution. It intersects another of these highways on the campus, Mansfield Road, which in turn intersects Route 195, a primary or secondary highway included in the "state highway system." Whitney Road itself does not appear on any official list of highways constituting the "state highway system" or upon the official map of such system referred to in § 13a-16.

It is not disputed that at the time of the accident the defendant commissioner was required to maintain Whitney Road, in accordance with § 13b-30, ³ pursuant to a "request of the state agency having jurisdiction over the property involved," the university administration. The statute expressly provides that this duty of maintenance includes the removal of snow. The "duties and responsibilities" of the defendant commissioner include the obligations imposed by this statute. General Statutes § 13b-4(i). ⁴

The plaintiff brought her suit under the authority of General Statutes § 13a-144 ⁵ which allows a person injured "through the neglect or default of the state or any of its employees by means of any defective highway ... which it is the duty of the commissioner of transportation to keep in repair" to bring a civil action against the defendant commissioner. The presence of a dangerous accumulation of ice or snow unquestionably would make a highway defective within the meaning of this statute. Faircloth v. Cox, 18 Conn.Sup. 499, 501 (1954). See Burr v. Plymouth, 48 Conn. 460, 469 (1881). It is claimed that Whitney Road was a defective highway because of the icy condition which caused the plaintiff to fall and that the defendant had a duty to correct this condition as part of his obligation to maintain highways upon the grounds of a state institution imposed by § 13b-30. The defendant claims that legislative history requires that the broad language of § 13a-144 imposing liability for defective highways "which it is the duty of the commissioner of transportation to keep in repair" should be limited to state highways included in the "state highway system," as defined in § 13a-16. ⁶ The quoted clause in a slightly different form was included in the original enactment of 1915, when the state first waived its sovereign immunity to authorize a civil action against a state official for a defective highway. ⁷ It corresponds closely to the provisions of General Statutes § 13a-149 permitting a person injured "by means of a defective road ... (to) recover damages from the party bound to keep it in repair," a statute of more ancient lineage which has been the basis for imposing liability for such accidents upon "any town, city, corporation or borough." The defendant argues that the virtual carry-over of the language of the earlier statute to § 13a-144 had no broader import than to create causes of action for defects in trunk line and state aid highways, which in 1915 were the only ones which the highway commissioner was bound to maintain. See Public Acts 1913, Ch. 174; see Public Acts 1907, Ch. 264. He also relies upon the title given to this enactment in the revision of 1918, ⁸ "Damages for injuries sustained on state highways," a designation which has remained essentially unchanged.

We find these contentions unpersuasive. That the legislature had in mind only state highways when this statutory action was first created does not mean that when the predecessor to § 13b-30 was enacted in 1949 ⁹ it intended to except highways upon the property of state institutions from the scope of § 13a-144. "There is a presumption that the legislature, in enacting a law, did so in view of existing relevant statutes and intended it to be read with them so as to make one consistent body of law." Hurlbut v. Lemelin, 155 Conn. 68, 74, 230 A.2d 36 (1967). The breach of a duty of repair or maintenance, which the defendant concedes was imposed upon him by § 13b-30, at common law is a basis for liability. Murphy v. Norfolk, 94 Conn. 592, 596, 110 A. 62 (1920). It is difficult to understand the purpose of § 13b-30 in imposing such a duty upon the commissioner if the breach of that duty would afford no redress to persons injured as a result. Although the defendant argues that a remedy is provided by pursuing such a claim before the claims commissioner in accordance with General Statutes § 4-142, there was no such procedure available until 1959. Public Acts 1959, No. 685. This avenue, therefore, could hardly have been contemplated by the legislature as affording relief to a person injured by the breach of the obligation imposed upon the commissioner by the 1949 enactment.

It also appears that in 1963 the language of § 13a-144, which had since 1915 defined the scope of liability created thereunder by reference to highways "which it is the duty of the highway commissioner to keep in repair," was changed by substituting the phrase "in the state highway system." Public Acts 1963, No. 226 § 144. The defendant would have us read the statute as if this modification remained in effect, although it was rescinded in 1965, leaving the statute in its present form, and the present language, "by means of any defective highway ... which it is the duty of the highway commissioner to keep in repair ...." was adopted. Public Acts 1965, No. 574 § 50. The 1963 amendment was included in a recompilation of highway laws entitled "An Act Restating the Highway Laws." Public Acts 1963, No. 226 § 144. The 1965 amendment was included in a so-called technical amendment act entitled "An Act Making Certain Corrections in the General Statutes." We are not aware of any legislative history of value in explaining the reasons for these statutory revisions. "The title to an Act is significant, but not controlling, in arriving at the intent of an enactment." New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. Orange, 91 Conn. 472, 479, 100 A. 25 (1917). "But if the language is clear and not subject to interpretation, titles are of less significance." Algonquin Gas Transmission Co. v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 162 Conn. 50, 55, 291 A.2d 204 (1971). The contention of the defendant that the 1965 amendment simply restored the original language of the 1915 enactment, which may have been inadvertently modified in restating the highway laws in 1963, is not quite accurate, since the amendment substituted "by means of any defective highway" for "by means of a defective road," in the earlier enactment. It did not simply undo what had been accomplished in 1963. We think that such indicia as are available point to a conscious adoption of the present form of § 13a-144 by the legislature in 1965 in order to broaden its scope, which had been significantly narrowed in 1963. This conclusion, of course, militates against the defendant's position that the statute should be construed to apply only to injuries occurring upon roads within the "state highway system" as was expressly provided by the 1963 amendment. The 1965 amendment, if it is to be given any effect at all, must be deemed to have removed that limitation on the liability of the defendant commissioner.

The defendant also relies upon an informal opinion of the attorney general ¹⁰ given in response to a query of the highway commissioner concerning his potential liability for injuries on roads upon state institutions when the predecessor of § 13b-30 was first adopted in 1949. The response of the attorney general was that there would be no such liability because the roads were not state highways. An affidavit furnished by the defendant in support of the motion for summary judgment states that in reliance upon this opinion and its own interpretation, the department of transportation has established the practice of disallowing claims where the injury has occurred upon the road of a state institution rather than one included in the "state highway system." The opinion of the attorney general is entitled to substantial weight, but it is not binding on the court. Windham Community Memorial Hospital v. Willimantic, 166 Conn. 113, 118, 348 A.2d 651 (1974). Similarly, "(t)he practical interpretation of legislative acts by governmental agencies...