Cole v. Isherwood
| Decision Date | 06 December 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. S-00-665.,S-00-665. |
| Citation | 264 Neb. 985,653 N.W.2d 821 |
| Parties | Frankie Levi COLE, Appellant, v. Scott ISHERWOOD et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Frankie Levi Cole, pro se.
Don Stenberg, Attorney General, and Jennifer M. Amen for appellees.
Frankie Levi Cole, an inmate, brought an action against various prison employees asserting claims for personal injury and property loss. Defendants successfully demurred to Cole's third amended petition on grounds that the district court lacked jurisdiction and that the petition failed to state a cause of action. The action was dismissed. The Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal, holding the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Cole v. Isherwood, 11 Neb.App. 44, 642 N.W.2d 524 (2002). We granted Cole's petition for further review.
The facts in this case are fully set forth in the opinion of the Court of Appeals and are summarized here. In his original petition filed on July 2, 1999, Cole alleged that defendants refused his request to be transferred to a cell with a nonsmoking cellmate and denied him proper medical attention after two separate altercations with his cellmate. After the first altercation, Cole required surgery on his right thumb, and after the second, he required stitches near his left eye.
Defendants successfully demurred to Cole's initial petition, as well as his first and second amended petitions. Cole then filed his operative third amended petition, which alleges tort claims and violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000) and is brought against defendants in their individual capacities for monetary damages and in their official capacities to the extent that prospective injunctive relief might apply. Defendants filed a demurrer asserting that the court lacked jurisdiction over Cole's claims and their persons and that the petition did not state a cause of action. After conducting a telephonic hearing, the district court sustained the demurrer on all grounds and dismissed the petition without articulating its rationale. The court found that it was reasonably unlikely that Cole could amend to correct the grounds stated in the demurrer.
The Court of Appeals affirmed in a published opinion. Cole v. Isherwood, supra. The court found that Cole's claims were subject to the Nebraska State Tort Claims Act, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 81-8,209 et seq. (Reissue 1996), because his allegations were brought against state employees based upon alleged actions within the scope of their employment. The State Tort Claims Act provides in relevant part that "[n]o suit shall be permitted ... unless the State Claims Board has made final disposition of the claim." § 81-8,213. The court noted that Cole filed his initial suit in district court on July 2, 1999. In his third amended petition filed April 3, 2000, Cole alleged that he filed his claim with the State Claims Board on March 31, 1999, and that it was denied on August 11, 1999. Cole v. Isherwood, supra. Based upon these facts, the Court of Appeals determined that the district court properly granted the demurrer because when "Cole filed his petition prior to the denial of his claims by the State Claims Board, the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear Cole's claim under the Act." Id. at 50, 642 N.W.2d at 530.
The Court of Appeals noted that a question remained as to whether Cole had a valid cause of action under § 1983. Citing Pratt v. Clarke, 258 Neb. 402, 604 N.W.2d 822 (1999), the court found that when a prisoner has requested both monetary damages and injunctive relief with respect to prison conditions under § 1983, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires that the prisoner exhaust his or her administrative remedies before bringing the action. The Court of Appeals determined that Cole failed to exhaust his remedies because he filed his State Tort Claims Act claim in an untimely manner, and concluded that "[t]herefore, the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear Cole's § 1983 claims and correctly granted the defendants' demurrer...." Cole v. Isherwood, 11 Neb.App. 44, 51, 642 N.W.2d 524, 530 (2002).
In his petition for further review, Cole asserts that the Court of Appeals erred as a matter of law (1) in finding that the district court lacked jurisdiction because final determination by the State Claims Board had not been made prior to initiation of the district court action and (2) in finding that the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear the § 1983 action because administrative remedies had not been exhausted.
In reviewing an order sustaining a demurrer, an appellate court accepts the truth of the facts which are well pled, together with the proper and reasonable inferences of law and fact which may be drawn therefrom, but does not accept the conclusions of the pleader. Regier v. Good Samaritan Hosp., 264 Neb. 660, 651 N.W.2d 210 (2002); Shirley v. Neth, 264 Neb. 138, 646 N.W.2d 587 (2002).
Cole argues that the Court of Appeals erred in holding that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over his claims. He generally contends that the filing of a suit in district court prior to final disposition of a claim filed with the State Tort Claims Board does not deprive the district court of subject matter jurisdiction. He further argues that exhaustion of administrative remedies is not a jurisdictional component of a § 1983 action.
The relevant portion of the State Tort Claims Act provides that no suit can be brought in district court "unless the State Claims Board has made final disposition of the claim." § 81-8,213. Final disposition occurs either when the claims board decides the claim or when the claim is withdrawn. See id. The statute specifically states, however, that a claim may be withdrawn only if the board has not acted upon the claim within 6 months. Id. From the face of the operative third amended petition, it is apparent that Cole's suit was filed in the district court less than 6 months after the claim was submitted to the claims board and prior to final disposition by that board.
Cole relies upon cases interpreting a separate but similar provision in the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 13-901 et seq. (Reissue 1997). See, Keller v. Tavarone, 262 Neb. 2, 628 N.W.2d 222 (2001); Millman v. County of Butler, 235 Neb. 915, 458 N.W.2d 207 (1990). In Keller and Millman, we held that the failure to file or present a claim to the appropriate political subdivision did not deprive the district court of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. See § 13-905. Generally, provisions in the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act should be construed in harmony with similar provisions in the State Tort Claims Act. Jasa v. Douglas County, 244 Neb. 944, 510 N.W.2d 281 (1994). The provisions in both acts requiring the presentment of claims prior to initiation of actions in the district court are nearly identical. Compare § 81-8,212 with § 13-905 (). Thus, the rule that the filing or presentment of a claim is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to commencement of suit applies to the State Tort Claims Act, as well as the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act.
This rule, however, does not fully resolve the question of subject matter jurisdiction in this case. In both Keller and Millman, the plaintiff wholly failed to file a claim with the applicable governing board. See §§ 81-8,212 and 13-905. In this case, the third amended petition alleges that Cole presented his initial claim to the board on March 31, 1999, thus complying with the initial presentment provision in the State Tort Claims Act. See § 81-8,212. Cole, however, filed suit in the district court on July 2, although the claims board did not finally deny his claim until August 11.
These facts meet the initial presentment requirement of § 81-8,212 but conflict with the requirement of § 81-8,213 that no suit can be brought in district court "unless the State Claims Board has made final disposition of the claim." The issue presented is whether the reasoning of Keller and Millman applies to these facts. We conclude that it does.
Subject matter jurisdiction is the power of a tribunal to hear and determine a case of the general class or category to which the proceedings in question belong and to deal with the general subject matter involved. Hunt v. Trackwell, 262 Neb. 688, 635 N.W.2d 106 (2001); Falotico v. Grant Cty. Bd. of Equal., 262 Neb. 292, 631 N.W.2d 492 (2001). The district court has exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over suits under the State Tort Claims Act pursuant to § 81-8,214. The requirements of § 81-8,213, like the requirements of § 81-8,212, are simply statutory conditions that a plaintiff must follow prior to instigating suit in district court. As we have noted:
Millman v. County of Butler, 235 Neb. 915, 922, 458 N.W.2d 207, 212 (1990), quoting Figgs v. City of Milwaukee, 121 Wis.2d 44, 357 N.W.2d 548 (1984).
In this case, the statutory condition requiring final disposition by the board prior to instigation of a suit is analogous to the statutory condition requiring the initial presentment of a claim to the Board. In Chicago Lumber Co. v. School Dist. No. 71, 227 Neb. 355, 368-69, 417 N.W.2d 757, 766 (1988), we explained the purpose or function of...
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