Crosby v. City of Detroit

• Decision Date: 06 May 1983
• Docket Number: Docket No. 59169
• Citation: 123 Mich.App. 213,333 N.W.2d 557
• Parties: Eugene CROSBY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF DETROIT, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 557

333 N.W.2d 557

123 Mich.App. 213

Eugene CROSBY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF DETROIT, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 59169.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Nov. 10, 1982.

Decided Feb. 10, 1983.

Released for Publication May 6, 1983.

Jaques Admiralty Law Firm, P.C. by William R. Morris, Detroit, for plaintiff-appellant.

Harvey, Kruse, Westen & Milan, P.C. by Michael F. Schmidt, Detroit, for defendant-appellee.

Before RILEY, P.J., and KAUFMAN and WALSH, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff appeals as of right from the Wayne County Circuit Court's order of July 10, 1981, granting defendant's motion for summary judgment pursuant to GCR 1963, 117.2(1) and 117.2(3), failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and no genuine issue of material fact.

Plaintiff's complaint alleged that while he was employed by Rocco Ferrera Construction Company in the construction of a sewer tunnel for the City of Detroit, he was overcome by fumes emitted by various equipment and machinery and, as a result, he fell and was injured. The construction of the sewer tunnel was part of an overall program designed to create a regional sewage disposal system for southeastern Michigan, utilizing the centralized facilities of the Detroit Water and Sewage Department.

Plaintiff commenced this civil action seeking damages for personal injury and alleging various theories of negligence, gross negligence, inherently dangerous work activities, strict liability, nuisance per se and nuisance in fact. After the completion of the discovery process, defendant's motion for summary judgment based on the defense of governmental immunity was granted. Plaintiff appeals raising two issues for our consideration.

First, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in finding that defendant was entitled to the defense of governmental immunity.

In Pittman v. Taylor, 398 Mich. 41, 45, 247 N.W.2d 512 (1976), our Supreme Court abrogated the common-law doctrine of state governmental immunity and today the doctrine exists only by statute. M.C.L. Sec. 691.1407; M.S.A. Sec. 3.996(107) provides in part:

"Except as in this act otherwise provided, all governmental agencies shall be immune from tort liability in all cases wherein the government agency is engaged in the exercise or discharge of a governmental function."

The Legislature has enacted certain exceptions to this general grant of immunity, none of which are applicable to the case at bar. See Thomas v. State Highway Dep't, 398 Mich. 1, 9, fn. 3, 247 N.W.2d 530 (1976).

Inasmuch as the term "governmental function" has no statutory definition, the task of determining whether a particular government activity is a "governmental function" within the meaning of the statute has fallen on the judiciary. The Supreme Court has adopted a case-by-case approach to making this determination. See, Thomas, supra, pp. 11-13, 247 N.W.2d 530. Out of this case-by-case approach arose three separate classification schemes or tests for determining when an activity is a governmental function. Recent Supreme Court decisions have consistently utilized these three tests in classifying claims of governmental immunity.

The first of these tests, the "sui generis" test was announced by the Supreme Court in Thomas, supra, p. 21, 247 N.W.2d 530, and later applied in Parker v. City of Highland Park, 404 Mich. 183, 193-195, 273 N.W.2d 413 (1978). Under this approach, which was adopted by Justices Fitzgerald, Kavanagh and Levin, the term "governmental function" is limited to "those activities sui generis governmental--of essence to governing". This approach would confer governmental immunity only upon those activities which were of such a "peculiar nature" that they could only be done by the government.

In adopting the "of essence to government" test, the Fitzgerald bloc specifically rejected the "common good of all" test applied by a dissenting opinion signed by Justices Williams, Coleman and Ryan. Parker, supra, p. 194, 273 N.W.2d 413.

In casting the crucial "swing vote" the late Justice Moody concurred with the Fitzgerald bloc's conclusion that the operation of a municipally owned general hospital did not constitute a governmental function. Justice Moody, however, utilized a slightly different approach to the "sui generis" test. Justice Moody suggested:

"[A]s a basic guideline, the crux of the governmental essence test should be founded upon the inquiry whether the purpose, planning and carrying out of the activity, due to its unique character or governmental mandate, can be effectively accomplished only by the government. Unless liability would be an unacceptable interference with government's ability to govern, activities that fall outside this perimeter, although performed by a government agency, are not governmental functions and therefore not immune." Parker, supra, 200, 273 N.W.2d 413.

Justice Moody also rejected the Fitzgerald bloc's conclusion as stated in its dissenting opinion in Thomas, supra, that a function is not governmental unless the particular activity involved has "no common analogy in the private sector".

Justice Moody's analysis suggests that an essential government activity may have a common analogy in the private sector, thus his interpretation of the "sui generis" test clearly extends immunity to a broader range of government activities than would the Fitzgerald bloc. See Littlejohn & DeMars,Governmental Immunity After Parker and Perry: The King Can Do Some Wrong, 1982 DCL Rev. 1, 17 (1982).

In Perry v. Kalamazoo State Hospital, 404 Mich. 205, 273 N.W.2d 421 (1978), the Justices aligned themselves as they had in Parker, supra, with Justice Moody casting his "swing vote" in favor of the dissenting opinion in Parker, thus holding that the operation of a public mental hospital was a "governmental function". It is of special significance to the case at bar that Justice Moody's opinion in Perry, supra, (which at first glance might appear contrary to his position in Parker, that the operation of a general hospital is not a governmental function) was based, at least in part, upon the government's pervasive role in the area of mental health, as well as the legislatively mandated public policy in favor of fostering treatment and care for the mentally handicapped.

While the untimely death of Justice Moody and the impending changes in the Supreme Court's membership cast some doubt as to the continuing validity of Parker, supra, and Perry, supra, our decision today is governed by those cases.

Even if we were to assume, as plaintiff would have us hold, that the operation and maintenance of a regional sewage disposal system could be carried out by the private sector and thus is not a governmental function according to Justices Fitzgerald, Levin and Kavanagh, see Perry, supra, 404 Mich. p. 215, 273 N.W.2d 421, and Thomas, supra, 398 Mich. pp. 21-25, 247 N.W.2d 530, it does not follow that the trial court erred in holding that defendant was entitled to the defense of governmental immunity.

Under the "common good of all" test advocated by Justices Ryan, Williams and Coleman, the operation of this sewage disposal system is clearly a governmental function. Applying Justice Moody's analysis to the facts of the case at bar tips the scales in favor of finding that the defendant was in fact engaged in the discharge of a governmental function.

In the case at bar, as in Perry, the government plays a pervasive role in the field. The record in this case reveals that the sewage disposal facility in question serves approximately five million people in the six-county area of southeastern Michigan, an area of 3,951 square miles. The project was accomplished at a cost of over one hundred million dollars. It was financed entirely by government grants, 55 percent federal, 25 percent state and 20 percent City of Detroit. To our knowledge, there are no private entities providing alternative sewage disposal systems within this region. Moreover, as in Perry, supra, this activity is in furtherance of the public policy in favor of the efficient and ecologically sound disposal of waste sewage. Our holding today is consistent with the previous decisions of this Court which have held that the operation of the same sewer project is a governmental function. See Davis v. Detroit, 98 Mich.App. 705, 296 N.W.2d 341 (1980), lv. den. 410 Mich. 856 (1980); Scott v. Detroit, 107 Mich.App. 194, 309 N.W.2d 201 (1981).

We are mindful of this Court's decision in Mitts v. Village of Fowlerville, 119 Mich.App. 76, 326 N.W.2d 431 (1982), holding that the operation of a much smaller sewage disposal system was not a governmental function, however, we are persuaded that our holding represents the better view. Inasmuch as the sewage system involved in Mitts was dwarfed in comparison to the one in the case at bar, it was affected by different policy considerations. We conclude, therefore, that the trial court did not err in holding that the defendant was entitled to the defense of governmental immunity.

Plaintiff also contends that the trial court erred in granting defendant's motion for summary judgment because his complaint sufficiently pled a cause of action for nuisance to which the defense of governmental immunity does not lie.

While our resolution of this issue is made difficult by reason of a split of authority within the Supreme Court, there is unanimity within the Court in support of the proposition that, at least in certain circumstances, there is a judicially created exception to governmental immunity for tortious activity sounding in nuisance. See Rosario v. Lansing, 403 Mich. 124, 268 N.W.2d 230 (1978); Gerzeski v. Dep't of State Highways, 403 Mich. 149, 268 N.W.2d 525 (1978).

Determining the scope of this exception, however, is somewhat problematic. A review of the plurality opinion of Justices Fitzgerald, Kavanagh and Levin in Rosario, supra, an...