Curtis v. City of Flint

• Decision Date: 23 January 2003
• Docket Number: Docket No. 233576.
• Citation: 253 Mich. App. 555,655 N.W.2d 791
• Parties: Thomas Michael CURTIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF FLINT and Patrick Lawson, Defendant-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

655 N.W.2d 791

253 Mich. App. 555

Thomas Michael CURTIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF FLINT and Patrick Lawson, Defendant-Appellees.

Docket No. 233576.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted September 5, 2002, at Detroit.

Decided October 25, 2002, at 9:10 a.m.

Released for Publication January 23, 2003.

Michael J. Kelly, Flint, for the plaintiff.

Plunkett & Cooney, P.C. (by Mary Massaron Ross), Detroit, for the defendants.

Before: FITZGERALD, P.J., and BANDSTRA and GAGE, JJ.

BANDSTRA, J.

In this action alleging governmental agency and employee liability for negligent operation of an emergency medical vehicle, plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred in granting summary disposition in favor of defendants on the basis of Robinson v. Detroit, 462 Mich. 439, 613 N.W.2d 307 (2000). Plaintiff argues that Robinson, which involved governmental agency and employee liability for injuries stemming from a police chase, is factually distinguishable from the present case. Plaintiff further argues that, even if applicable on the facts presented here, Robinson should only be applied prospectively and, therefore, should have no effect on this case. We disagree and affirm the trial court's grant of summary disposition in favor of defendants.

On June 18, 1999, Jonathan Kells was traveling south on Hammerberg Road in Genesee County when he observed a city of Flint Fire Department paramedic unit approaching Hammerberg Road from the exit ramp of westbound I-69. Noting that the paramedic unit was operating in an emergency capacity, Kells abruptly moved his vehicle to the curb lane and stopped in order to allow the paramedic unit onto Hammerberg Road against a red traffic signal. After stopping, Kells was struck from behind by plaintiff, who had been traveling in the curb lane only a short distance behind Kells' vehicle. Plaintiff suffered severe injuries as a result of the collision with Kells. Although it is disputed whether the driver of the paramedic vehicle, Flint fire fighter and paramedic Patrick Lawson, followed standard emergency vehicle protocol in approaching and entering the intersection, it is undisputed that the emergency vehicle being driven by Lawson was not physically involved in the collision between plaintiff and Kells.

In April 2000, plaintiff filed this lawsuit against both Lawson and the city of Flint, alleging that Lawson's gross negligence in operating the city's emergency vehicle was a proximate cause of the accident. Before trial, defendants moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7), (8), and (10). After oral argument on defendants' motion, the trial court granted summary disposition in favor of defendants, relying primarily on our Supreme Court's interpretation of the statutory immunity afforded governmental agencies and their employees in Robinson, supra.

This appeal ensued.

Because the trial court dismissed plaintiff's claims on the basis of statutory governmental immunity, we review the motion as granted under MCR 2.116(C)(7). An order granting summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7) is reviewed de novo on appeal. Pusakulich v. Ironwood, 247 Mich.App. 80, 82-83, 635 N.W.2d 323 (2001). In reviewing the order, we must give consideration to the affidavits, depositions, admissions, and other documentary evidence filed by the parties, and determine whether they indicate that defendants are in fact entitled to immunity. Id.

As a general rule, a governmental agency is immune from tort liability when it is engaged in the exercise or discharge of a governmental function.¹ MCL 691.1407(1). However, a governmental agency is liable for bodily injury "resulting from the negligent operation by any officer, agent, or employee of the governmental agency, of a motor vehicle" owned by the governmental agency. MCL 691.1405.

In Robinson, supra, the Supreme Court addressed this motor vehicle exception in the context of injuries suffered during a police chase. The Court held that the "resulting from" language of the statute required proof that the pursuing police vehicle hit the fleeing vehicle or otherwise physically forced it off the road or into another vehicle or object. Id. at 457, 613 N.W.2d 307. In so holding, the Court overruled Fiser v. Ann Arbor, 417 Mich. 461, 339 N.W.2d 413 (1983), which had employed a broad reading of the motor vehicle exception to conclude that the excessive speed of a fleeing vehicle "resulted from" the police pursuit, and that it was this high speed that caused the fleeing driver to lose control and collide with the plaintiff's vehicle. Id. at 475, 339 N.W.2d 413.

Noting that Robinson and Fiser both involved injuries stemming from police pursuit of a fleeing vehicle, plaintiff here argues that the Robinson Court's holding that the motor vehicle exception requires some form of physical involvement by the government-owned vehicle is limited to cases involving damage or injury stemming from a police chase and, therefore, does not apply under the facts of this case. For the reasons that follow, we disagree.

In deciding Robinson, the Court began by noting the well-settled principle that the grant of immunity afforded governmental agencies in M.C.L. § 691.1407(1) is broad, and that the statutory exceptions to that immunity are to be narrowly construed. Robinson, supra at 455, 613 N.W.2d 307. With that in mind, the Court went on to construe the motor vehicle exception to governmental immunity in the context of the claims brought against the city of Detroit. The plaintiffs in that case alleged that the city, through the conduct of its police officers, was negligent in failing to operate its police vehicles in a manner that would avoid placing the general public in danger. Id. at 456, 613 N.W.2d 307. The Court found it significant, however, that within these allegations the plaintiffs did not assert that the city-owned vehicle had itself hit the fleeing vehicle or otherwise physically forced that vehicle off the road or into another vehicle or object, and held:

Given the fact that the motor vehicle exception must be narrowly construed, we conclude that plaintiffs cannot satisfy the "resulting from" language of the statute where the pursuing police vehicle did not hit the fleeing car or otherwise physically force it off the road or into another vehicle or object. [Id. at 456-457, 613 N.W.2d 307.]

In so holding, the majority emphasized that a narrow reading of the phrase "resulting from," as used in M.C.L. § 691.1405, requires a more direct causal connection than the proximate cause "but for" analysis generally employed in cases alleging liability based on negligent conduct:

The dissent suggests that there should be liability where a police vehicle forces an innocent intervening car to hit the fleeing vehicle causing injury to an innocent person in the fleeing vehicle. However, we do not believe such a scenario would fit within a narrow reading of the statutory requirement of "resulting from." The dissent's position would be more in accord with a proximate cause "but for" analysis. However, the statute does not say that governmental agencies are liable for injuries or property damage "proximately caused" by the negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Rather, the statute says the injuries or property damage must result from the negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Because the Legislature did not utilize proximate cause language, we will not import such analysis here. [Robinson, supra at 457, n. 14, 613 N.W.2d 307.]

While there is no question that the facts of Robinson involved a police chase, or that the Court referenced those facts as well as the facts of other similar cases at several points in its opinion, there is nothing in the analysis employed in Robinson to suggest that its holding is to be limited to cases involving police pursuit of a fleeing vehicle. Although other aspects of the Court's opinion hinged on policy considerations exclusive to police pursuits, i.e., whether the police owe a duty to passengers in a fleeing vehicle, see id. at 450-453, 613 N.W.2d 307, the holding of the Court on the question at issue here is broader. Because the statute allows liability only for injuries "resulting from" the negligent operation of a government-owned vehicle, as opposed to a lesser "but for" standard, the motor vehicle exception will not apply unless there is physical contact between the government-owned vehicle and that of the plaintiff, or the government-owned vehicle physically forced the plaintiff's vehicle off the road or into another vehicle or object. This interpretation of the language used by the Legislature in drafting the motor vehicle exception is not limited to police chases. Under the narrow reading given the exception by the Court in Robinson, the nature of the governmental vehicle's use is immaterial.

Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court correctly read Robinson to require that the emergency vehicle at issue here be physically involved in the collision that caused plaintiff's injuries, either by hitting plaintiff's vehicle or by physically forcing that vehicle off the road or into another vehicle or object. There was no evidence of such involvement in this case. Even when viewed in a light most favorable to plaintiff, the evidence indicates that Kells moved his vehicle into plaintiff's lane and stopped, not because he was physically forced to do so by Lawson, but because he wished to leave the intersection open for the approaching emergency vehicle. Moreover, even assuming that Kells was forced to stop in order to avoid colliding with the paramedic unit, there is nothing in the evidence offered below to indicate that Kells was required to enter plaintiff's lane in order to do so. In other words, Kells' decision to abruptly change lanes and stop was one of many options available to him; it was not physically required by the alleged negligent operation of the emergency vehicle. Cf. Regan v. Washtenaw Co. Bd. of Co. Rd. Comm'rs, 249...