Envirotest Sys. v. Com'R of Motor Vehicles

• Decision Date: 08 September 2009
• Docket Number: No. 18156.,18156.
• Citation: 978 A.2d 49,293 Conn. 382
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: ENVIROTEST SYSTEMS CORPORATION v. COMMISSIONER OF MOTOR VEHICLES.

978 A.2d 49

293 Conn. 382

ENVIROTEST SYSTEMS CORPORATION v. COMMISSIONER OF MOTOR VEHICLES.

No. 18156.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 23, 2009.

Decided September 8, 2009.

Gregory T. D'Auria, associate attorney general, with whom were Peter R. Huntsman, assistant attorney general and, on the brief, Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, for the appellant (defendant).

Dominic Fulco III, with whom, on the brief, were Justin M. Pawluk and Edward F. Spinella, Hartford, for the appellee (plaintiff).

NORCOTT, KATZ, PALMER, ZARELLA and McLACHLAN, Js.

ZARELLA, J.

The sole issue in this appeal is whether General Statutes § 14-164c(e),¹ by force of necessary implication, waives the state's sovereign immunity from suit. The defendant, the commissioner of motor vehicles (commissioner), appeals² from the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss the action of the plaintiff, Envirotest Systems Corporation, claiming that the action is barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. We conclude that the language of the statute does not necessarily imply a waiver of sovereign immunity. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the trial court.

In reviewing a denial of a motion to dismiss, "we take the facts as expressly set forth, and necessarily implied, in the plaintiff's complaint, construing them in the light most favorable to the pleader." C.R. Klewin Northeast, LLC v. Fleming, 284 Conn. 250, 253, 932 A.2d 1053 (2007). Because the plaintiff instituted this action by filing an application for an order to proceed with arbitration pursuant to General Statutes § 52-410,³ we rely on the facts from the plaintiff's application.

In 1994, the plaintiff and the department of motor vehicles (department) entered into a contract for the establishment and operation of motor vehicle inspection facilities for the state. The contract requires the plaintiff to establish and operate a network of vehicle inspection facilities for conducting enhanced vehicle emission inspections of certain motor vehicles. Section 12 of the contract deals with dispute resolution and requires the parties to consult and work together to resolve any disputes arising under the contract. If the parties are unable to resolve a dispute through consultation, § 12 provides that the commissioner shall submit a written decision on the issue, which is final unless the plaintiff seeks review of the decision by the American Arbitration Association. Section 12 also provides that "[a]ll disputes and differences between the [plaintiff] and the [s]tate arising out of or under the [c]ontract and not so resolved through consultation, shall, at the option of either party, be settled and finally determined by arbitration in accordance with the applicable rules of the American Arbitration Association." The last sentence of § 12 provides: "Except as provided in ... [§] 14-164c et seq. pursuant to which this [c]ontract is executed, the [s]tate has not waived its right of sovereign immunity."

The present action arises from the plaintiff's claim that the commissioner breached its contract with the plaintiff by virtue of the department's failure to use its best efforts to enforce emissions testing compliance by creating and maintaining a registration suspension program, and that, as a consequence of that alleged failure, the plaintiff has suffered approximately $9 million in damages. After attempting to resolve the dispute through consultation with the commissioner, the plaintiff demanded that the commissioner issue a decision pursuant to § 12 of the contract. The commissioner responded by letter, indicating that it was the state's position that § 12 did not apply to the plaintiff's claims for monetary damages.

Pursuant to § 52-410, the plaintiff filed an application for an order to proceed with arbitration. The commissioner filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that the plaintiff's action was barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, concluding that, by necessary implication, § 14-164c(e) vested the commissioner with authority to waive sovereign immunity. In so concluding, the court relied on the fact that § 14-164c(e) authorizes the commissioner to enter into "negotiated" agreements in a project of considerable magnitude. This appeal followed.

The issue of whether § 14-164c(e) waives the state's sovereign immunity presents a question of statutory construction over which we exercise plenary review. See, e.g., Dept. of Transportation v. White Oak Corp., 287 Conn. 1, 7, 946 A.2d 1219 (2008). General Statutes § 1-2z "instructs us that [o]ur fundamental objective is to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature.... In other words, we seek to determine, in a reasoned manner, the meaning of the statutory language as applied to the facts of [the] case, including the question of whether the language actually does apply.... In seeking to determine that meaning ... § 1-2z directs us first to consider the text of the statute itself and its relationship to other statutes. If, after examining such text and considering such relationship, the meaning of such text is plain and unambiguous and does not yield absurd or unworkable results, extra-textual evidence of the meaning of the statute shall not be considered .... When a statute is not plain and unambiguous, we also look for interpretive guidance to the legislative history and circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Orr, 291 Conn. 642, 651, 969 A.2d 750 (2009).

Keeping these principles of statutory construction in mind, we turn to the issue of whether the legislature, through § 14-164c(e), waived the state's sovereign immunity. "[T]he doctrine of sovereign immunity implicates subject matter jurisdiction and is therefore a basis for granting a motion to dismiss.... A determination regarding a trial court's subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law. When ... the trial court draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts that appear in the record." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Martinez v. Dept. of Public Safety, 263 Conn. 74, 80-81, 818 A.2d 758 (2003).

The doctrine of sovereign immunity is a rule of common law that operates as a strong presumption in favor of the state's immunity from liability or suit. See C.R. Klewin Northeast v. Fleming, supra, 284 Conn. at 258, 932 A.2d 1053 ("The principle that the state cannot be sued without its consent ... is well established under our case law.... It has deep roots in this state and our legal system in general, finding its origin in ancient common law." [Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.]). "[T]his court has recognized the well established principle that statutes in derogation of sovereign immunity should be strictly construed.... [When] there is any doubt about their meaning or intent they are given the effect which makes the least rather than the most change in sovereign immunity." (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 259, 932 A.2d 1053. In an action against the state in which damages are sought, "a plaintiff seeking to circumvent the doctrine of sovereign immunity must show that ... the legislature, either expressly or by force of a necessary implication, statutorily waived the state's sovereign immunity...." (Citation omitted.) Miller v. Egan, 265 Conn. 301, 314, 828 A.2d 549 (2003). The parties concede, and we agree, that § 14-164c(e) does not expressly waive sovereign immunity. Therefore, the only issue is whether it does so by necessary implication.

In Mahoney v. Lensink, 213 Conn. 548, 569 A.2d 518 (1990),⁴ we explained that, in order for statutory language to give rise to a necessary implication that the state has waived its sovereign immunity, "[t]he probability ... must be apparent, and not a mere matter of conjecture; but ... necessarily such that from the words employed an intention to the contrary cannot be supposed."⁵

(Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 558 n. 14, 569 A.2d 518. In other words, in order for a court to conclude that a statute waives sovereign immunity by force of necessary implication, it is not sufficient that the claimed waiver reasonably may be implied from the statutory language. It must, by logical necessity, be the only possible interpretation of the language. Therefore, although a conclusion that statutory language is ambiguous ordinarily allows a court, pursuant to § 1-2z, to consult extratextual sources in interpreting a statute, that avenue is unavailable when a court, in examining statutory language to determine whether a statute waives sovereign immunity by necessary implication, concludes that the language is ambiguous as to waiver. Ambiguous language, by definition, "is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation." Carmel Hollow Associates Ltd. v. Bethlehem, 269 Conn. 120, 134 n. 19, 848 A.2d 451(2004). In other words, in this context, the existence of uncertainty in a statute with regard to waiver is not an ambiguity but, rather, an answer. Thus, pursuant to § 1-2z, we cannot consult extratextual sources because we must interpret any uncertainty as to the existence of a waiver as preserving sovereign immunity.⁶ As we have explained, statutory language that waives the state's sovereign immunity by necessary implication must be susceptible to only one reasonable interpretation, namely, that the state waived its sovereign immunity. Thus, a conclusion that statutory language is ambiguous is inconsistent with the claim that the statute waives sovereign immunity by force of a necessary implication. Accordingly, unlike other contexts, in...