Harmon v. Star Valley Med. Ctr., Star Valley Care Ctr., Amy Bort, C. N.A.

• Decision Date: 16 July 2014
• Docket Number: No. S–13–0208.,S–13–0208.
• Citation: 331 P.3d 1174
• Parties: Anita HARMON, as an Individual and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Euella Potter, deceased, Appellant (Plaintiff), v. STAR VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER, Star Valley Care Center, Amy Bort, C.N.A., Julie Cooper, R.N., and Dr. Kitchner P. Head, Appellees (Defendants).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

331 P.3d 1174

Anita HARMON, as an Individual and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Euella Potter, deceased, Appellant (Plaintiff),

v.STAR VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER, Star Valley Care Center, Amy Bort, C.N.A., Julie Cooper, R.N., and Dr. Kitchner P. Head, Appellees (Defendants).

No. S–13–0208.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

July 16, 2014.

Representing Appellant: W. Keith Goody, Esq., Cougar, Washington; Robert E. Schroth, Sr., of Schroth & Schroth, Jackson, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Schroth.

Representing Appellees: W. Henry Combs III and Andrew F. Sears of Murane & Bostwick, LLC, Casper, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Combs.

Before BURKE, C.J., and HILL, KITE ^*, DAVIS, and FOX, JJ.

DAVIS, Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant Anita Harmon, acting as the personal representative for her mother's estate, filed suit against the Star Valley Medical and Care Centers ¹ and several of their employees (collectively “Appellees”), claiming that their negligence injured her mother and caused her death. Before filing the complaint, Ms. Harmon submitted a claim as required by the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (WGCA), Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1–39–113 (LexisNexis 2013), the validity of which became the central issue in the case. The district court granted summary judgment, determining that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction because the claim was neither signed under oath as required by the WGCA nor certified as required by the Wyoming Constitution.

[¶ 2] This matter presents one of the first opportunities for the Court to study the most recent amendments to the WGCA, which became effective on July 1, 2010. Based upon our solicitous review of what is statutorily required for a governmental claim to be valid, we find that the claim in this case was not executed under oath as required by § 1–39–113(e). However, our examination of the WGCA also compels us to revisit this Court's precedent concerning whether the claim requirements set forth in the WGCA and Wyoming Constitution are jurisdictional, or rather conditions precedent to filing suit that are nonjurisdictional substantive requirements and can be waived. We conclude that the claim requirements of the statute and constitution are the latter, and we therefore overrule our precedent to the extent that it has characterized the claim requirements to be jurisdictional.

[¶ 3] Although the claim did not meet statutory and constitutional requirements, we find that Appellees failed to adequately raise the deficiencies in it as an affirmative defense, and that they therefore waived that defense. We reverse and remand.

ISSUES

[¶ 4] While the parties present several issues for our review, we find the following dispositive:

1. Did the claim meet the requirements of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1–39–113(e) and Article 16, § 7 of the Wyoming Constitution?

2. Was the district court deprived of subject matter jurisdiction because the claim did not strictly comply with the WGCA and Wyoming Constitution?

3. Did Appellees waive their affirmative defense that the claim was not executed as required by the WGCA and Wyoming Constitution?

FACTS

[¶ 5] Ms. Harmon's mother Euella Potter was a resident of Star Valley Care Center. She lived there from March 3, 2008 until her death on July 15, 2010. On July 9, 2010, Ms. Potter fell while being assisted out of bed. Approximately eleven hours after the fall, she was taken to the hospital emergency room, where an emergency physician discovered that she had suffered fractures to her femur and hip. She underwent surgery to repair them two days later. Unfortunately, she passed away on July 15, 2010, four days after her surgery.²

[¶ 6] Ms. Harmon presented a governmental claim to the Star Valley Medical and Care Centers on September 12, 2011. While the claim was signed by Ms. Harmon, it was not executed under oath as required by § 1–39–113(e), which would have also satisfied the requirements of the Wyoming Constitution. Rather, the claim was signed under penalty of “paying” and was merely “acknowledged” by a notary.

[¶ 7] A claim was also presented to the Wyoming Medical Review Panel on November 15, 2011, but Appellees waived their right to review by the panel, which permitted Appellantto file suit.³ Ms. Harmon filed a complaint in the district court for Lincoln County on March 26, 2012. In the complaint, she acknowledged that Star Valley Medical and Care Centers are governmental entities and averred full compliance with the WGCA and Wyoming Constitution. A copy of the claim was attached.

[¶ 8] Appellees answered the complaint, admitting that the Star Valley Medical and Care Centers are governmental entities, and that the remaining Appellees are their employees. All of the remaining allegations, including Ms. Harmon's allegation that she had fully complied with the WGCA, were generally denied. Appellees also raised various affirmative defenses, including one indicating that “[t]hese defendants reserve the right to challenge the plaintiff's compliance with the governmental claims act.” At the time Appellees answered, Appellant would have had approximately three months before the two-year limitation period for filing a governmental claim expired during which she could have filed a new claim. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1–39–113(a).

[¶ 9] After some discovery was conducted, Appellees filed a motion for summary judgment under W.R.C.P. 56 on December 10, 2012, roughly nine months after receiving the complaint. In that motion, they argued specifically for the first time that Ms. Harmon's claim was defective because it was not signed under oath as required by Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1–39–113(e) or certified under penalty of perjury as required by Article 16, § 7 of the Wyoming Constitution. In response, Ms. Harmon argued that her claim substantially complied with the signature and certification requirements of the WGCA and Wyoming Constitution, and that the use of the word “paying” was just a typographical error that was not fatal to her claim.

[¶ 10] The district court held a hearing on April 11, 2013, and on July 18, 2013, granted Appellees' motion for summary judgment. It found that the claim was facially invalid because Ms. Harmon failed to sign under oath or penalty of perjury as required by the current WGCA and the Wyoming Constitution. The court concluded, based on our precedent, that “[a]bsent a valid and timely notice of claim, [it] lacks jurisdiction to consider [Ms. Harmon's] claims.”

[¶ 11] Ms. Harmon timely appealed from the order granting summary judgment.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 12] This appeal requires us to review the summary judgment granted to Appellees. We have often stated that standard of review:

We review a summary judgment in the same light as the district court, using the same materials and following the same standards. We examine the record from the vantage point most favorable to the party opposing the motion, and we give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences that may fairly be drawn from the record. A material fact is one which, if proved, would have the effect of establishing or refuting an essential element of the cause of action or defense asserted by the parties. If the moving party presents supporting summary judgment materials demonstrating no genuine issue of material fact exists, the burden is shifted to the non-moving party to present appropriate supporting materials posing a genuine issue of a material fact for trial. We review a grant of summary judgment deciding a question of law de novo and afford no deference to the district court's ruling.

Lindsey v. Harriet, 2011 WY 80, ¶ 18, 255 P.3d 873, 880 (Wyo.2011) (citations and quotation marks omitted). We can affirm an order granting summary judgment on any basis appearing in the record. Magin v. Solitude Homeowner's Inc., 2011 WY 102, ¶ 20, 255 P.3d 920, 927 (Wyo.2011).

[¶ 13] However, this case also presents a question concerning subject matter jurisdiction and requires us to apply the WGCA and a provision of the Wyoming Constitution. We therefore set forth the standards of review for those issues.

[¶ 14] “The existence of subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law that we review de novo.” Excel Constr., Inc. v. Town of Lovell, 2011 WY 166, ¶ 12, 268 P.3d 238, 241 (Wyo.2011) (quoting Madsen v. Bd. of Trustees of Mem'l Hosp. of Sweetwater Cnty., 2011 WY 36, ¶ 9, 248 P.3d 1151, 1153 (Wyo.2011)). A court's subject matter jurisdiction may be challenged at any time. N. Laramie Range Found. v. Converse Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs, 2012 WY 158, ¶ 22, 290 P.3d 1063, 1073 (Wyo.2012). “If the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, this Court has jurisdiction on appeal, not on the merits, but only as to the jurisdictional issue.” Rock v. Lankford, 2013 WY 61, ¶ 18, 301 P.3d 1075, 1080 (Wyo.2013) (quoting Hall v. Park Cnty., 2010 WY 124, ¶ 3, 238 P.3d 580, 581 (Wyo.2010)). “The absence of subject matter jurisdiction makes dismissal, rather than affirmance, the proper course.” Hall, ¶ 3, 238 P.3d at 581; see also Wilson v. Town of Alpine, 2005 WY 57, ¶ 7, 111 P.3d 290, 292 (Wyo.2005).

[¶ 15] Statutory construction is also a question of law, and hence the standard of review is also de novo. Powder River Basin Res. Council v. Wyo. Oil and Gas Conservation Comm'n, 2014 WY 37, ¶ 19, 320 P.3d 222, 228 (Wyo.2014). In interpreting statutes, this Court must endeavor to find the reasonable intent of the drafters. Id. We begin by examining the ordinary and obvious meaning of the words employed according to their arrangement and connection. Id. When a statute is sufficiently clear and unambiguous, we give effect to the plain and ordinary meaning of the words and need not invoke our longstanding rules of statutory construction. Id.; see also Int'l Ass'n of Firefighters Local Union No. 279 v. City of Cheyenne, 2013 WY 157, ¶ 9, 316 P.3d 1162, 1166 (Wyo.2013) (“A statute is clear and unambiguous if its wording is such that reasonable persons are able to agree on its meaning with consistency and...