Hughey v. Washoe County, 3947
| Decision Date | 14 February 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 3947,3947 |
| Citation | 306 P.2d 1115,73 Nev. 22 |
| Parties | Eddye Rahe HUGHEY, Appellant, v. WASHOE COUNTY, a Political Subdivision of the State of Nevada; Ernest Kleppe, Raymond Capurro and Ray Peterson, Individually and as Washoe County commissioners; and James Robison, Respondents. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
William L. Hammersmith and Ernest S. Brown, Reno, for appellant.
A. Dyer Jensen, District Atty., Washoe County, Reno, Woodburn, Forman, Wedge, Blakey & Thompson, Reno, for respondents.
This is an action brought by appellant as plaintiff for injuries allegedly caused by negligence. The injuries resulted from a fall which occurred in Washoe Medical Center and negligence causing the fall is charged by the appellant to respondent Robison, an employee at the Medical Center. The trial court ruled that, as a matter of law, Washoe County could not be held liable for torts committed by employees of the Medical Center, relying upon Bloom v. Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, 70 Nev. 533, 275 P.2d 885, and McKay v. Washoe General Hospital, 55 Nev. 336, 33 P.2d 755, 36 P.2d 78. An order was entered dismissing the action as against the county for failure of the complaint to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Rule 12(b), N.R.C.P. From that order this appeal is taken.
Washoe Medical Center is a public hospital established by Washoe County pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 450, NRS. In Bloom v. Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital and McKay v. Washoe General Hospital, supra, this court held that a hospital established pursuant to those statutory provisions is without legal entity and therefore not subject to suit. The sole question involved in this appeal is whether it follows from the holding in those cases that the county, likewise, is free from liability. (Freedom of the county from liability for any other reason is a question which has not yet been reached in these proceedings.)
It does not follow from the fact that the hospital is without independent legal entity that there is no public responsibility for torts committed by its employees. The hospital is a county institution established, owned, and supported by the county. The hospital having no entity apart from the county it must follow that the county is the party legally responsible for obligations of the hospital.
Respondent county contends that this cannot be true in this case since the control of the hospital, by statute, is vested in the elected hospital trustees and the county commissioners by statute are deprived of all power of management. It is contended that the doctrine of respondeat superior cannot apply under these circumstances.
That the county commissioners are without managerial control does not, however, deprive the county of representation or control, nor relieve...
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Turner v. Staggs
...or any other officer of the county, unless the provisions of subsection 1 are strictly complied with.' 4 In Hughey v. Washoe County, 73 Nev. 22, 306 P.2d 1115 (1957), this court held that a county is the party legally responsible for the obligations of a county hospital. Under the doctrine ......
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Asap Storage, Inc. v. City of Sparks
...nature and scope of his employment"); Wood v. Safeway, Inc., 121 Nev. 724, 738-39, 121 P.3d 1026, 1035 (2005); Hughey v. Washoe County, 73 Nev. 22, 23, 306 P.2d 1115, 1115 (1957) (applying the respondeat superior doctrine to a government 58. See, e.g., Margan v. Niles, 250 F.Supp.2d 63, 75 ......
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Rice v. Clark County
...191, 16 A.L.R.2d 1069, we held that the rule has no application when a county acts in a proprietary capacity, and in Hughey v. Washoe County, 73 Nev. 22, 306 P.2d 1115, this court reversed an order of dismissal against the county apparently for the same reason, although no mention was made ......
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Hardgrave v. State ex rel. State Highway Dept., 4660
...Bloom v. Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, supra, did, but found it unnecessary to decide the point. Then, in 1957 Hughey v. Washoe County, 73 Nev. 22, 23, 306 P.2d 1115 came before the court. It was a tort action by one who had fallen in the county hospital. Relying on McKay v. Washoe Gen......