Lamantia v. Sojka, 63701

• Decision Date: 12 November 1980
• Docket Number: No. 63701,63701
• Parties: Ione LAMANTIA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Karen SOJKA, Supervisor of Nursing Education at Iowa Western Community College; Yvonne Stock, Coordinator of the ADN, PN and ORT Programs at Iowa WesternCommunity College; and Jack W. Gell, Dean of Vocational-Technical Education atIowa WesternCommunity College, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 245

298 N.W.2d 245

Ione LAMANTIA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Karen SOJKA, Supervisor of Nursing Education at Iowa Western Community College; Yvonne Stock, Coordinator of the ADN, PN and ORT Programs at Iowa WesternCommunity College; and Jack W. Gell, Dean of Vocational-Technical Education atIowa WesternCommunity College, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 63701.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 12, 1980.

Michael J. Winter, Council Bluffs, for appellant.

R. Laubenthal and Curtis Hewett of Smith, Peterson, Beckman & Willson, Council Bluffs, and Kenneth Sojka, Harlan, for appellees.

Considered en banc.

LARSON, Justice.

This is an appeal by Ione Lamantia from an order of the district court sustaining the appellees' combined motions for judgment on thepleadings and summary judgment. Because the appellant has sufficiently stated a claim for relief in her petition and a genuine issue of material fact exists, we hold that the motion for judgment on the pleadings should have been overruled and that the motion for summary judgment should have been denied insofar as it sought dismissal of the appellant's claim in its entirety.

The parties to this litigation were employed by Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs: the appellant, from 1967 to 1976 as an instructor, and the appellees as supervisory employees, in the practical nursing program. In 1976, the appellant was released from her duties by the college. Thereafter, she filed a petition in district court alleging that the termination resulted from a memorandum authored by the appellees which was libelous per se, false, and misleading. The petition stated the appellees were employees of the college, but did not state whether they were acting within or without the scope of their employment in writing the memorandum. However, the appellant did claim that "the information and statements made and compiled by the three named Defendants in this 'memo' were done so maliciously, recklessly, in bad faith, and inspired by ill will toward the Plaintiff."

The appellees subsequently filed and the trial court sustained combined motions for judgment on the pleadings, Iowa R. Civ. P. 222, and summary judgment, Iowa R. Civ. P. 237, on the ground that the appellant failed to comply with the provisions of the tort claims act, chapter 613A, The Code 1977, specifically section 613A.5:

Every person who claims damages from any municipality or any officer, employee or agent of a municipality for or on account of any wrongful death, loss or injury within the scope of section 613A.2 or section 613A.8 or under common law shall commence an action therefor within six months, unless said person shall cause to be presented to the governing body of the municipality within sixty days after the alleged wrongful death, loss or injury a written notice stating the time, place, and circumstances thereof and the amount of compensation or other relief demanded.... No action therefor shall be maintained unless such notice has been given and unless the action is commenced within two years after such notice.

It is undisputed that the college is a "municipality" under section 613A.1(1), and that the appellant did not allege service of notice of her claim upon the school as required by section 613A.5. Nor could she have alleged it truthfully because, in fact, such notice had not been given. Her time to do so was gone and with it her right to pursue the school or its employees under the tort claims act. But rather than excise that theory from the case by partial summary judgment, the trial court granted the appellees' motions for judgment on the pleadings and full summary judgment, and dismissed the action. The court erred in doing so because while it held the appellees could not be held liable under the provisions of chapter 613A, the appellant's theory of recovery was that the acts of the employees were outside its coverage and her petition adequately pled a claim against them under that theory.

I. Sufficiency of the petition. Suits against municipal employees in their individual capacities existed before the tort claims act, just as tort claims against other parties. See Vermeer v. Sneller, 190 N.W.2d 389, 391-92 (Iowa 1971). Except as modified by chapter 613A, such rights of action remain intact. Thus we held in a similar case against employees of a municipality that if the employee's acts are outside the scope of employment, the tort claims act is inapplicable and the notice of claim is not a prerequisite to suit. Roberts v. Timmins, 281 N.W.2d 20, 22 (Iowa 1979). The appellant urges that the petition here was sufficient to state such a claim; the appellees argue it was not. The statute describes "scope of employment" in this manner:

A tort shall be deemed to be within the scope of employment or duties if the act or omission reasonably relates to the business or affairs of the municipality and the officer, employee, or agent acted in good faith and in a manner a reasonable person would have believed to be in and not opposed to the best interests of the municipality.

§ 613A.2, The Code 1977. The appellant claims that her allegation the appellees acted "maliciously, recklessly, in bad faith, and inspired by ill will toward the plaintiff" served reasonable notice to them that she would seek to show her acts to be outside the scope of their employment. While the petition did not allege the acts were outside the scope of employment, as was the case in Roberts, neither did it say they were within it. The petition only alleged that the appellees were employees of the municipality. We note in this connection that the appellant alleged acts of maliciousness, recklessness and bad faith, whereas scope of employment under the tort claims act encompasses only acts of employees in good faith and "in and not opposed to the best interests of the municipality." § 613A.2, The Code 1977.

Rule 67 provides a general guideline in measuring the sufficiency of a pleading, providing that "(t)he form and sufficiency of all motions and pleadings shall be construed and enforced to secure a just, speedy and inexpensive determination of all controversies on their merits." Iowa R. Civ. P. 67 (emphasis added). And rule 69(a), in adopting the concept of notice pleading, requires only "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief .... Iowa R. Civ. P. 69(a). This is identical to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), and interpretations of the federal rule show great liberality in assessing the sufficiency of pleadings.

The appellees' contention that one theory rather than another is evident in the pleading misses the point of rule 69(a): if the prima facie elements of the claim are stated, and this statement is fair notice to a defendant, the petition is sufficient. Id. at 8-130-8-131. See Misco Leasing, Inc. v. Keller, 490 F.2d 545, 548 (10th Cir. 1974) (dimensions of suit not determined by pleadings; pleading of theory of recovery not required). Under this concept, it has been said that the petition is only required to apprise a defendant "of the incident out of which the claim arose and the general nature of the action." Roberts v. Acres, 495 F.2d 57, 58 (7th Cir. 1974). But see Gosha v. Woller, 288 N.W.2d 329 (Iowa 1980) (theory neither pled nor previously recognized in Iowa adopted by trial court's ruling; minimal notice requirements of rule 69(a) held not satisfied).

One author has observed that, besides giving notice to the opposing party, pleadings have traditionally served three additional functions: (1) stating the facts relied upon; (2) narrowing the issues; and (3) providing a means for speedy disposition of sham claims and defenses. 5 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 1202, at 59-60 (1969). Modernized concepts of pleading and pretrial procedures, however, have all but eliminated the need for these three: relevant facts may be determined by...