Laney v. Fairview City
| Decision Date | 09 August 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 981729.,981729. |
| Parties | Rhonda Lee LANEY, individually and as guardian ad litem of S.B. and R.A., minors, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. FAIRVIEW CITY, a municipal corporation, Defendant and Appellee. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Brent D. Young, Provo, for plaintiff.
Andrew M. Morse, Keith A. Call, Salt Lake City, for defendant.
Mark L. Shurtleff, Att'y Gen., Brent A. Burnett, Asst. Att'y Gen., Salt Lake City, for amicus the State of Utah.
¶ 1 This case addresses whether Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-2(4)(a) (Supp.2000) violates article I, section 11, the "open courts" clause, of the Utah Constitution. The district court held that Fairview City (the City) is immune from suit for its alleged negligence under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act, Utah Code Ann. §§ 63-30-1 to -38 (1997 & Supp.2000).1 We hold that the 1987 amendment, declaring all acts of municipalities to be governmental functions, is unconstitutional as applied to municipalities operating electrical power systems. We reverse the summary judgment of the trial court and remand for a trial on the merits without any defense of governmental immunity.
¶ 2 The following facts were undisputed in the trial court. On September 16, 1991, John Laney was electrocuted and killed while moving irrigation pipe. The thirty-foot aluminum water irrigation pipe that Laney was carrying came into contact with, or within arcing distance of, high voltage power lines. The power lines were owned by the City.
¶ 3 Accordingly, Laney's wife and children brought a wrongful death action against the City claiming, inter alia, that the City was negligent for failing to maintain the power lines in a safe condition. The Laneys complain that the power lines did not meet minimum safety standards because they were too low to the ground. They also allege that the lines were unsafe because they were not insulated and did not contain warnings.
¶ 4 The City moved for summary judgment asserting that the decision whether or not to improve the power lines was a discretionary function entitled to immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10(1) (1997). Discretionary function immunity is an exception to a waiver of sovereign immunity within the Utah Governmental Immunity Act. The Utah Governmental Immunity Act declares that all governmental entities are immune from suit for any injury which results from the exercise of a "governmental function." See Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-3(1).2 The term governmental function is broadly defined in section 63-30-2(4)(a), and by virtue of that broad definition, the statute cloaks governmental entities with immunity for a wide range of activities.3 However, Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10 waives sovereign immunity "for injury proximately caused by a negligent act or omission." Then, subsection (1) creates an exception to this waiver for negligence and immunizes governmental entities for "the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function . . . ." Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10(1).
¶ 5 The district court agreed that the City was entitled to immunity for its decision to not improve the power lines and granted the City's motion for summary judgment. Following the framework we set forth in Ledfors v. Emery County School District, 849 P.2d 1162, 1164 (Utah 1993),4 the district court concluded that the City's operation of its municipal power system was a governmental function as defined by Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-2(4)(a). The court also concluded that immunity was waived under section 63-30-10 because plaintiffs' claim against the City was for negligence. Finally, the district court concluded that the City's decision to keep its power lines at the height and condition they were in at the time of Mr. Laney's death constituted the exercise of a discretionary function under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10(1), an exception to the waiver for negligence, rendering the City immune from suit under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act.
¶ 6 Plaintiffs appeal, claiming that Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-2(4)(a) is unconstitutional because it violates article I, section 11, the open courts clause, of the Utah Constitution. Plaintiffs further maintain that the district court erred in concluding that the City is entitled to discretionary function immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10.
¶ 7 We note the long-standing principle that "unnecessary decisions are to be avoided and that the courts should pass upon the constitutionality of a statute only when such a determination is essential to the decision in a case." Hoyle v. Monson, 606 P.2d 240, 242 (Utah 1980). If the district court erred in concluding that the City was immune from suit under the statute, there will be no need to address the constitutional issue before us. We therefore address the statutory interpretation question first.
¶ 8 The appellants argue that the district court erred in granting the City's motion for summary judgment based on its conclusion that the City's omissions to not increase the height of the power lines, to not insulate the lines, and to not provide warning signs near the lines, were immune from suit under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act.
¶ 9 Summary judgment is appropriate only when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and . . . the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, as we do here, we review the district court's conclusions of law for correctness. See Taylor v. Ogden Sch. Dist., 927 P.2d 159, 162 (Utah 1996). We therefore grant no deference to the district court's conclusion that the City is entitled to discretionary function immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10.
¶ 10 Plaintiffs argue that maintenance of power lines is not a discretionary function entitled to immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10. Instead, they assert, the City owes a duty to exercise the highest degree of care to protect the public because it undertook to operate and maintain power lines. The City, on the other hand, contends that decisions to use city funds to improve existing power lines, decisions to raise the height of the lines, to insulate them, or to provide additional warnings, constitute the exercise of a discretionary function. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the City's decisions or omissions—regarding the height and insulation of the power lines, and adjacent warning signs—are discretionary functions for which sovereign immunity has not been waived under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act.
¶ 11 As noted above, we must address three questions in determining whether a governmental entity is immune from suit under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act. First, we must address whether the City's operation of power lines is a governmental function and therefore immunized from suit by the general grant of immunity contained in section 63-30-3(1). See Ledfors v. Emery County Sch. Dist., 849 P.2d 1162, 1164 (Utah 1993). Second, if the operation of power lines is a governmental function, we must determine whether some other section of the Act has waived the blanket immunity in section 63-30-3(1). See id. Finally, if the blanket immunity has been waived, we must determine whether the Act contains an exception to that waiver which results in a retention of immunity against the particular claim asserted by the plaintiffs in this case. See id.
Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-2(4)(a). Under this definition, the City's operation of power lines is a governmental function, and the City is therefore immunized from suit by the general grant of immunity contained in section 63-30-3(1). ¶ 13 We also answer the second question, does some other section of the Act waive the blanket immunity in section 63-30-3(1), in the affirmative. Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10 states, in pertinent part:
Immunity from suit of all governmental entities is waived for injury proximately caused by a negligent act or omission of an employee committed within the scope of employment except if ....
In this section, the legislature has waived the blanket coverage of sovereign immunity outlined in sections 63-30-3(1) and 63-30-2(4)(a) for negligence committed by governmental entities through their employees. In this case, appellants allege the City was negligent, and the Act waives immunity for that negligence.
¶ 14 The third question, does the Act contain an exception to the blanket waiver of immunity that results in a retention of immunity against the particular claim asserted by the plaintiffs in this case, is more complicated. Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10 states:
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