Martel v. METROPOLITAN DIST. COM'N, No. 17373.

• Decision Date: 16 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 17373.
• Citation: 275 Conn. 38,881 A.2d 194
• Parties: Douglas MARTEL v. METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COMMISSION et al.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

881 A.2d 194

275 Conn. 38

Douglas MARTEL v. METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COMMISSION et al.

No. 17373.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued May 18, 2005.

Officially released August 16, 2005.

Gerald S. Sack, West Hartford, with whom, on the brief, was Nicole D. Dorman, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Jack G. Steigelfest, Hartford, for the appellees (defendants).

SULLIVAN, C.J., and BORDEN, NORCOTT, PALMER and VERTEFEUILLE, Js.

SULLIVAN, C.J.

The plaintiff, Douglas Martel, appeals¹ from the judgment of the trial court rendering summary judgment in favor of the defendants, the Metropolitan District Commission (commission) and certain officers and employees of the commission (employees).² The plaintiff claims on appeal that the trial court improperly concluded that governmental immunity, pursuant to General Statutes § 52-557n,³ precluded the plaintiff's negligence claims. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the trial court. The record reveals the following factual and procedural history. The commission is a political subdivision of the state, specially chartered by the Connecticut General Assembly for the purpose of water supply, waste management and regional planning.⁴ See 20 Spec. Acts 1204, No. 511 (1929); see also Rocky Hill Convalescent Hospital, Inc. v. Metropolitan District, 160 Conn. 446, 450-51, 280 A.2d 344 (1971). The commission owns 24,000 acres of property in the state, including a recreational area known as "Greenwoods," which consists of 400 acres of partially wooded land through which the west branch of the Farmington River flows. The commission does not use Greenwoods for water provision or waste management services. Rather, it has opened the area to the public, free of charge, for hunting and fishing. To facilitate these activities, the commission maintains a parking lot on the property and a handicapped fishing pier. The property also has an old unpaved service road, but the commission did not create the service road and does not maintain it. Additionally, there are dirt trails located in Greenwoods. Although some commission employees were aware of these trails, the commission did not create the trails and does not maintain them. The defendants are not aware of what activities, if any, for which the dirt trails are used.

On July 7, 2001, the plaintiff went mountain biking on an unpaved dirt trail in Greenwoods. One-half mile into the trail, the plaintiff arrived at a washed out area covered with small branches and logs that caused him to lose his balance and fall into an abutting ravine, a distance of approximately fifteen to twenty feet. As a result of the fall, the plaintiff sustained serious physical injuries, including paralysis from the chest down. The plaintiff filed the present action against the defendants seeking compensatory damages for the injuries he had sustained as a result of his fall. The plaintiff alleged in his complaint that the defendants were negligent in one or more of the following ways: (1) they "failed to exercise reasonable care in the design, supervision, and maintenance of the trail"; (2) they "permitted the trail to be located immediately adjacent to a [fifteen to twenty] foot vertical drop into a ravine"; (3) they "failed to take adequate measures to guard against trail users entering the ravine"; (4) "the area where the incident took place was, and had been for more than a reasonable time, dangerous and unsafe in that it was not clearly marked, and yet the defendant[s] had failed to correct or remedy this condition"; (5) "the surface of the trail was, and had been for more than a reasonable time, dangerous and unsafe in that there was an area that had been washed out and yet the defendant[s] had failed to correct or remedy this condition"; (6) they "failed to adequately inspect the trail to ensure it was in a reasonably safe condition"; (7) they "failed to reroute or close the trail until proper measures were taken to ensure it was in a reasonably safe condition"; (8) they "failed to warn the plaintiff and others of the dangerous and unsafe condition of this area"; and (9) they "failed to erect barricades or other devices so as to protect trail users from going into the ravine ...."

The defendants, in their answer to the complaint, denied the plaintiff's allegations and asserted six special defenses, including governmental immunity pursuant to § 52-557n.⁵ Thereafter, the defendants moved for summary judgment claiming, inter alia, that the plaintiff's cause of action was barred by § 52-557n. In its opposition to the defendants' motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff claimed that issues of fact existed as to whether: (1) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were discretionary in nature pursuant to § 52-557n (a)(2)(B); (2) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were performed for pecuniary benefit pursuant to § 52-557n (a)(1)(B); and (3) § 52-557n (b)(4) provides the plaintiff with a direct cause of action against the defendants.

In its memorandum of decision, the trial court noted that § 52-557n "protects political subdivisions of the state and its employees from liability when a negligent act or omission is committed within the discretionary duties of the political subdivision or its officers and was not done for pecuniary gain." The trial court concluded that the allegedly negligent acts of the defendants "require[d] the exercise of judgment." The trial court noted that the plaintiff failed to submit any evidence demonstrating that the defendants were ministerially required to maintain and supervise the trails in Greenwoods and to ensure safety on the property and, therefore, concluded that the alleged failure of the defendants to perform these duties "must be considered a discretionary act." Accordingly, the trial court rendered summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Thereafter, the plaintiff filed a motion to reargue on the grounds that the trial court's memorandum of decision failed to address the plaintiff's claims that (1) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were performed for pecuniary benefit and (2) § 52-557n (b)(4) provides the plaintiff with a direct cause of action. The trial court denied the plaintiff's motion, and this appeal followed.

On July 13, 2004, subsequent to the filing of the present appeal, the plaintiff moved for an articulation of the trial court's decision because the memorandum of decision failed to address the plaintiff's claims that the defendants' acts were proprietary in nature and that § 52-557n (b)(4) provides the plaintiff with a direct cause of action. The defendants opposed the plaintiff's motion, and the trial court never ruled on it. On June 7, 2005, this court, sua sponte, remanded the present matter to the trial court with direction to articulate its judgment in accordance with the plaintiff's motion for articulation. In its articulation, the trial court stated that the plaintiff's claim that the defendants were "involved in a proprietary function for a pecuniary benefit ... was so specious an argument and so unrelated to the plaintiff's personal injury claim that no specific response was required. Even if the allegations proved to be true, they would be insufficient to support [the] plaintiff's claim that [the] defendant[s] [were] conducting a proprietary rather than a governmental function on the land. No material question of fact presented itself as to this claim." In addition, the trial court articulated that the plaintiff "had no viable cause of action under ... § 52-557n (b)(4) .... The allegations and the offer of proof, in the opinion of this court, raised no material question of fact as to whether the accident occurred because of the condition of an unpaved trail. Nor was there a material question of fact as to whether [the] defendant[s] had received notice of the alleged defect prior to the accident. Furthermore, [the] plaintiff's claim is adequately ruled out by [§ 52-557n (b)(1)] providing immunity [for these] defendant[s] for an accident resulting ... from the condition of natural land or unimproved property...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)

On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly rendered summary judgment in favor of the defendants because issues of fact existed as to whether: (1) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were discretionary in nature; (2) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were performed for pecuniary benefit; and (3) § 52-557n (b)(4) provides the plaintiff with a direct cause of action because the defendants had notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct the condition of the trail on which the plaintiff was injured.

The defendants respond that the trial court properly rendered summary judgment in their favor because: (1) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were discretionary in nature as a matter of law; (2) the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were not proprietary in nature as a matter of law; and (3) § 52-557n (b)(4) does not provide the plaintiff with a direct cause of action. Additionally, the defendants set forth the following alternate grounds for affirming the trial court's judgment: (1) the plaintiff's claims are barred by governmental immunity because they seek damages resulting from the "condition of natural land or unimproved property" within the meaning of § 52-557n (b)(1); and (2) the defendants did not owe a duty of care to the plaintiff because mountain biking is an inherently hazardous sport, the plaintiff was a licensee on the commission's property and the commission is an owner of recreational land within the meaning of General Statutes § 52-557g.⁶ We agree with the defendants that the trial court properly rendered summary judgment in their favor pursuant to § 52-557n because the defendants' allegedly negligent acts were discretionary in nature and were not performed for a pecuniary benefit. We further agree with the defendants that § 52-557n (b)(4) does not provide the plaintiff with a...