Myers v. City of Hartford

• Decision Date: 10 August 2004
• Docket Number: (AC 23922).
• Citation: 84 Conn. App. 395,853 A.2d 621
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: ELEANOR MYERS v. CITY OF HARTFORD ET AL.

84 Conn. App. 395

853 A.2d 621

ELEANOR MYERS v. CITY OF HARTFORD ET AL.

(AC 23922).

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued January 21, 2004.

Officially released August 10, 2004.

Foti, Flynn and McLachlan, Js.

Sydney T. Schulman, with whom, on the brief, was Jessica J. York, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Andrew J. Schneider, for the appellees (defendants).

Opinion

FLYNN, J.

The plaintiff, Eleanor Myers, appeals from the judgment of the trial court rendered following the granting of a motion for a directed verdict in favor of the defendants, the city of Hartford, Edward Grodecki and Saundra Keye Borges. The plaintiff claims that the directed verdict was granted improperly on the basis of qualified municipal immunity because the court analyzed the plaintiff's claims under General Statutes § 52-557n (a) (2), rather than under General Statutes § 7465, the terms of which do not allow for this type of municipal immunity. The plaintiff also claims that even if the court had analyzed the issues under the proper statute, the actions of the municipality's employees fall within exceptions to this type of immunity. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

In April 1999, in response to several complaints about roaming dogs, Grodecki, an animal control officer for the city of Hartford, removed a dog from the plaintiff's premises. After being informed by a neighbor that the plaintiff was the animal's owner, Grodecki waited approximately five minutes for the plaintiff to return home. When she did not appear, he removed the dog to a veterinary clinic and ordered that the animal be euthanized, allegedly because the animal was in such poor physical condition that the only humane alternative was to put the animal down. He did not seek authorization for the euthanization from a veterinarian as required by General Statutes § 22-329a. In addition, Grodecki never informed the owner of his seizure and custody of the dog and did not place an advertisement in a newspaper in an effort to identify the animal's owner. Several days later, the plaintiff learned that her dog had been euthanized.

The plaintiff subsequently brought an action against Grodecki and Borges in their official capacities as animal control officer and city manager, respectively, for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and against the municipality as indemnitor for its employees. After presentation of the plaintiff's case-in-chief, the defendants filed a motion for a directed verdict. On January 24, 2003, the court heard arguments and granted the motion, ruling that the defendants were protected by qualified municipal immunity, pursuant to General Statutes § 52-557n (a) (2). Judgment was rendered for the defendants. The plaintiff now appeals.

"A motion for a directed verdict is warranted only if, considering the evidence presented, the jury could not reasonably have found in favor of the nonmoving party. . . . In the present case, the trial court based its decision to grant the defendants' motion for a directed verdict on its interpretation of [qualified municipal immunity]. Because this presents a pure question of law, our review is plenary." (Citation omitted.) See DeLeo v. Nusbaum, 263 Conn. 588, 593, 821 A.2d 744 (2003).

The plaintiff claims that the directed verdict was granted improperly on the basis of qualified municipal immunity because her claims should have been evaluated under § 7-465, as pleaded by the plaintiff, which does not allow for qualified governmental immunity, rather than under § 52-557n (a) (2), on which the court relied in directing a verdict for the defendants. We agree with the plaintiff that § 7-465 is the proper analytical reference, but disagree with her claim that the individual defendants could not raise the defense of qualified governmental immunity. We find, however, that her claim fails on other grounds.¹

Section 7-465 provides in relevant part: "(a) Any town, city or borough, notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, general, special or local, shall pay on behalf of any employee of such municipality . . . all sums which such employee becomes obligated to pay by reason of the liability imposed upon such employee by law for damages awarded . . . for physical damages to person or property, except as hereinafter set forth, if the employee, at the time of the occurrence, accident, physical injury or damages complained of, was acting in the performance of his duties and within the scope of his employment, and if such occurrence, accident, physical injury or damage was not the result of any wilful or wanton act of such employee in the discharge of such duty. . . . Governmental immunity shall not be a defense in any action brought under this section. . . ."

The court analyzed the claims under § 52-557n (a), which provides in relevant part: "(1) Except as otherwise provided by law, a political subdivision of the state shall be liable for damages to person or property caused by: (A) The negligent acts or omissions of such political subdivision or any employee, officer or agent thereof acting within the scope of his employment or official duties; (B) negligence in the performance of functions from which the political subdivision derives a special corporate profit or pecuniary benefit; and (C) acts of the political subdivision which constitute the creation or participation in the creation of a nuisance . . . . (2) Except as otherwise provided by law, a political subdivision of the state shall not be liable for damages to person or property caused by: (A) Acts or omissions of any employee, officer or agent which constitute criminal conduct, fraud, actual malice or wilful misconduct; or (B) negligent acts or omissions which require the exercise of judgment or discretion as an official function of the authority expressly or impliedly granted by law."

"Section 52-557n of the General Statutes was enacted. . . in response to rapidly rising insurance rates, which, some believed, would be curtailed if tort liability could be limited and systematized. As finally enacted, the act represents a complex web of interdependent concessions and bargains struck by hostile interest groups and individuals of opposing philosophical positions." Sanzone v. Board of Police Commissioners, 219 Conn. 179, 185, 592 A.2d 912 (1991).

Our Supreme Court has not found the legislative history of § 52-557n helpful and has concluded that it is unclear whether the statute's limitation on the liability of political subdivisions is intended to supersede provisions of the indemnification statute, § 7-465. Id., 188. "Unfortunately, the legislative history of § 52-557n is worse than murky; it is contradictory. . . . The transcripts of legislative hearings on the bill are full of heated debate . . . dealing with municipal liability, but the legislators seemed not to agree as to its meaning. The record of legislative debate does indicate that [it] was intended, in a general sense, both to codify and to limit municipal liability, but it also reflects confusion with respect to precisely what part of the preexisting law was being codified, and what part was being limited." Id.

Without the guidance of legislative history, we must look to the language of §§ 7-465 and 52-557n to determine a workable and logical interpretation of the interplay between these two statutes and the common law. "[W]e presume that the legislature intends sensible results from the statutes it enacts." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Hibner v. Bruening, 78 Conn. App. 456, 459, 828 A.2d 150 (2003). With this in mind, we conclude that the plaintiff is correct that the court improperly analyzed her claims under § 52-557n. This section deals...