Regester v. County of Chester

• Decision Date: 31 May 2002
• Citation: 568 Pa. 410,797 A.2d 898
• Parties: Alice K. REGESTER, in her Own Right, and as Administratrix of the Estate of George E. Regester, III, and Gary W. Regester and George E. Regester, IV and Stephen H. Regester and Patricia J. Regester and Mary Kay Piergalline and Dolores R. Chandler, Appellants, v. COUNTY OF CHESTER, Kennett Township, Kennett Borough, Longwood Fire Co. and Southern Chester County Medical Center, Appellees. Appeal of Southern Chester County Medical Center at 12 MAP 2001.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

797 A.2d 898

568 Pa. 410

Alice K. REGESTER, in her Own Right, and as Administratrix of the Estate of George E. Regester, III, and Gary W. Regester and George E. Regester, IV and Stephen H. Regester and Patricia J. Regester and Mary Kay Piergalline and Dolores R. Chandler, Appellants, v. COUNTY OF CHESTER, Kennett Township, Kennett Borough, Longwood Fire Co. and Southern Chester County Medical Center, Appellees.

Appeal of Southern Chester County Medical Center at .

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 17, 2001.

Decided May 31, 2002.

Thomas David Schneider, Huntington Valley, Joseph M. Fioravanti, Media, for Alice K. Register, et al.

Jeffrey H. Quinn, Pittsburgh, for Longwood Fire Company.

Barbara S. Magen, Kristin L. Thompson, William F. Sutton, Philadelphia, for Southern Chester Co. Medical Center.

Before: ZAPPALA, C.J., and CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

In this appeal, we review questions concerning the scope of the vehicle liability exception to the statutory immunity available to local governmental agencies, as well as the breadth of the immunity available under the Emergency Medical Services Act.

For purposes of the summary judgment determinations in question, the relevant factual circumstances, recited in the manner most favorable to the non-moving parties, the estate of Mr. George E. Regester, III, and family members (the "Regesters"), are as follows. Shortly after 7 p.m. on September 8, 1996, Mr. Regester suffered cardiac arrest. While administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation and restoring Mr. Regester's pulse, his family: telephoned the local emergency services number; requested an ambulance; indicated a correct street address for the Regester family's home of 4 Raintree Lane, Kennett Township (an unimproved but designated street on the subdivision plan for the Regesters' neighborhood); and provided accurate driving directions. The emergency services operator radioed both the Longwood Fire Company, Inc. ("Longwood"), which provides volunteer fire protection services as well as ambulance service in the Regester family's geographical area, and the Southern Chester County Medical Center ("SCCMC"), a hospital that maintains a mobile critical care unit within Chester County's emergency services system. The operator also relayed the provided driving directions, which, if followed, should have resulted in the affordance of emergency treatment to Mr. Regester within three to four minutes, since Longwood was located within two miles of the Regester family home. Nevertheless, both sets of emergency medical services ("EMS") personnel responded to information from Longwood's station that there was a Raintree Lane located near Pennsylvania's southeastern border; therefore, they were delayed in their arrival. Just before 7:30 p.m., Mr. Regester vomited, blocking his airway, and his condition deteriorated rapidly. Although EMS personnel reached the scene within the next few minutes, they were unable to revive him.

Subsequently, the Regesters commenced a wrongful death and survival action against Longwood, SCCMC, and others. In their complaint, the Regesters alleged, inter alia, that the emergency services dispatchers and providers negligently failed to familiarize themselves with the geographic area which they served, resulting in the unavailability of prompt and essential medical attention to Mr. Regester. In its answer, Longwood asserted that it was immune from liability pursuant to the provisions of the Judicial Code affording, in favor of local agencies, governmental immunity from claims for damages from injuries to persons and property. See 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 8541-8542.¹ SCCMC contended that, pursuant to the immunity provisions reposited in Section 11(j)(2) of the Emergency Medical Services Act,² 35 P.S. § 6931(j)(2), it could not be held liable absent proof of gross or willful negligence, which the Regesters failed to either plead or put into factual controversy.³ At the conclusion of discovery, Longwood and SCCMC moved for summary judgment based upon their respective claims of immunity. In response, the Regesters contested Longwood's claim to local agency status and further argued that their own claims against Longwood were not barred by the immunity statute as they fell within an express, statutory exception afforded as to negligent acts connected with vehicle operation. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 8542(a)(2), (b)(1).⁴ Concerning SCCMC's motion, the Regesters contended that the limitation upon liability provision in Section 11(j)(2) of the EMSA, by its terms, extends only to individual emergency medical services personnel but does not protect organizations such as SCCMC.

Subsequently, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of both defendants. First, citing to Guinn v. Alburtis Fire Co., 531 Pa. 500, 502 n. 2, 614 A.2d 218, 219 n. 2 (1992) (explaining that "a volunteer fire company created pursuant to relevant law and legally recognized as the official fire company for a political subdivision is a local agency"), the court deemed Longwood a local agency entitled to assert governmental immunity. Additionally, the trial court reasoned that, since Longwood's ambulance was not actually driven in a negligent manner and no causal relationship existed between its physical operation and the harm to Mr. Regester, the vehicle liability exception to the general rule of immunity in favor of local agencies was inapplicable. Concerning SCCMC, the trial court cited D'Amico v. VFW Post 191 Volunteer Ambulance Ass'n, 8 Pa. D. & C.4th 113 (C.P. Washington 1990), aff'd mem., 413 Pa.Super. 660, 596 A.2d 256 (1991), for the proposition that, under Section 11(j)(2) of the EMSA, immunity from civil liability for negligence extends to organizations whose personnel provide emergency medical services.

The Regesters appealed, and the Commonwealth Court affirmed in part and reversed in part. See Regester v. Longwood Ambulance Co., Inc., 751 A.2d 694, 703 (Pa.Cmwlth.2000). Regarding the claims against Longwood, the court agreed preliminarily with the trial court's conclusion that Longwood was a local agency entitled to assert governmental immunity, see id. at 699-701, and also rejected the Regesters' attempt to invoke the vehicle liability exception. Concerning the latter, the court initially cited Mickle v. City of Phila., 550 Pa. 539, 707 A.2d 1124 (1998)(holding that a city's alleged negligent maintenance and repair of a van constituted acts within the vehicle liability exception), in crediting the Regesters' argument that the vehicle liability exception encompasses a broader range of conduct than solely negligent driving. See Regester, 751 A.2d at 702 (citing Mickle, 550 Pa. at 543,707 A.2d at 1126). It emphasized, nonetheless, that exceptions to governmental immunity are to be narrowly construed, see Regester, 751 A.2d at 703 (citing Love v. City of Phila., 518 Pa. 370, 374, 543 A.2d 531, 532 (1988)), and relied upon its own prior decisions to hold that there was an insufficient connection between the asserted negligence and the operation of Longwood's ambulance to satisfy the requirements of the vehicle liability exception. See Regester, 751 A.2d at 702-03 (citing Keesey v. Longwood Volunteer Fire Co., 144 Pa.Cmwlth. 466, 472-73, 601 A.2d 921, 924 (1992)(holding that a dispatcher's failure to relay a supervisor's order to decelerate to the driver of a fire truck did not constitute operation for purposes of the vehicle liability exception); Tyree v. City of Pittsburgh, 669 A.2d 487, 491 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995)(holding that a municipality is immune from suit on a claim of negligence by a police officer in terms of his decision to chase a violator); Hawks by Hawks v. Livermore, 157 Pa.Cmwlth. 243, 247-48, 629 A.2d 270, 272 (1993)(same)).

With respect to the Regesters' claim against SCCMC, however, the Commonwealth Court held that the grant of summary judgment must be reversed. See Regester, 751 A.2d at 699. While acknowledging SCCMC's argument that the immunity afforded under the EMSA reflects the nature of the services provided and the public interest in maintaining an effective and efficient emergency medical system, the court deemed such policy arguments irrelevant in light of the plain language of the enactment. See id. at 698. In reviewing the statutory terms, the court observed that the EMSA affords immunity in favor of a "first responder, emergency medical technician or EMT-paramedic or health professional," and that such operative terms are defined in the enactment in terms of individuals (i.e., natural persons) with enumerated, specialized training. See id. at 698 (citing 35 P.S. § 6931(j)(2)). Further, the Commonwealth Court emphasized that the General Assembly was well aware of the involvement of institutions and organizations in the provision of emergency medical care, particularly as it had included common forms of medical services organizations among defined terms of the EMSA. See id. at 698. Thus, the court determined that the immunity provisions unambiguously operated in favor of individual actors but not their institutional, organizational, or corporate principals. See id. at 698-99. The Commonwealth Court also questioned the reasoning of D'Amico (which was invoked by the trial court), noting that, although D'Amico was affirmed by the Superior Court in an unpublished opinion, such order lacked the binding effect of precedent. See id. at 699 n. 2. Finally, the court acknowledged Farago v. Sacred Heart Gen. Hosp., 522 Pa. 410, 562 A.2d 300 (1989), in which this Court interpreted the immunity provisions of the Mental Health Procedures Act, 50 P.S. § 7114, to extend immunity to hospitals in addition to their personnel. See Regester, 751 A.2d at 699 n. 2. However, the Commonwealth Court distinguished Farago on the ground that, unlike the EMSA, the Mental Health Procedures Act affords immunity in favor of certain "persons" without any associated, statutory...