Rutherford v. Chaves County
| Decision Date | 23 April 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 27,487.,27,487. |
| Citation | 2003 NMSC 10,133 N.M. 756,69 P.3d 1199 |
| Parties | David RUTHERFORD, as personal representative of the Estate of Rhonda Adele Rutherford, deceased, David Rutherford and Bobbie Flenniken, individually and as co-personal representatives of the Estates of Taletha Jean Rutherford, deceased, and Joseph Thornton Rutherford, deceased; John Rutherford, and Michael and Debra Thomas, individually and as co-personal representatives of the Estate of Donovan J. Thomas, deceased, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. CHAVES COUNTY and Board of County Commissioners of Chaves County, Defendants-Petitioners. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
Miller, Stratvert & Torgerson, P.A., Gary L. Gordon, James R. Wood, Alice Tomlinson Lorenz, Albuquerque, NM, for Petitioners.
Fine & Faure, Donald E. Martinez, Joseph M. Fine, Albuquerque, NM, for Respondents.
{1} Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Defendants Chaves County and the Chaves County Board of Commissioners under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act for wrongful death and personal injury following a nighttime accident that occurred at a flooded roadway intersection where Plaintiff Rutherford unsuccessfully attempted to drive his motor vehicle through the arroyo floodwaters. The district court granted Chaves County's motion for summary judgment, finding Chaves County immune from suit under the Tort Claims Act. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the district court and held that the Tort Claims Act waived Chaves County's immunity from suit because Chaves County's allegedly negligent acts of failing to timely and adequately control traffic on the flooded roadway constitute highway maintenance. We affirm the Court of Appeals and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
{2} This case arises out of an accident that occurred on a flooded road in Chaves County, New Mexico. Spence Road is a short local access road that intersects Walnut Creek, a normally dry arroyo. Walnut Creek crosses Spence Road through a dip in the roadway (Spence Road Crossing). Both sides of the Spence Road Crossing display signs, alerting oncoming motorists to "WATCH FOR WATER" and to warn them of the "DIP" when approaching the intersection. In the past it had been customary for the Chaves County Road Department (Road Department) to close the Spence Road Crossing using portable barricades when floodwaters reached dangerous levels. When Walnut Creek floods, the waters run in a deceptively rapid, deep fashion.
{3} On the night of July 14, 1996, John Rutherford was driving home on Spence Road with his wife, their two children, and another child. Although it had not rained that day, water from the nearby mountains and flood plains had drained into Walnut Creek, causing the arroyo to flood the Spence Road Crossing. Sometime before 9:00 p.m., Mr. Rutherford attempted to navigate his motor vehicle through the flooded Spence Road Crossing. He, however, quickly lost control of his vehicle, and rapidly running water carried the vehicle and its occupants downstream. Mr. Rutherford escaped the sinking vehicle, but his wife and the children drowned. {4} A half hour earlier that night, the Chaves County Sheriff's Department (Sheriff's Department) received information that Walnut Creek was flooding and the floodwaters at the Spence Road Crossing were running at dangerously high levels. An officer with the Sheriff's Department contacted an employee of the Road Department about the flooding. The employee, who lived approximately thirty miles from the Spence Road Crossing, went to the Road Department yard to get the portable barricades needed to close Spence Road. By the time the Chaves County employee arrived at the Spence Road Crossing with the portable barricades, the accident had already occurred.
{5} John Rutherford and the personal representatives of the decedents' estates (Rutherford) sued Chaves County and the Chaves County Board of Commissioners (Chaves County) for personal injury and wrongful death based on the accident at the Spence Road Crossing. Rutherford alleged that Chaves County was negligent in its maintenance of the roadway because it did not have a reasonable system in place to identify the flooding hazard and close the Spence Road Crossing in a timely manner. The district court granted summary judgment to Chaves County, finding that Chaves County was immune from suit under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act (TCA) because the negligence of public employees in maintaining a roadway, as waived in NMSA 1978, § 41-4-11 (1991), did not include the negligent acts Rutherford alleged.
{6} Rutherford appealed to the Court of Appeals based on the sovereign immunity issue, alleging that Chaves County negligently maintained its roadways by not adequately and timely responding to the problem of arroyo flooding because Chaves County relied on a reactive system which failed to include sufficient and effective safeguards to adequately control traffic at the Spence Road Crossing. The Court of Appeals agreed with Rutherford, reversed the district court, and held that Chaves County was not immune under the TCA because placement of barricades at the Spence Road Crossing before the arroyo floodwaters reached dangerous levels constituted maintenance such that sovereign immunity is waived.
{7} We granted Chaves County's petition for writ of certiorari. We affirm the Court of Appeals and hold that procedures for identifying hazards on roadways and the timeliness of minimizing or eliminating the risk of injury to the motoring public from those hazards constitute maintenance activities for which immunity is waived under the TCA.
{8} Chaves County filed a motion for summary judgment on the basis that its alleged negligence in this case is not subject to the waiver of immunity contained in the TCA. Chaves County disputes the standard of review articulated by the Court of Appeals, particularly the court's statement that a grant of summary judgment should be reviewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment. We agree with Chaves County that, in a case where a pure question of law is at issue, we will not review a grant of summary judgment in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. The standard of review for determining whether governmental immunity under the TCA bars a tort claim is a question of law which we review de novo. Godwin v. Mem'l Med. Ctr., 2001-NMCA-033, ¶ 23, 130 N.M. 434, 25 P.3d 273; see In re Estate of Armijo, 2000-NMCA-008, ¶ 5, 128 N.M. 565, 995 P.2d 487
(), rev'd on other grounds, 2001-NMSC-027, 130 N.M. 714, 31 P.3d 372; Bd. of Comm'rs v. Greacen, 2000-NMSC-016, ¶ 4, 129 N.M. 177, 3 P.3d 672 ().
{9} The parties agree that, once Chaves County had notice of the flood conditions, the placement of portable barricades was appropriate. The placement of portable barricades is a method of traffic control under the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices which must be followed by local authorities. NMSA 1978, § 66-7-103 (1978). We have repeatedly held and reiterate in this opinion that traffic controls constitute maintenance activities under the TCA. Lerma v. State Highway Dep't, 117 N.M. 782, 784, 877 P.2d 1085, 1087 (1994); Pollock v. State Highway & Transp. Dep't, 1999-NMCA-083, ¶ 10, 127 N.M. 521, 984 P.2d 768; Ryan v. State Highway & Transp. Dep't, 1998-NMCA-116, ¶ 12, 125 N.M. 588, 964 P.2d 149; Grano v. Roadrunner Trucking, Inc., 99 N.M. 227, 228, 656 P.2d 890, 891 (Ct.App.1982).
{10} The issue in this case centers on the procedures used by Chaves County for identifying a flood hazard and responding to that hazard in a timely manner so as to prevent injury or death to the motoring public. The relevant provision of the TCA is Section 41-4-11, which permits a cause of action for damages caused by "the negligence of public employees while acting within the scope of their duties during the construction, and in subsequent maintenance of any bridge, culvert, highway, roadway, street, alley, sidewalk or parking area." Section 41-4-11(A). However, immunity is not waived if the damages are caused by "a defect in plan or design of any bridge, culvert, highway, roadway, street, alley, sidewalk, or parking area." Section 41-4-11(B)(1). Nor is immunity waived if the damages are caused by the failure to construct or reconstruct a bridge, culvert or roadway. Section 41-4-11(B)(2).
{11} Statutory provisions purporting to waive governmental immunity are strictly construed. See Armijo v. Dep't of Health & Env't, 108 N.M. 616, 617, 775 P.2d 1333, 1334 (Ct.App.1989)
(). In interpreting the meaning of a statute, our primary purpose is to give effect to the Legislature's intent. Cal. First Bank v. State Dep't of Alcohol Beverage Control, 111 N.M. 64, 68, 801 P.2d 646, 650 (1990); Gutierrez v. J & B Mobile Homes, 1999-NMCA-007, ¶ 7, 126 N.M. 494, 971 P.2d 1284. Section 41-4-11 must be construed to effectuate its remedial purpose of ensuring that highways are made safe and kept safe for the traveling public. See Fireman's Fund Ins. Co. v. Tucker, 95 N.M. 56, 59, 618 P.2d 894, 897 (Ct.App.1980) ().
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