State By and Through Colorado State Claims Bd. of Div. of Risk Management v. DeFoor
| Citation | 824 P.2d 783 |
| Parties | The STATE of Colorado, By and Through the COLORADO STATE CLAIMS BOARD OF the DIVISION OF RISK MANAGEMENT, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Yvonne E. DeFOOR; Frank Bowen; Margie Bowen; Elinor M. Butenhoff; Urs Frei; Michael Hatton; the Estate of Anna Hayes, Deceased; the Children and Estate of Arlene Johnson, Deceased; Estate of John Killeen, Deceased; Estate of Markus Lang, Herbert Lang, as survivor, heir and personal representative of Markus Lang, and the Estate of Markus Lang, Rita Lang as survivor, heir and personal representative of Markus Lang and the Estate of Markus Lang, and Elfriede Borrillo, as Special Administrator of the Estate of Markus Lang; the Estate of Douglas MacKenzie, Deceased; Suzanne MacKenzie; Michael McGarvey, Nancy McGarvey; Bernadine M. Remmers; Carol J. Smith, Thomas C. Smith, and Meagan N. Smith, a minor; the Estate of Gladys Stewart, Deceased; the Estate of Sol Stewart, Deceased; the Children and Estate of Keith Walters, Deceased; the Children and Estate of Kathleen Walters, Deceased; Horoshi Yoshioka; Mordekhay Fumishika; Mashasiki Nakayma; Mikayo Tajima; and Rodney Alva West; and Clarendon National Insurance Company; San Juan Tours, Inc. d/b/a Gray Line Tours; and all persons or entities suffering, or claiming to suffer, damages resultant from the |
| Decision Date | 10 August 1987 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Colorado |
Sears, Anderson & Swanson, P.C., Leland P. Anderson, Denver, Victoria C. Swanson, P.C., Victoria C. Swanson, Colorado Springs, Pryor, Carney and Johnson, P.C., Thomas L. Roberts, Mark P. Martens, Englewood, Fogel, Keating & Wagner, David Struthers, Aisenberg & Kaplan, H. Paul Himes, Denver, for appellants.
Gale A. Norton, Atty. Gen., Raymond T. Slaughter, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Timothy M. Tymkovich, Sol. Gen., Timothy R. Arnold, Deputy Atty. Gen., Gregg E. Kay, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Simon P. Lipstein, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for appellee State of Colorado.
Hall & Evans, David R. Brougham, Denver, for Individual appellees Phillip Pacheco, Earman Pacheco, Merle Zimmer, Phillip West, Ross Hamilton, Edward Fink, John M. Salazar, R.L. Clevenger, Dwight Bower, Phil McCullough, and Lowell Jackson.
The Ass'n of Trial Lawyers of America, Michael C. Maher, President, Washington, D.C., The Colorado Trial Lawyers Ass'n, John Gehlhausen, President, Denver, Vinton, Waller, Slivka & Panasci, Denis H. Mark, Denver, for amici curiae The Ass'n of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) and The Colorado Trial Lawyers Ass'n (CTLA).
Miller & McCarren, P.C., J. Kent Miller, Denver, for amicus curiae Colorado Head Injury Foundation, Inc.
Frederic K. Conover, II, Holme Roberts & Owen, Daniel S. Hoffman, Boyd N. Boland, Denver, for amicus curiae Colorado Bar Ass'n.
Eason, Sprague & Wilson, P.C., Eugene M. Sprague, Elizabeth A. McKeever, Denver, for amicus curiae Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool.
Griffiths & Tanoue, P.C., Susan K. Griffiths, Tami A. Tanoue, Elizabeth E. Salkind, Denver, Colorado Mun. League, Kathleen E. Haddock, Denver, for amici curiae Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency, Colorado Counties Cas. and Property Pool, Colorado Counties, Inc., Colorado Sp. Districts Property and Liability Pool, Sp. Dist. Ass'n of Colorado, and Colorado Mun. League.
Claimants appeal from a district court ruling that the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, §§ 24-10-101 to -120, 10A C.R.S. (1988) (the Act), does not violate claimants' rights to equal protection of laws, access to courts, or due process of laws. 1 Claimants also appeal from the district court's determination that their claims against individual defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988) were insufficient to expose those defendants to liability. We affirm the district court ruling regarding claimants' constitutional challenges, but remand the § 1983 allegations for further hearings.
On August 10, 1987, Phillip Pacheco was operating a state-owned vehicle. He used this vehicle to move a 6.7-ton boulder, pursuant to Department of Highway ditch-clearing policies, on an upper switchback on the west side of Berthoud Pass. The boulder rolled down onto a roadway and hit a tour bus. Of the thirty-four passengers on the bus, nine were killed and twenty-five sustained injuries as a result of the collision.
On January 6, 1988, the Colorado Attorney General filed an interpleader action in Denver District Court. The Attorney General attempted to deposit the sum of $400,000 with the registry of the Court, and to have a defendant class certified pursuant to C.R.C.P. 22 and 23. On April 28, 1989, the claimants filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that section 24-10-114(1), 10A C.R.S. (1988), of the Act violated their right to equal protection of laws access to courts and due process of laws. 2 Section 24-10-114(1) provides:
(1) The maximum amount that may be recovered under this article in any single occurrence, whether from one or more public entities and public employees, shall be:
(a) For any injury to one person in any single occurrence, the sum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars;
(b) For an injury to two or more persons in any single occurrence, the sum of four hundred thousand dollars; except that, in such instance, no person may recover in excess of one hundred fifty thousand dollars.
The claimants also made claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988). The State filed its own motion for summary judgment and moved to dismiss the § 1983 claims. The district court ruled against the claimants and in favor of the State on the motions for summary judgment.
Claimants urge that section 24-10-114(1), 10A C.R.S. (1988), violates their right to equal protection of the laws because it creates an arbitrary classification. Some individuals, according to claimants, may be fully compensated for injuries they sustain alone. Others jointly injured, however, may not be. Claimants further contend that the recovery limitations in the Act violate their right to equal protection of the laws because the limitations are not rationally related to the State's interest in assuming liability for its tortious acts. Claimants premise their argument on the equal protection guarantees found in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and in Article II, Section 25, of the Colorado Constitution.
Claimants' argument raises the larger issue of whether the General Assembly can ever limit the State's liability for damages in tort, as any limitation will work favorably for some but not others. We have recognized, however, that it is within the province of the General Assembly to simultaneously create governmental liability and place limitations on actions brought against the State. See, e.g., Evans v. Board of County Comm'rs, 174 Colo. 97, 482 P.2d 968 (1971) (). We conclude that the General Assembly can limit the State's liability for damages and affirm the district court's ruling that the Act does not violate the claimants' right to equal protection of the laws.
Claimants contend that section 24-10-114(1) creates an arbitrary and irrational classification between individuals who may potentially receive full compensation under subsection (1)(a) as opposed to individuals who are less likely to receive full compensation for injuries under subsection (1)(b). 3 Claimants further contend that their right to recover damages for personal injuries is important, and that section 24-10-114(1) should thus be reviewed under a heightened scrutiny equal protection test. 4
This court previously declined to apply a heightened scrutiny test to an equal protection attack on section 24-10-114(1) and applied a rational basis test instead, in Lee v. Colorado Department of Health, 718 P.2d 221, 227 (Colo.1986) (). See also Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Envtl. Study Group, Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 83, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 2635-36, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978) () (quoted in Austin v. Litvak, 682 P.2d 41, 50 (Colo.1984)). Pursuant to Lee, we again apply a rational basis test to the instant equal protection attack on section 24-10-114(1).
Under the rational basis test, section 24-10-114(1) is presumed constitutional and can create a classification that affords disparate treatment to different groups only if it is rationally related to a legitimate state interest. 5 Tassian v. People, 731 P.2d 672, 675 (Colo.1987). We begin our analysis with a review of the State's liability for injuries caused by the negligent operation of state-owned motor vehicles.
In 1949, the General Assembly enacted a statute that rendered the State liable for injuries caused by the tortious operation of certain classes of state-owned motor vehicles. 6 Act approved May 6, 1949, ch. 118 sec. 1, 1949 Colo.Sess.Laws 268-69; see also §§ 13-10-1 to -3, 2 C.R.S. (1953). The General Assembly simultaneously limited the State's liability for such damages as follows:
(a) Bodily injury liability, Ten Thousand and No/100 ($10,000.00) Dollars for each person, Twenty Thousand and No/100 ($20,000.00) Dollars for...
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