State ex rel. New Liberty Hosp. Dist. v. Pratt, No. 66481

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
• Writing for the Court: GUNN; RENDLEN; DONNELLY; DONNELLY
• Citation: 687 S.W.2d 184
• Decision Date: 02 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 66481
• Parties: STATE ex rel. NEW LIBERTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT, Relator, v. The Honorable Stephen R. PRATT, Judge of the Circuit Court of Clay County, Respondent.

Page 184

687 S.W.2d 184 STATE ex rel. NEW LIBERTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT, Relator,
v.
The Honorable Stephen R. PRATT, Judge of the Circuit Court
of Clay County, Respondent. No. 66481. Supreme Court of Missouri,
En Banc. April 2, 1985.

Page 185

Ronald R. McMillin, Jefferson City, Myron S. Silverman, Kansas City, for relator.

J.C. Hambrick, Jr., David B. Sexton, Jane Pansing Brown, Kansas City, for respondent.

GUNN, Judge.

By way of prohibition, relator New Liberty Hospital District asserts sovereign immunity as the basis for prohibiting respondent from proceeding in a tort action against it.

The underlying tort action was brought against the hospital district and a physician. The hospital district was charged with actual and vicarious negligence in the treatment of a hospital patient. The hospital district's motion to dismiss the action on the ground of sovereign immunity was denied by the respondent, and relief was sought and obtained from this Court by means of a preliminary rule in prohibition. We now make our preliminary rule absolute.

Preluding disquisition of sovereign immunity, we note that relator New Liberty Hospital District, operating a facility known as Liberty Hospital, is a governmental entity organized under Chapter 206, RSMo. Chapter 206 establishes hospital districts and provides that each created under its aegis "shall be a body corporate and political subdivision of the state." § 206.010.2, RSMo 1978. Among the powers bestowed upon a hospital district is the authority to establish hospital facilities and maintain them in such a way as "to render the use of the hospital of the greatest benefit to the greatest number." § 206.110,

Page 186

RSMo Cum.Supp.1984. The powers granted to hospital districts are described by the statute as "governmental." Id.

Now to the sovereign immunity issue: Sovereign immunity was reinstated by the legislature, following its abrogation by this Court in Jones v. State Highway Commission, 557 S.W.2d 225 (Mo. banc 1977); § 537.600, RSMo 1978. Since its reinstatement, sovereign immunity has been the rule for all public entities unless a certain prescribed exception is applicable. Bartley v. Special School District of St. Louis County, 649 S.W.2d 864 (Mo. banc 1983). Nevertheless, respondent urges a variety of reasons for which sovereign immunity does not shield relator from liability.

Respondent's chief argument is that the district's claim of sovereign immunity should be precluded by the application of the governmental-proprietary distinction. The traditional rule, however, permits the application of the governmental-proprietary distinction (and the preclusion of immunity in the latter circumstance) only as to municipalities. Beiser v. Parkway School District, 589 S.W.2d 277 (Mo. banc 1979); St. Joseph Light & Power Co. v. Kaw Valley Tunneling, Inc., 589 S.W.2d 260 (Mo. banc 1979); Page v. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, 377 S.W.2d 348 (Mo.1964); Cullor v. Jackson Township, 249 S.W.2d 393 (Mo.1952). Any other public entity which "operates under the police power of the state in the interest of the public health, safety and welfare ... is in effect an arm of the state exercising exclusively governmental functions," Page, 377 S.W.2d at 353, and is therefore immune from liability for neglect in the performance of those functions. ¹

The hospital district in the present case was created to fill the sole function of maintaining a hospital, a function which promotes the health and welfare of the people. The basis for the claimed liability was the performance of this function. The hospital district is therefore clothed with the full immunity enjoyed by the state, and the governmental-proprietary distinction is inapplicable.

Even if the governmental-proprietary function were to be employed, the operation of a hospital by a city, county or similar public corporation entity is a governmental function. Schroeder v. City of St. Louis, 360 Mo. 293, 228 S.W.2d 677 (1950); Zummo v. Kansas City, 285 Mo. 222, 225 S.W. 934 (1920); Bailey v. City of St. Louis, 578 S.W.2d 279, 280 (Mo.App.1979) (city ambulance); Dugan v. Kansas City, 373 S.W.2d 175 (Mo.App.1963). Contrary to respondent's suggestion, it is immaterial that the potential plaintiff was a paying patient. Schroeder, 228 S.W.2d at 678. The governmental character of operating a...