Tice v. Southington Bd. of Educ.
| Decision Date | 05 May 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:96CV1651 (JBA).,3:96CV1651 (JBA). |
| Citation | 94 F.Supp.2d 242 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | Charlene TICE v. SOUTHINGTON BOARD OF EDUCATION, Robert Wood, Louis Saloom. |
Jane Boucher Monahan, West Hartford, CT, Barbara E. Gardner, Manchester, CT, for Plaintiff.
Harold C. Donegan, Barry P. Beletsky, Richard P. Sperandeo, Ruth Beardsley, James A. Mongillo, Sperandeo & Donegan, New Haven, CT, Michael Peter McKeon, Thomas N. Sullivan, Mark J. Sommaruga, Sullivan, Schoen, Campane & Connon, Hartford, CT, Stephen P. Fogerty, Thomas P. O'Dea, Jr., Halloran & Sage, West Westport, CT, for Defendants.
RULING ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW [DOC. # 95]
After trial, in which a jury awarded the plaintiff $60,000 against defendant Southington Board of Education ("Board") on a claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress, the defendant moved for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 50. The defendant argues that the Board is shielded from liability by the doctrine of governmental immunity.
Since 1977, plaintiff Charlene Tice has been employed as a teacher by the defendant Southington Board of Education ("Board"). From 1986 until 1996, she was a third grade teacher at Plantsville School in Southington. In October 1994, a parent made an accusation that Tice had shaken one of her students, which Robert Wood, the principal of Plantsville School, and Louis Saloom, the Superintendent of Schools, investigated through interviews with students and parents. The plaintiff was asked to take a medical leave for one month, and placed on "intensive assistance" upon her return. Tice was thereafter the subject of a number of letters from parents complaining about her classroom practices, and requesting that their children not be placed in her class. After school officials had held numerous meetings with Tice and with parents attempting to resolve the situation, Tice was involuntarily transferred to teach fifth grade at another school in the same district. She brought suit against Saloom, Wood, and the Board of Education, alleging constitutional violations and common law claims. The jury found for the individual defendants on plaintiff's Equal Protection claim and for the Board on her invasion of privacy claim, but awarded plaintiff $60,000 on her claim against the Board for negligent infliction of emotional distress. This Rule 50 motion followed. Although the motion was withdrawn in the course of the party's settlement discussions, negotiations were unsuccessful and the Board subsequently renewed its post-trial motion.
Pursuant to Rule 50(a), the court may grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law against a party in the event that "a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party on that issue." Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1). If, for any reason, the court does not grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law made at the close of all evidence, "the court is considered to have submitted the action to the jury subject to the court's later deciding the legal questions raised by the motion." Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b). A district court may grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law only if
there exists "such complete absence of evidence supporting the verdict that the jury's findings could only have been the result of sheer surmise and conjecture," or the evidence in favor of the movant is so overwhelming "that reasonable and fair minded [persons] could not arrive at a verdict against [it]."
Luciano v. Olsten Corp., 110 F.3d 210, 214 (2d Cir.1997) (quoting Cruz v. Local Union No. 3, 34 F.3d 1148, 1154 (2d Cir. 1994)). "Judgment n.o.v. is proper `only if the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the non-movants, without considering credibility or weight, reasonably permits only a conclusion in the movant's favor.'" Doctor's Assoc., Inc. v. Weible, 92 F.3d 108, 112 (2d Cir.1996) (quoting Baskin v. Hawley, 807 F.2d 1120, 1129 (2d Cir.1986)). In order to grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law, the court must find "either an utter lack of evidence supporting the verdict," Doctor's Assoc., 92 F.3d at 112, or the evidence must be "so overwhelming that reasonable and fairminded persons could only have reached the opposite result," Baskin, 807 F.2d at 1129. Federal Rule of Civil Procedures 50(b) "generally proscribes judgment n.o.v. on any ground not specifically raised in an earlier motion for a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence," unless relief from the specificity requirement is necessary to avoid manifest injustice. Doctor's Assoc., 92 F.3d at 112, 113. In ruling on a Rule 50 motion after trial, a court may allow the judgment to stand, order a new trial, or direct entry of judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b)(1).
The defendant contends that it is shielded by governmental immunity from plaintiff's claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff counters that the immunity defense is not timely raised, and that in any event the Board of Education is not immune pursuant to Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-557n. While resolution of the immunity question is complicated by uncertainties in the relevant law and the failure of the defendant to raise the issue at any point, aside from its answer, prior to its Rule 50 motion, as discussed below, the Court concludes that defendant is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and therefore the Board's motion is DENIED.
A municipality's potential liability for its tortious acts is limited by the common law principle of governmental immunity. Ryszkiewicz v. New Britain, 193 Conn. 589, 593, 479 A.2d 793 (1984). As compared to sovereign immunity, which originates from the early feudal concept that the king can do no wrong and has been woven into the fabric of this country's constitution and case law, municipal immunity is generally described as a court-made rule. Giannitti v. City of Stamford, 25 Conn.App. 67, 78, 593 A.2d 140 (1991) (). While municipalities enjoy some limited governmental immunity from liability, they have no sovereign immunity and may therefore sue or be sued as any other natural person. Ryszkiewicz, 193 Conn. at 593, 479 A.2d 793.
The governmental immunity retained by municipalities may be abrogated by statute, and the legislature has acted to limit such immunity in certain circumstances. See, e.g. Conn.Gen.Stat. 13a-149 (). "The legislature has also set forth general principles of municipal liability and immunity in General States § 52-557n." Williams v. New Haven, 243 Conn. 763, 766, 707 A.2d 1251 (1998). That statute provides in relevant part:
Liability of political subdivision and its employees, officers and agents. Liability of members of local boards and commissions. (a)(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.... (2) Except as otherwise provided by law, a political subdivision or the state shall not be liable for damages to person or property caused by ... (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.
Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-557n.
In her brief in opposition to defendant's Rule 50 motion, plaintiff made clear that her claim of negligence against the Board is founded on § 52-557n. Defendant objects to this late enlistment of the statute, arguing based on Williams that plaintiff's claim is barred under the doctrine of municipal immunity unless the applicable statute appears in the original complaint. In Williams, the Connecticut Supreme Court examined the issue of whether the plaintiffs could maintain an action in negligence against the City of New Haven where the plaintiffs had not pled or cited to any statutory exception to municipal immunity. Williams, 243 Conn. at 770, 707 A.2d 1251. The Connecticut Supreme Court agreed with the defendant that it was immune from liability for common-law negligence, but only after making it very clear that this decision was based on the plaintiff's failure to "advance[ ] any statute as a basis for the liability of the defendant in this case." Id. at 766, 707 A.2d 1251. Justice Berdon, moreover, wrote a concurring opinion underscoring that Id. at 771-72, 707 A.2d 1251.
After Williams, a split has developed among the Superior Courts on the issue of whether to permit a plaintiff to proceed with a cause of action based upon municipal negligence, even when the pleadings fail to name a statute. See LaChance v. City of Waterbury, 2000 WL 278951, Docket No. CV 980148936 (Conn.Super. Feb. 29, 2000) (citing cases, but adopting view that plaintiffs should be permitted to proceed with their cause of action). As the trial court explained in Baranowsky v. City of Waterbury, No. CV 96133416, 1998 WL 828079 (Conn.Super.1998), in which the plaintiff raised § 52-557n for the first time in opposition to a summary judgment motion, "nowhere in Williams is she required to [cite the statute in her complaint] ... A requirement that [plaintiff] plead the statute as the basis of the city's liability would be too restrictive since § 52-557n `merely codified existing case law...
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...claims in negligence where the municipality has breached a ministerial, but not a discretionary, duty.4 Tice v. Southington Board of Education, 94 F.Supp.2d 242, 245 (D.Conn.2000). Under Connecticut law, a municipality is immune from liability for the "negligent acts or omissions which requ......