Tuengel v. City of Sitka, Alaska, 6778-A.
| Court | United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. District of Alaska |
| Writing for the Court | R. E. Robertson (of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh), Juneau, Alaska, for plaintiff |
| Citation | 118 F. Supp. 399 |
| Parties | TUENGEL v. CITY OF SITKA, ALASKA et al. |
| Docket Number | No. 6778-A.,6778-A. |
| Decision Date | 18 February 1954 |
118 F. Supp. 399
TUENGEL
v.
CITY OF SITKA, ALASKA et al.
No. 6778-A.
District Court, Alaska First Division, Juneau.
February 18, 1954.
R. E. Robertson (of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh), Juneau, Alaska, for plaintiff.
Robert Boochever (of Faulkner, Banfield & Boochever), Juneau, Alaska, for defendants.
FOLTA, District Judge.
The plaintiff seeks to recover damages for personal injuries sustained as a consequence
Plaintiff, a barber, went to the hospital to cut the hair of Cresa, a welfare patient. In response to plaintiff's inquiry, the nurse directed him to Cresa's room, but, as a result of misunderstanding or otherwise, the plaintiff opened the door to the basement and plunged down the stairs to the floor, sustaining the injuries complained of.
In his complaint, plaintiff alleges negligence in several particulars: (1) in respect to the directions given him by the nurse, (2) the absence of any sign on the door indicating that the door led to the basement, (3) lack of adequate illumination in the corridor and over the basement stairway, and (4) improper construction of the door, in that it opened into the basement and over the stairway instead of into the corridor.
The defendant city has moved to dismiss and for a summary judgment on the ground that it is immune from suit as well as tort liability, because the operation of the hospital was in the exercise of a governmental function and because the hospital was a charitable institution. The defendant Board has likewise moved to dismiss the complaint, on the ground that no claim is stated as against it, and for summary judgment on the ground that it is a charitable institution and hence immune from tort liability. Thus the city has invoked both doctrines of immunity — that which clothes municipalities and political subdivisions, as well as that which protects charitable institutions. The first is divided into immunity from suit, based on the medieval notion that the king can do no wrong, and immunity from tort liability.
Immunity from suit is in disfavor in the United States because it is an anomaly in a republic and because of the general recognition of the fact that it is unjust to make the innocent victim of negligence bear the entire loss rather than to distribute the burden among the members of the general public. Notwithstanding the...
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