DocketNumber: SC 16488
Citation Numbers: 263 Conn. 74
Judges: Borden, Norcott, Palmer, Sullivan, Vertefeuille, Zarella
Filed Date: 4/8/2003
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 9/8/2022
Opinion
This case involves an action for
indemnification brought by the plaintiff, Alex Martinez, a former state trooper, against the defendant, the state department of public safety,
The following undisputed facts and procedural history are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. In March, 1998, while on duty as a state trooper, the plaintiff was summoned by a roadside motorist. The plaintiff stopped to investigate and ultimately issued the female motorist a citation for a motor vehicle infraction. The motorist subsequently filed a complaint against the plaintiff for allegedly threatening her with other traffic
In the trial court, the defendant moved to dismiss the plaintiffs action based on the doctrine of sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss, concluding that pursuant to § 53-39a, the state had waived sovereign immunity from liability and from suit. The defendant appealed from the trial court’s decision to the Appellate Court.
I
We begin with a brief overview of the doctrine of sovereign immunity as applied in this state. In Bergner v. State, 144 Conn. 282, 284-85, 130 A.2d 293 (1957), this court detailed the historical development of the doctrine of sovereign immunity: “It is a well-established rule of the common law that a state cannot be sued without its consent. Somers v. Hill, 143 Conn. 476, 479, 123 A.2d 468 [1956], and cases cited. This rule has its origin in the ancient common law. The king, being the fountainhead of justice, could not be sued in his own courts. 1 Pollock & Maitland, History of English Law (2d Ed.) pp. 514-518. However, the king as the source of justice could not well refuse to redress the wrongs done to his subjects. . . . While a petition lay [against the king] for a wide variety of actions, mostly proprietary in nature, it did not he for torts because of the hoary maxim ‘The king can do no wrong.’ Street, Governmental Liability, p. 2; Feather v. The Queen, 6 Best & Sm. 257, 295,122 Eng. Rep. 1191. . . . From this history we see that there apparently were two principles at the foundation of the proposition that the king, and subsequently the state, could not be sued without consent. One was sovereign immunity from suit and the other was sovereign immunity from liability.” (Citations omitted.)
The underpinnings of the doctrine of sovereign immunity have changed to fit modem legal needs. “A sovereign is exempt from suit, not because of any formal conception or obsolete theory, but on the logical and practical ground that there can be no legal right as
In Bergner v. State, supra, 144 Conn. 285, this court recognized the distinction between immunity from suit and immunity from liability. “There is, of course, a distinction between sovereign immunity from suit and sovereign immunity from liability. Legislative waiver of a state’s suit immunity merely establishes a remedy by which a claimant may enforce a valid claim against the state and subjects the state to the jurisdiction of the court. By waiving its immunity from liability, however, the state concedes responsibility for wrongs attributable to it and accepts liability in favor of a claimant.” Greenfield Construction Co. v. Dept. of State Highways, 402 Mich. 172, 193, 261 N.W.2d 718 (1978).
The court in Bergner concluded that a statute that explicitly waived immunity from suit should be construed as implicitly waiving immunity from liability, because, otherwise, the waiver of suit would be meaningless. Bergner v. State, supra, 144 Conn. 287. Bergner involved an action for damages against the state for the death of the plaintiffs wife, who died as a result of a fall at Norwich State Hospital. Id., 283. The plaintiff
II
The defendant in the present case claims that § 53-39a waives only immunity from liability and does not waive immunity from suit, and thus, that the plaintiffs action is barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. The plaintiff contends, in response, that § 53-39a waives immunity from both liability and suit and allows the plaintiff to bring his indemnification claim directly against the state in Superior Court. We agree with the defendant.
We begin by setting forth the standard of review that will govern our analysis of this issue. “[T]he doctrine
The threshold question of whether § 53-39a allows suit against the state presents a question of statutory interpretation. “[W]e now restate the process by which we interpret statutes as follows: The process of statutory interpretation involves a reasoned search for the intention of the legislature. ... In other words, we seek to determine, in a reasoned manner, the meaning of the statutory language as applied to the facts of [the] case, including the question of whether the language actually does apply. In seeking to determine that meaning, we look to the words of the statute itself, to the legislative history and circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter. . . . Thus, this process requires us to consider all relevant sources of the meaning of the language at issue, without having to cross any threshold or thresholds of ambiguity. Thus, we do not follow the plain meaning rule.
“In performing this task, we begin with a searching examination of the language of the statute, because that is the most important factor to be considered. In doing so, we attempt to determine its range of plausible meanings and, if possible, narrow that range to those that
“This does not mean, however, that we will not, in a given case, follow what may be regarded as the plain meaning of the language, namely, the meaning that, when the language is considered without reference to any extratextual sources of its meaning, appears to be the meaning and that appears to preclude any other likely meaning. In such a case, the more strongly the bare text supports such a meaning, the more persuasive the extratextual sources of meaning will have to be in order to yield a different meaning.” (Citations omitted; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Courchesne, 262 Conn. 537, 577-78, 816 A.2d 562 (2003).
“[B]ecause the state has permitted itself to be sued in certain circumstances, this court has recognized the well established principle that statutes in derogation of sovereign immunity should be strictly construed. . . . Where there is any doubt about their meaning or intent they are given the effect which makes the least rather than the most change in sovereign immunity. . . . Further, this court has stated that the state’s sovereign right not to be sued without its consent is not to be diminished by statute, unless a clear intention to that effect on the part of the legislature is disclosed . . . .” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) White v. Burns, 213 Conn. 307, 312-13, 567 A.2d 1195 (1990).
Our analysis begins with the text of the statute at issue. Section 53-39a provides in relevant part that “[w]henever, in any prosecution of an officer of the Division of State Police within the Department of Public
Section 53-39a contains no provision, however, allowing a suit, action, or proceeding against the state, and the statute therefore does not provide a waiver of the state’s sovereign immunity from suit. As a result, no intent concerning a waiver of immunity from suit can be inferred from the statute itself. The plaintiff, moreover, has provided us with no legislative history, and we are aware of none, suggesting that the legislature intended to waive the state’s immunity from suit when it enacted § 53-39a.
The legislature thus presumably enacted § 53-39a with knowledge of our statutes requiring any person with a claim against the state to file such claim with the state claims commissioner, seeking either payment or permission to sue the state. See General Statutes § 4-141 et seq. The claims commissioner has discretionary authority to pay or reject claims, to make recommendations to the legislature with regard to claims, and to authorize suit against the state. Specifically, the claims commissioner can approve the payment of any claim for less than $7500 in damages. General Statutes § 4-158 (a).
Moreover, General Statutes § 4-142 establishes that all claims against the state must be filed with the claims commissioner unless specifically excepted. Section 4-142 provides in relevant part that “[t]here shall be a Claims Commissioner who shall hear and determine all claims against the state except ... (2) claims upon which suit otherwise is authorized by law . . . .” (Emphasis added.) Section 53-39a does not authorize a claimant under the statute to file suit, and, therefore, the exception carved out in § 4-142 does not apply to claims under § 53-39a. The result is that the plaintiffs remedy for enforcement of his claim is with the claims commissioner.
We also look to the wording of similar statutes for assistance in interpreting § 53-39a. A review of analogous statutes demonstrates that when the legislature has intended to waive immunity from suit in other contexts, it clearly has expressed such an intent through explicit language in the text of the statute. See, e.g., General Statutes § 4-61 (a) (authorizing those who have entered into public works contract with state to “bring an action against the state”); General Statutes § 12-369 (stating that “[a]ctions may be brought against the state” for purpose of quieting title to property); General Statutes § 12-572 (f) (allowing off-track betting facility operators with contracts with state to “bring an action against the state” to settle any disputed claims under
The plaintiff claims that a waiver of immunity from suit necessarily must be implied from § 53-39a or the statute otherwise is rendered useless. We disagree. A waiver of immunity from liability is not meaningless without a concomitant waiver of immunity from suit because the claimant has recourse to file the claim with the claims commissioner. “The question whether the principles of governmental immunity from suit and liability are waived is a matter for legislative, not judicial, determination. . . . The state’s sovereign right not to be sued may be waived by the legislature, provided clear intention to that effect is disclosed by the use of express terms or by force of a necessary implication.” (Citations omitted; emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Duguay v. Hopkins, 191 Conn. 222, 228, 464 A.2d 45 (1983). A claimant under § 53-39a can enforce his or her right to indemnity without bringing suit against the state by filing the claim with the claims commissioner. This court previously has acknowledged that we find “no authority, and we know of none, standing for the proposition that recourse to the claims commissioner is an inadequate remedy as a matter of law. We reject the implied assertion that the claims commissioner would not resolve fairly a dispute against the state.” State v. Lex Associates, 248 Conn. 612, 619, 730 A.2d 38 (1999) (citing two cases in which claims com
The plaintiff also claims that by concluding that § 53-39a does not waive immunity from suit, state police troopers and local police officers—both of whom may be indemnified under the statute—will be treated differently. Municipal police officers will be able to enforce their rights under § 53-39a by filing in Superior Court an action directly against the town by which they are employed, while state troopers will have to file their claims for indemnification with the claims commissioner. The plaintiff contends that allowing this difference in the enforcement of indemnification claims under § 53-39a may result in state troopers exhibiting reluctance to engage in volatile situations so as to avoid the possibility of having to defend themselves against criminal charges.
The simple answer to this claim is that such differences in treatment already exist because of inherent differences in the nature of the governmental immunity enjoyed by municipalities as contrasted with the sovereign immunity enjoyed by the state. Governmental immunity, which applies to municipalities, is different in historical origin, scope and application from the sovereign immunity enjoyed by the state. “A suit against a municipality is not a suit against a sovereign. Towns have no sovereign immunity, and are capable of suing and being sued ... in any action. . . . Municipalities do, in certain circumstances, have a governmental immunity from liability. . . . But that is entirely different from the state’s sovereign immunity from suit . . . .” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Murphy v. Ives, 151 Conn. 259, 264, 196 A.2d 596 (1963). Consequently, persons with claims against
The trial court’s decision denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss is reversed and the case is remanded to that court with direction to grant the motion to dismiss.
In this opinion WOLLENBERG, J., concurred, and SULLIVAN, C. J., and ZARELLA, J., concurred in the result.
The department of public safety is responsible for overseeing the state police. General Statutes § 29-lb.
General Statutes § 53-39a provides: “Whenever, in any prosecution of an officer of the Division of State Police within the Department of Public Safety, or a member of the Office of State Capitol Police or any person appointed under section 29-18 as a special policeman for the State Capitol building and grounds, the Legislative Office Building and parking garage and related structures and facilities, and other areas under the supervision and control of the Joint Committee on Legislative Management, or a local police department for a crime allegedly committed by such officer in the course of his duty as such, the charge is dismissed or the officer found not guilty, such officer shall be indemnified by his employing governmental unit for economic loss sustained by him as a result of such prosecution, including the payment of any legal fees necessarily incurred.”
The defendant raised another issue on appeal: whether the trial court properly concluded that the plaintiff had an automatic right to indemnification under § 53-39a, where, although the court found that the plaintiff had been acquitted of the underlying criminal charges, the court failed to determine whether the events giving rise to the criminal charges occurred in the course of the plaintiffs duties. We do not address this issue because we conclude that the plaintiffs action is barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Both parties also briefed another issue at our request, namely, the significance of the reference to both municipal and state police officers in § 53-39a. This issue will be discussed as part of the analysis in part II of this opinion.
The plaintiff also later filed the same claim for indemnification with the claims commissioner. That claim was dismissed on November 26, 2001, because the plaintiff failed to comply with discovery requests.
“The general rule is that the denial of a motion to dismiss is an interlocutory ruling and, therefore, is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal.” Shay v. Rossi, 253 Conn. 134,164, 749 A.2d 1147 (2000). In Shay, however, we concluded that the denial of a motion to dismiss based on a colorable claim of sovereign immunity is an immediately appealable final judgment because “the order or action so concludes the rights of the parties that further proceedings cannot affect them.” Id., 164-65.
Accordingly, this opinion supersedes our previous decision in Martinez v. Dept. of Public Safety, supra, 258 Conn. 680, in its entirety.
Section 53-39a, originating as Substitute Senate Bill No. 1545, was passed on the consent calendar in both chambers of the General Assembly. See, e.g., 16 S. Proc., Pt. 8,1973 Sess., p. 3597a. As a result, there is no discussion on the floor of either chamber to guide this court in its interpretation of the statute.
General Statutes § 4-158 (a) provides in relevant part: “The Claims Commissioner may approve immediate payment of just claims not exceeding seven thousand five hundred dollars. ...”
General Statutes § 4-159 provides in relevant part: “After hearing, the Claims Commissioner shall make his recommendations to the General Assembly for the payment or rejection of amounts exceeding seven thousand five hundred dollars .... The General Assembly may (1) accept or alter any such recommendation or (2) reject any such recommendation and grant or deny the claimant permission to sue the state. . . .”
General Statutes § 4-160 (a) provides: “When the Claims Commissioner deems it just and equitable, he may authorize suit against the state on any claim which, in his opinion, presents an issue of law or fact under which the state, were it a private person, could be liable.”