Title: Morais v. Yee

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

MORAIS_V_YEE.93-100; 162 Vt. 366; 648 A.2d 405

[Opinion Filed July 15, 1994]


 NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40
 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports.
 Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Vermont Supreme
 Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of any errors in
 order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.


                                No. 93-100


 Henri Morais & Claudette Morais              Supreme Court

                                              On Appeal from
      v.                                      Washington Superior Court

 Mark Yee, et al.                             February Term, 1994


 Stephen B. Martin, J.

 Deborah T. Bucknam and Lisa A. Warren Law Clerk (On the Brief), St.
  Johnsbury, and Philip R. Waystack and Clare M. Hinkley of Waystack
  & King, Colebrook, New Hampshire, for plaintiffs-appellants

 John A. Serafino and Allan R. Keyes of Ryan Smith & Carbine, Ltd.,
  Rutland, for defendants-appellees Yee, Tupper, Vermont State Police,
  Department of Public Safety, and the State of Vermont

 David A. Barra of Hill, Unsworth, Barra & Myers, Essex Junction, for
  defendants-appellees LaPointe and Town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire


 PRESENT:  Allen, C.J., Gibson, Dooley, Morse and Johnson, JJ.


     ALLEN, C.J.   Plaintiffs Henri and Claudette Morais appeal the summary
 judgment granted to defendants in an action alleging negligence and
 violation of constitutional rights of their son, Denis Morais.  Plaintiffs
 contend that issues of material fact regarding the constitutional claims and
 defendants' entitlement to immunity from suit should have precluded the
 entry of summary judgment.  We affirm in part and reverse in part.
     On the evening of September 9, 1989, defendant Richard LaPointe, Chief
 of Police in the Town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire, received a report of an
 accident involving a single motorcycle with two passengers, one of whom was
 injured.  LaPointe was told the incident occurred on Old Canaan Road, but

 

 he was unsure whether the accident had occurred in New Hampshire or Vermont.
 He searched the New Hampshire portion of the road for accident victims, but
 found only some glass at one spot on the road.  LaPointe was continuing his
 search on Route 3 when he passed a motorcycle headed south toward the
 Vermont border.  The front wheel of the motorcycle was wobbling and the
 rider was not wearing eye protection as required under New Hampshire law.(FN1)
 Believing this to be the vehicle involved in the accident, LaPointe motioned
 the rider, Denis Morais, to stop.  Plaintiffs assert that LaPointe knew
 Morais, and offered evidence that the name "Morais" appeared in inch-high
 letters on the side of the motorcycle's gas tanks.  When Morais did not heed
 LaPointe's direction to stop, LaPointe turned on his lights and siren and
 pursued him across the bridge into Canaan, Vermont.
     Once in Vermont, defendant Mark Yee, a Vermont State Police trooper,
 joined in the chase by pulling his car between Morais and LaPointe.
 Plaintiffs assert that Yee also knew the Morais family, having spent
 considerable time in their local restaurant.  Morais led Yee and LaPointe
 along Route 114, a two-lane road.  Witnesses who saw the vehicles pass
 reported that the nearest cruiser was no more than five feet from Morais'
 motorcycle, and that Yee and LaPointe were following Morais closely and at
 too great a speed for Morais to stop safely.  Defendants maintain that they
 pursued Morais in a safe and reasonable manner.  The chase continued for
 nearly twenty-five miles at speeds variously reported between forty and
 sixty miles per hour; the chase lasted approximately one-half hour.
     At some point in the pursuit, defendant William Tupper, also a Vermont
 State Police Trooper, had been notified, and he awaited the motorcade's
 approach.  He positioned his cruiser ahead of Morais, straddling the center

 

 line of the road.  Tupper drove more slowly than the advancing vehicles, in
 what he described as an attempt "to contain the motorcycle between the
 cruisers."  Soon thereafter, they came to a sharp curve in the road.
 According to the troopers, the motorcycle tried to pass Tupper's cruiser,
 but in the process Morais lost control, left the road, and struck a rock
 outcropping, resulting in his death.
      Plaintiffs sought relief under 42 U.S.C. { 1983 (FN2) for violation of
 Morais' constitutional rights under the Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth
 Amendments to the United States Constitution, and sought recovery in
 negligence for his wrongful death.  Defendants Yee, Tupper, the State of
 Vermont, the Vermont Department of Public Safety, and the Vermont State
 Police moved for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to V.R.C.P. 12(c).
 Defendants LaPointe and the Town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire, moved for
 summary judgment pursuant to V.R.C.P. 56(c).  The motions were considered
 together as motions for summary judgment.  See V.R.C.P. 12(c).
      The trial court granted defendants summary judgment on the { 1983
 claims against the State of Vermont, the Department of Public Safety, the
 Vermont State Police, and the individual defendants in their official
 capacities, none of which are "persons" subject to liability under { 1983.
 See Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police,