Title: Carbon County School Dist. No. 2 v. Wyoming State Hosp.

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Carbon County School Dist. No. 2 v. Wyoming State Hosp.1984 WY 44680 P.2d 773Case Number: 83-179Decided: 05/02/1984CARBON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 2, APPELLANT (PLAINTIFF),

v.

THE WYOMING STATE HOSPITAL, DR. WILLIAM N. KARN, JR., SUPERINTENDENT OF THE WYOMING STATE HOSPITAL, AND MEMBERS OF THE STAFF OF THE WYOMING STATE HOSPITAL, HEREIN REFERRED TO AS JOHN DOE AND JANE DOE, APPELLEES (DEFENDANTS).

Supreme Court of Wyoming
CARBON COUNTY SCHOOL 
DISTRICT NO. 2, APPELLANT (PLAINTIFF),

v.

THE WYOMINGSTATEHOSPITAL, DR. WILLIAM N. KARN, JR., 
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE WYOMINGSTATEHOSPITAL, AND MEMBERS OF THE STAFF OF THE WYOMINGSTATEHOSPITAL, HEREIN REFERRED TO AS JOHN DOE 
AND JANE DOE, APPELLEES (DEFENDANTS).

Appeal from the District 
Court, LaramieCounty, Joseph F. Maier, 
J.

George E. 
Powers, Jr., of Godfrey & Sundahl, Cheyenne, for appellant.

A.G. McClintock, 
Atty. Gen., Gerald A. Stack, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Allen C. Johnson, Sr. Asst. 
Atty. Gen., for 
appellees.

Before ROONEY, C.J., and THOMAS, ROSE, BROWN and 
CARDINE, JJ.

ROONEY, Chief 
Justice.

[¶1.]     This appeal is from an 
order dismissing the complaint of appellant under Rule 12(b)(6), W.R.C.P., for 
failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted inasmuch as 
appellant school district did not have standing to sue appellee state agency for 
a tort or to sue its agents for a tort committed while they were acting in the 
scope of their employment.

[¶2.]     We 
affirm.

[¶3.]     For the purposes of 
acting on a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the court must accept the 
facts alleged in the complaint as true. Moxley v. Laramie Builders, Inc., 
Wyo., 600 P.2d 733, 734 (1979). The district court summarized these facts as 
follows:

"* * * one John Lambert 
committed an act of arson on November 23, 1980, the fire he set destroying an 
elementary school located in Hanna, Wyoming, the property of the plaintiff 
school district; that Mr. Lambert was an individual who has been in the Wyoming 
State Hospital for treatment and care both voluntarily and involuntarily at 
various times in 1976, 1979, 1980 and 1982, that he has a long history of 
mental, behavioral and physical illness characterized by repeated examples of 
antisocial, destructive acts, including acts of arson and was known or should 
have been known to constitute a danger to the safety of persons and properties 
of others as well as of himself; that he was admitted to the Wyoming State 
Hospital by a voluntary commitment on or about January 30, 1980 and was allowed 
to return to his home for a visit on October 9, 1980, which visit was to have 
terminated on October 14, 1980 with his return to the Wyoming State Hospital; 
that on October 10, 1980, the mother of John W. Lambert informed the staff of 
the Wyoming State Hospital that she was discontinuing the medication which had 
been prescribed for his treatment, and that on October 14, 1980, he did not 
return to the Wyoming State Hospital but remained in his home town of Hanna, 
Wyoming; that on October 24, 1980, he was given a complete discharge from the 
Wyoming State Hospital and no provision was made for follow-up study, evaluation 
of his mental or medical status, continuation of necessary medication or course 
of treatment, care or observation and no notice of the discharge was made to any 
local authorities; that notice of the claim of the plaintiff was filed with the 
state auditor's office on October 20, 1982 and also mailed to Dr. Karn, 
superintendent of the state hospital and Dale MacDonald, business manager of the 
state hospital, on October 20, 1982; specifically, the plaintiff alleges that 
Dr. Karn as superintendent of the defendant state hospital violated his duty to 
exercise reasonable care when he permitted, allowed, authorized, acquiesed [sic] 
in, or participated in the discharge of John W. Lambert at a time when he knew, 
should have known, or was chargeable with the knowledge that John W. Lambert 
posed an unreasonable risk of injury to the persons and property of others as 
well as of himself."

[¶4.]     Our holding in State v. Board of County Commissioners of 
Johnson County, Wyo., 
642 P.2d 456 (1982), is controlling in this case. In the JohnsonCounty case, we held 
that:

"A county is a political 
or civil division of the state, created to aid in the administration of 
government.

* * * * * 
*

"Accordingly, the County 
cannot sue the State, its creator, in the absence of a specific constitutional 
or statutory provision authorizing such an action. * * *

* * * * * 
*

"* * * Counties are not 
sovereign entities. * * * They are part of the state itself. One cannot sue 
himself. * * *

* * * * * 
*

"* * * The County being a 
division of the State, it cannot sue the State." Id. at 457, 458.

[¶5.]     In its opinion letter 
the trial court cited and quoted from Wyoming cases and from encyclopedia 
definitions and descriptions of "school districts" and "counties"1 in reaching the conclusion that: 

"In the light of all the 
previous text discussions and definitions of counties and school districts, it 
appears difficult, if not impossible, to make a distinction between counties and 
school districts for the purpose of permitting one, but not the other, to 
maintain a suit against the state. Both are defined as subdivisions of the 
state, created by the state, for the purpose of better administering the 
policies of the state within certain governmental 
functions."

We agree. School 
districts are political subdivisions of the state. They are part of the state 
itself. West v. School District No. 9, 
PlatteCounty, 37 Wyo. 36, 258 P. 583 
(1927).

[¶6.]     AppelleeWyomingStateHospital is an agency of 
the state created by statute at the mandate of the state constitution. See § 
25-1-201, W.S. 1977; Art. 7, § 18, Wyoming Constitution.

[¶7.]     Appellant contends that 
it is given standing in this case by the Wyoming Governmental Claim Act, §§ 
1-39-101 through 1-39-119, W.S. 1977, Cum.Supp. 1983. Appellant argues that such 
is a "specific * * * statutory provision authorizing such an action," as 
required by the language in State v. 
Board of County Commissioners of Johnson County, supra, 
viz:

"* * * County cannot sue 
the State, its creator, in the absence of a specific constitutional or statutory 
provision authorizing such an action." 642 P.2d  at 458.

However, the 
Wyoming Governmental Claim Act is a general waiver of immunity (with certain 
exceptions) for torts committed by state agencies or public employees acting 
within the scope of their duties.

[¶8.]     The action here does 
not fail because of the existence of sovereign or governmental immunity, it 
fails on the simple premise that, regardless of immunity, a school district may 
not sue the state, its creator and of which it is a part, in tort. One cannot 
sue himself. Accordingly, the Wyoming Governmental Claim Act has no relevancy to 
this matter.

[¶9.]     The principles here set 
forth do not apply to actions to have statutes construed and to determine 
correlative rights between agencies of the state, between such agencies and the 
state itself, and between the state and officers of the state. Town of Pine Bluffs v. State Board of 
Equalization, 79 Wyo. 262, 333 P.2d 700 (1958); Washakie County School District Number One 
v. Herschler, Wyo., 606 P.2d 310, cert. denied 449 U.S. 824, 101 S. Ct. 86, 
66 L. Ed. 2d 28 (1980); Goshen County 
Community College District v. School District No. 2, Goshen County, Wyo., 
399 P.2d 64 (1965).

[¶10.]  Affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1 Such cases and 
encyclopedia references are: Powder River 
Cattle Co. v. Board of County Commissioners of Johnson County, 3 Wyo. 597, 
29 P. 361 (1892); Geraud v. Schrader, 
Wyo., 531 P.2d 872, cert. denied 423 U.S. 904, 96 S. Ct. 205, 46 L. Ed. 2d 134 
(1975); Goshen County Community College 
District v. School District No. 2, Goshen County, Wyo., 399 P.2d 64 (1965); 
20 C.J.S. Counties, §§ 1 and 320; 78 C.J.S. Schools and School Districts, § 24; 
Albany County v. Hooker, 204 N.Y. 1, 
97 N.E. 403 (1912); 79 C.J.S. Schools and School Districts, § 429; 56 Am.Jur.2d, 
Municipal Corporations, Counties, and Other Political Subdivisions, §§ 5, 12 and 
13.