Title: Gorrell v. City of Parsons
Citation: 223 Kan. 645, 576 P.2d 616
Docket Number: 48,509
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: April 1, 1978

223 Kan. 645 (1978)
576 P.2d 616
NED B. GORRELL and ANN J. GORRELL, Appellants,
v.
CITY OF PARSONS, KANSAS, Appellee.
No. 48,509

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed April 1, 1978.
Charles F. Forsyth, of Fleming &amp; Forsyth, of Erie, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellant.
Richard C. Dearth, of Parsons, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
MILLER, J.:
This is a direct appeal by the plaintiffs, Ned B. Gorrell and his wife, Ann J. Gorrell, from an order of the Labette District Court granting summary judgment to the defendant, the City of Parsons, on its motion. Plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in entering summary judgment when there were contested issues of fact, and that the court erred in applying the doctrine of governmental immunity.
We deem it necessary to set forth in some detail the factual background, as reflected in the pleadings and the answers to interrogatories which were on file at the time summary judgment was entered.
Dr. and Mrs. Gorrell owned and made their home upon a tract of approximately 12 acres within the city limits of the City of Parsons. Shortly before noon on January 22, 1975, Mrs. Gorrell discovered that several city employees had driven onto her lawn, where they were cutting her trees. Mrs. Gorrell asked them to stop, since they were illegally on her property and they had no right to cut her trees. The men refused to stop, saying that they were following the written orders of their boss. Mrs. Gorrell demanded that they leave her property immediately; the men refused to do so, and continued cutting her trees. Mrs. Gorrell *646 then called the city manager, but was told that he was too busy to talk to anyone that day, and that she should call the park department. She did so, but no one answered the phone. She again called the city manager's office, and was referred to a Mr. Freeburg. She told him what was happening, but got no response. The crew continued to cut plaintiffs' trees.
At midafternoon she reached the mayor. He called the city manager and arranged for the city manager to go to the Gorrell property at five o'clock that afternoon, but he took no action to stop the city crew from continuing with the destruction of plaintiffs' trees. At five o'clock the city manager appeared at plaintiffs' home, checked a right of way marker, and acknowledged to Mrs. Gorrell that the trees were on her property, not on the right of way, and that the cutting was wrongful. He made various promises.
Thereafter, Dr. and Mrs. Gorrell counted the stumps, secured an estimate of the damage, and wrote to the city manager; there was no immediate response; later, city officials suggested they wait until fall, some nine or ten months after the occurrence. Finally, after much runaround, plaintiffs consulted counsel and learned that they must file a claim within six months. They filed a claim on July 8, seeking $9,236.50 for the 104 trees cut by the city employees on January 22. The City rejected the claim, and this action followed.
The petition, filed July 30, 1975, describes the real estate, alleges ownership, recites the factual background, the damages, the filing and rejection of the claim, and seeks actual damages of $9,236.50, plus punitive damages of $10,000.
The answer  in spite of the admonitions of K.S.A. 60-208(b) and K.S.A. 60-211  contains a broad general denial of every factual allegation contained in the petition. In addition, it alleges that the petition fails to state a "cause of action" upon which relief may be granted; that the City is immune from this suit by virtue of the doctrine of governmental immunity; and that plaintiffs failed to properly comply with K.S.A. 12-105, as amended, compliance being a condition precedent to bringing an action.
The City filed motions to dismiss and for summary judgment. The motion to dismiss was based, inter alia, upon the contention that plaintiffs' claim failed to comply with K.S.A. 12-105, apparently on the basis that although the claim stated the date of the *647 alleged occurrence, it failed to state the time of day each tree was felled. We need consider this claim no further, except to state that the statute does not require such detail, and the statement of the date was a patently sufficient statement of the time of the happening, and the City could not be misled by the claim. Cook v. Topeka, 75 Kan. 534, 536, 90 Pac. 244 (1907).
The motion for summary judgment alleged that the acts complained of in the petition were governmental in nature, and that the City is not liable for acts of its officers and employees in the performance of a governmental function under the doctrine of governmental immunity. The City also sought to limit the amount of plaintiffs' prayer to actual damages, since punitive damages were not sought in the claim filed with the City. By their briefs and argument, plaintiffs have now abandoned any claim for punitive damages, and that is no longer an issue.
Interrogatories were answered by plaintiffs, briefs were filed, and the motion for summary judgment was submitted to the trial court. On June 28, 1976, the court granted the City's motion for summary judgment, and entered judgment in favor of the City. In its Memorandum of Decision, the court said:
We acknowledge that it has long been the rule in this state that a municipality is not liable for the negligent acts of its officers or employees in the performance of a governmental function, unless such liability is expressly imposed by law. Exceptions engrafted onto this general rule include the imposition of liability (1) where the city creates or maintains a nuisance; (2) where its negligent *648 and wrongful acts occur when it is acting in a proprietary capacity; (3) where it negligently fails to keep its streets reasonably safe for public use; and (4) where it has purchased liability insurance to cover the causal negligence. Grantham v. City of Topeka, 196 Kan. 393, 397-398, 411 P.2d 634 (1966); Bribiesca v. City of Wichita, 221 Kan. 571, 561 P.2d 816 (1977); Sly v. Board of Education, 213 Kan. 415, 516 P.2d 895 (1973); Culwell v. Abbott Construction Co., 211 Kan. 359, 506 P.2d 1191 (1973); Gardner v. McDowell, 202 Kan. 705, 451 P.2d 501 (1969); Paul v. Topeka Township Sewage District, 199 Kan. 394, 430 P.2d 228 (1967); Grover v. City of Manhattan, 198 Kan. 307, 424 P.2d 256 (1967); Rose v. Board of Education, 184 Kan. 486, 337 P.2d 652 (1959); Steifer v. City of Kansas City, 175 Kan. 794, 267 P.2d 474 (1954); Rhodes v. City of Kansas City, 167 Kan. 719, 208 P.2d 275 (1949); Wray v. City of Independence, 150 Kan. 258, 92 P.2d 84 (1939); and Eikenberry v. Township of Bazaar, 22 Kan. 556 (2d ed. 389) (1879). The origin and history of the immunity doctrine, its adoption and application in Kansas, and the exceptions created to temper the harshness of its application, are discussed in detail by Chief Justice Fatzer in Brown v. Wichita State University, 217 Kan. 279, 291, 292, 540 P.2d 66 (1975), modified on reh. 219 Kan. 2, 547 P.2d 1015 (1976), app. dis. 429 U.S. 806, 50 L. Ed. 2d 67, 97 S. Ct. 41 (1976). We need not repeat that discussion here.
It is interesting to note, however, that prior to statehood, a contrary view was expressed by the Territorial Supreme Court. Associate Justice Joseph Williams, speaking for a unanimous court in City of Leavenworth v. Casey, 1 Kan. (2d ed.) 544, 549 [McCahon * 124, 130] (1860), said:
The doctrine of governmental or sovereign immunity, as noted *649 in Brown, supra, and in Carroll v. Kittle, 203 Kan. 841, 847, 457 P.2d 21 (1969) is of judicial origin. The legislature enacted a general governmental immunity statute, K.S.A. 46-901, et seq., following our decision in Carroll, but the provisions of that act are inapplicable to municipal governments. K.S.A. 46-902. The immunity of municipalities, then, rests upon judicial decision and not upon the constitution or statutory enactment.
We have expressed our dissatisfaction with the governmental immunity doctrine and its inequities in Brown and Carroll. In Brown, we said:
Likewise, the distinction between governmental and proprietary functions provides no sound basis for dispensing or denying justice. The observation by Justice (now Chief Justice) Schroeder in Wendler v. City of Great Bend, 181 Kan. 753, 758, 316 P.2d 265 (1957), illustrates the inequity:
Turning to the case at hand, and applying  or attempting to apply  the governmental-proprietary distinction to the outrageous conduct of the City disclosed by the record before us, it would appear that plaintiffs' tort action would not lie if the destruction was wrought by a repair crew from the city street department; it would lie if the crew worked for the municipal light plant; it would not lie if the crew worked for the city sewer department; it would lie if the crew came from the city gas department; it would not lie if the crew came from the park department or the zoo. Possible illustrations and variations are endless. We note that the record before us does not disclose the city department or agency, if any, by which the tree-cutters were employed. The City's unverified motion alleges that "the acts complained of in plaintiffs' petition are governmental in nature..." The claim is not further explained.
*650 Property is as completely destroyed, people are as seriously injured, losses are as great, whether caused by a street department employee, a municipal light plant employee, a sewer department employee, a gas serviceman, or a park, zoo, or sanitation worker. We can see no just reason for granting immunity to the municipality in the one instance and denying it in the other. Certainly the resulting impact on the injured person is not in anywise reasoned or fair.
We conclude that the rule that a municipality is not liable for the negligent acts of its officers and employees in the performance of a "governmental" function should be abolished. It does not promote justice, and serves no rational purpose.
In its stead, we hold that municipalities are immune from tort liability only for acts and omissions constituting the exercise of a legislative or judicial function, or constituting the exercise of an administrative function involving the making of a basic policy decision. This rule, adapted from Restatement (Second), Torts § 895 C (1973 Tent. Draft) does not establish liability for acts or omissions which are otherwise privileged or are not tortious. Instead, it places municipalities, for the most part, on an equal footing with individuals and corporate entities so far as responsibility for injuries or damage caused by negligence is concerned. We believe this rule will better serve the citizens of this state.
All prior opinions of this court in conflict with this decision are overruled.
The judgment of the district court is reversed.