Opinion ID: 1802251
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Contract for Treatment

Text: Appellants' first claim is that SRH entered into a contract for treatment with Helen Womble and thereby waived its immunity from suit for breach of that contract. For support, appellants point to Miss. State Dept. of Public Welfare v. Howie, 449 So.2d 772 (Miss. 1984). In Howie, the Court held that when the legislature authorizes the state's entry into a contract, the state necessarily waives its immunity from suit for breach of that contract. 449 So.2d at 777. Appellants also direct the Court's attention to Cig Contractors v. Mississippi State Building Commission, 399 So.2d 1352 (Miss. 1981), where Justice Walker, writing for the Court, expressed that he doubt[ed] seriously that this court would uphold a claim of sovereign immunity in contractual matters between a subdivision of the State and individuals doing business with it. Cig at 1355. He stated in addition that: Where the state has lawfully entered into a business contract with an individual, the obligations and duties of the contract should be mutually binding and reciprocal. There is no mutuality or fairness where a state or county can enter into an advantageous contract and accept its benefits but refuse to perform its obligations. Id. Howie presented a scenario where the Mississippi State Department of Public Welfare was found to be a holdover tenant on a landlord's property. The landlord sued for specific performance of an implied lease renewal and rent in arrears based on the renewal. The Department of Public Welfare had been authorized by the Legislature's Capitol Commission to enter into a lease agreement on the property. The State attempted to invoke the doctrine of sovereign immunity to shield itself. In Cig, Cig Contractors, Inc. and the Mississippi State Building Commission entered into a contract on February 17, 1975, calling for Cig to construct a portion of a chemistry building at the University of Mississippi. 399 So.2d at 1353. Cig was responsible for the concrete, masonry, and general contracting work on the project. The contract specified that Owner will provide soils testing and inspection service for quality control testing during earthwork operations. Id. at 1354. The suit claimed that the Building Commission had breached its duty to test and inspect the soil and that such breach required Cig to remove and reconstruct portions of work they had already completed. Cig sued the Building Commission for the incremental cost of the work that had to be reperformed. The lower court granted summary judgment to the Building Commission on the basis of sovereign immunity. This Court reversed and remanded, holding that the Building Commission could be held liable for its breaches of contract. Id. at 1355. This Court has ruled unequivocally in the past that suits grounded in tort are barred from prosecution against the State and its agencies by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Employers Insurance of Wausau v. Mississippi State Highway Commission, 575 So.2d 999, 1002 (Miss. 1990); and Strait v. Pat Harrison Waterway District, 523 So.2d 36, 40 (Miss. 1988). In Strait v. Pat Harrison Waterway District, 523 So.2d 36, 41 (Miss. 1988), the appellant sued the waterway district to recover for injuries she sustained while patronizing a waterslide amusement park operated by the district. 523 So.2d at 36-37. At trial, the appellant proceeded solely on a negligence theory. Id. at 41. On appeal, the appellant attempted to argue that the Pat Harrison Waterway District entered into a business relationship, contractual in nature with the appellant, and that by accepting the benefits of that relationship, the District incurred binding contractual duties. The Court refused to hear the claim, because it had not been raised in the lower court. Id. In Employers Insurance of Wausau v. Mississippi State Highway Commission, 575 So.2d 999 (Miss. 1990), the Mississippi State Highway Commission contracted with Cook Construction to resurface a portion of a highway in Mississippi. Cook was insured by Employers Insurance of Wausau. The contract required Cook to apply a pavement mixture designed and manufactured in accordance with plans and specifications provided by the Commission. Cook followed the plans and specifications of the Commission in manufacturing the pavement mixture, but the mixture was defective, resulting in an unreasonably slick highway. Due to this condition, three different automobiles on three different occasions had accidents causing severe injuries to three individuals. Each of these three individuals either filed suit against Cook, or made demand on Cook for personal injury damages. Cook's liability insurance carriers, which included Employers Insurance of Wausau, reached compromise settlements with these individuals, and were assigned their respective claims against the Commission. Wausau and the other carrier brought suit against the Mississippi State Highway Commission, alleging among other things that the Commission had breached an implied contractual warranty that plans and specifications provided by the Commission to Cook for resurfacing the highway would provide a reasonably safe highway. The Court held that Wausau, as assignee of the rights of the three injured individuals, could not maintain a suit on the contract between the Commission and Cook. 575 So.2d 1001. The only recourse the injured persons had against the Commission were actions which sounded in tort. Id. Wausua could only stand in the same shoes as those whose claims it asserted. Id. Therefore, the Court ruled that Warsau's actions were barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Id. The claim of the appellants here is essentially that the hospital failed to exercise due care in performing its contractual duty to provide treatment for the decedent Helen Womble. It possesses both tort and contractual characteristics. The facts of this case are such, however, that it does not become necessary to address on whether the claim asserted here by appellants is more analogous to those asserted in Howie and Cig or those asserted in Employers Insurance of Wausau and Strait. In this case, § 41-13-11 of the Mississippi Code contains a mandate expressly stipulating that: Except to the extent provided in subsection (2) of this section ... each owner or board of trustees .. . shall not be liable for and shall be immune from suit at law or in equity on account of any wrongful or tortious act or omission by any such governmental entity or its employees relating to or in connection with any activity or operation of any such community hospital, notwithstanding that any such act or omission constitutes or may be considered as the exercise or failure to exercise any duty, obligation or function of a governmental, proprietary, discretionary or ministerial nature and notwithstanding that such act or omission may or may not arise out of any activity, transaction or service for which any fee, charge, cost or other consideration was received or expected to be received in exchange therefor. (emphasis supplied) Miss.Code § 41-13-11 (1972). Section 41-13-11 clearly seeks to exempt county hospitals from liability for actions which may fail to meet a prescribed duty. The statutory language notwithstanding that such act or omission may or may not arise out of any activity, transaction or service for which any fee, charge, cost, or other consideration was received or expected to be received in exchange therefor also evinces a clear intent on the part of the legislature to apply the immunity to duties which arise by way of contract. There were no analogous statutes expressly protecting the State Department of Public Welfare in Howie or the State Building Commission in Cig. We find that distinction to be critical. Therefore, we hold today that where the Legislature has manifested a clear intent to immunize the agencies of the State from suits which arise out of the alleged failures by the agency to fulfill duties implicit in a contractual relationship, that policy will be applied by this Court to bar suits in contract as well as in tort.