Opinion ID: 2074721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Condition Precedent as a Limitation of a Right to Sue.

Text: How, then, as a matter of procedure, is the issue raised that a claimant-plaintiff has failed to comply with the notice requirement contained in § 13-905 as a condition precedent to the right to sue under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act? In Chicago Lumber Co. v. School Dist. No. 71, 227 Neb. 355, 365, 417 N.W.2d 757, 764 (1988), we stated that a district court has the power to determine whether a plaintiff in a tort action against a political subdivision was entitled to maintain its action brought under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act. Within the word entitled, found in the excerpt from Chicago Lumber, supra, is a judicial determination whether a claimant in a tort action against a political subdivision has the right to come into court for disposition of the claim. Concerning a negligence action between private parties, a plaintiff may immediately invoke judicial process to resolve a claim against the defendant and, if successful on the claim, obtain a compensatory remedy. However, as we have repeatedly stated in reference to the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, before a plaintiff may commence a negligence action against a political subdivision, a filed claim against the political subdivision is a condition precedent to commencement of the action. Thus, under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, a plaintiff does not have immediate and unrestricted access to a court for redress on account of a political subdivision's negligence, but, rather, has a qualified right to commence a negligence action, or, more simply, has a limitation on the right to commence a tort action against a political subdivision in the form of a precedent filed claim prescribed by § 13-905. From the notice requirement of § 13-905, as a condition for a plaintiff's right to commence a negligence action against a political subdivision, there emerges a correlative right for the political subdivision: the right to an opportunity for investigation of the negligence claim and possible achievement of a settlement to avoid litigation. Thus, a plaintiff's right to sue under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act is, in turn, limited by the political subdivision's right to ascertain the merits and value of the plaintiff's claim. Several courts which have considered noncompliance with a notice requirement under a governmental tort claims act have concluded that the notice requirement is a limitation on a plaintiff's right to sue under the tort act; for example, see, Pritchard v. State, 163 Ariz. 427, 788 P.2d 1178 (1990); Hill v. Middletown Bd. of Ed., 183 N.J.Super. 36, 443 A.2d 225 (1982); Ferguson v. New Mexico State Highway Com'n, 99 N.M. 194, 656 P.2d 244 (1982); Kamani v. Port of Houston Authority, 702 F.2d 612 (5th Cir.1983) (construing the Texas Tort Claims Act). As a limitation on a plaintiff's right to commence a negligence action against a political subdivision, compliance with the notice requirement of § 13-905 of the Nebraska Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act is a procedural precedent to commencement of the negligence action; hence, noncompliance with the notice is a defense to the plaintiff's action. See, Pritchard v. State, supra ; Mesolella v. City of Providence, 508 A.2d 661 (R.I. 1986); Vasys v. Metropolitan District Commission, 387 Mass. 51, 438 N.E.2d 836 (1982); Hill v. Middletown Bd. of Ed., supra ; City of Wilmington v. Spencer, 391 A.2d 199 (Del.1978); Thompson v. City of Aurora, 263 Ind. 187, 325 N.E.2d 839 (1975); Yurechko v. Allegheny Co., 430 Pa. 325, 243 A.2d 372 (1968); Kamani v. Port of Houston Authority, supra ; Bryant v. Duval County Hosp. Authority, 502 So.2d 459 (Fla.App.1986); Ferguson v. New Mexico State Highway Com'n, supra . Although noncompliance with the notice requirement affords a political subdivision a defense to a negligence action under the Nebraska Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, a general denial in the political subdivision's answer does not raise the issue of noncompliance, which must be raised as an affirmative defense specifically expressing the plaintiff's noncompliance with the notice requirement of § 13-905 of the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act. See, Pritchard v. State, supra (affirmative defense); Mesolella v. City of Providence, supra (general denial is insufficient to raise defense of noncompliance; affirmative defense must be specifically expressed); Vasys v. Metropolitan District Commission, supra (general denial is insufficient to raise defense of noncompliance; affirmative defense must be specifically expressed); Hill v. Middletown Bd. of Ed., supra (affirmative defense); City of Wilmington v. Spencer, supra (affirmative defense); Thompson v. City of Aurora, supra (general denial is insufficient to raise defense of noncompliance; affirmative defense must be specifically expressed); Yurechko v. Allegheny Co., supra (affirmative defense); Bryant v. Duval County Hosp. Authority, supra (general denial is insufficient to raise defense of noncompliance; affirmative defense must be specifically expressed). Unless a political subdivision pleads the affirmative defense of noncompliance with the notice requirement of § 13-905, the political subdivision waives the defense of noncompliance with the notice requirement. See, Mesolella v. City of Providence, supra ; Hill v. Middletown Bd. of Ed., supra ; City of Wilmington v. Spencer, supra . Some courts have viewed the right to come into court as an aspect of a plaintiff's capacity to sue. See, Keehn v. Joseph C. Mackey and Co., 420 So.2d 398 (Fla.App.1982); Friendly Village Community Assn., Inc. v. Silva & Hill Constr. Co., 31 Cal.App.3d 220, 107 Cal.Rptr. 123 (1973); Flour Mills of America, Inc. v. Pace, 75 F.R.D. 676 (E.D.Okla.1977). If the right to come into court is procedurally equated with a plaintiff's capacity to commence a suit, Nebraska has a procedure to raise the issue of a plaintiff's capacity to sue. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 25-806(2) (Reissue 1989) provides that a defendant may demur to a petition when the petition facially reflects that the plaintiff has not legal capacity to sue. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 25-808 (Reissue 1989) provides that if a plaintiff's lack of capacity is not apparent from the petition, the objection may be taken by answer, and if no objection be taken either by demurrer or answer, the defendant shall be deemed to have waived the same, except only the objection to the jurisdiction of the court, and that the petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. In Hinze v. School Dist. No. 34, 179 Neb. 69, 71, 136 N.W.2d 434, 436 (1965), this court stated that want of legal capacity to sue is waived unless raised by demurrer or answer. See, also, Ebberson v. School Dist. No. 64, 180 Neb. 119, 141 N.W.2d 452 (1966). See, further, Kuncl v. Kuncl, 99 Neb. 390, 156 N.W. 772 (1916), wherein the defendant failed to plead that the plaintiff-executrix lacked capacity to maintain an action and, on appeal, contended that the executrix could not maintain the action in which the executrix obtained a judgment from which the appeal was taken. However, this court stated in Kuncl at 391, 156 N.W. at 773: The judgment is assailed on the ground that the executrix, as such, has no right to maintain the suit.... The defense that an executrix cannot maintain an action to enforce, in favor of the estate of testator, a resulting trust against a defendant to whom the legal title to reality in controversy had been conveyed is waived unless interposed by demurrer or answer. [Citations omitted.] If a political subdivision, by an appropriately specific allegation in a demurrer or answer, raises the issue of the plaintiff's noncompliance with the notice requirement of § 13-905 of the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, the plaintiff has the burden to show compliance with the notice requirement. See Thompson v. City of Aurora, 263 Ind. 187, 325 N.E.2d 839 (1975). The procedures set forth above lend themselves to an expeditious disposition of litigation under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act. For example, if a plaintiff in a tort action against a political subdivision fails to plead compliance with the filing requirement of § 13-905, availability of a demurrer, asserting that a claim has not been filed with the political subdivision and thereby raising the notice issue, affords the court and a political subdivision an opportunity to speedily resolve the question whether a notice was actually filed, a matter collateral to the merits of the plaintiff's claim, and avoid a lengthy and perhaps costly trial on the merits of the negligence claim. Such economy in time will be welcomed by courts for the reduction of docket congestion. Political subdivisions will undoubtedly appreciate the decreased cost of defending tort litigation, including elimination of extensive and expensive discovery for a trial which need not occur. On the other hand, if a plaintiff pleads that a claim has been filed in compliance with § 13-905, the political subdivision may still preserve the notice issue, that is, whether the plaintiff did in fact file a claim, by asserting the plaintiff's noncompliance with § 13-905 as an affirmative defense specifically alleged in the political subdivision's answer. In this manner, the question whether a plaintiff has in fact filed a complaint in compliance with § 13-905 may be properly raised and preserved for disposition in a summary judgment. See Pritchard v. State, 163 Ariz. 427, 788 P.2d 1178 (1990) (summary judgment is a proper procedure to determine the question whether a plaintiff has complied with the claim-filing requirement of a tort claims act). If there were no compliance with the notice requirement, notwithstanding the allegation in Millman's pleading, the present appeal and the extensive use of discovery displayed in this case supply unimpeachable evidence proving the validity of the procedure which we have outlined above. Moreover, the information which might be provided in the Duncan claim's cursory content contained within the four corners of some document filed with the county pales in the reality of comparison with the information actually obtained by the county through the proceedings. When Butler County failed to assert its defensive statutory right to the pre-action opportunity available to a political subdivision, the county rendered the notice requirement immaterial as an issue and eliminated the necessity of proof that Millman had complied with the notice requirement as a condition for commencement of the lawsuit based on the county's alleged negligence in Duncan's death.