Opinion ID: 883232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: ISSUE VI: Governmental Immunity.

Text: Is the Department immune from tort liability for its failure to protect R.M.? In its Cross-Appeal, the Department argues that it is immune from tort liability for two reasons. First, it contends that the acts of approval for adoption, foster placement and investigation of the child abuse report were quasi-judicial functions in which the Department was acting in a quasi-judicial capacity and, therefore, the District Court should have dismissed the tort claim against it because the Department was acting in a discretionary capacity concerning the placement of R.M. in the Kuipers' home. Second, it argues that it is immune from tort liability based on the language of § 41-3-203, MCA, which grants immunity to persons investigating or reporting incidents of child abuse or neglect under §§ 41-3-201 or 41-3-202, MCA. This Court has addressed and clarified the concept of quasi-judicial immunity in several cases. In Koppen v. Board of Medical Examiners (1988), 233 Mont. 214, 219, 759 P.2d 173, 176, we stated that the Board of Medical Examiners was a quasi-judicial body because of the nature of its vested discretion to determine whether or not to adjudicate an alleged violation by a licensee. However, the Board of Medical Examiners was subject to the notice and hearing requirements of the Montana Administrative Procedure Act (MAPA), § 2-4-101, MCA, et seq., and its decisions were subject to judicial review  key aspects of our ruling that the Board of Medical Examiners was a quasi-judicial body and absolutely immune in the exercise of that determination. Koppen, 759 P.2d at 176. In so holding, we cited Butz v. Economou (1978), 438 U.S. 478, 513-14, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2914, 57 L.Ed.2d 895, 920: We think that adjudication within a federal administrative agency shares enough of the characteristics of the judicial process that those who participate in such adjudication should also be immune from suits for damages. The Butz court characterized quasi-judicial immunity as a logical descendant of prosecutorial immunity. The significance of that analogy is that immunity in both circumstances is based on the nature of the functions carried out by agencies or officials. Butz, 438 U.S. at 511-16, 98 S.Ct. at 2913-15, 57 L.Ed.2d at 919-22. Thus, unlike the Board of Medical Examiners in Koppen, in State Bd. of Dentistry v. Kandarian (1991), 248 Mont. 444, 813 P.2d 409, the Board of Dentistry was proceeding against a nonlicensee under § 37-4-328(3), MCA, which did not require an administrative hearing before the Board of Dentistry under MAPA. The Board was acting in its capacity as an executive agency seeking an injunction in the district court, thereby putting itself in the role of litigant or advocate, not adjudicator. Kandarian, 813 P.2d at 412. The Board of Dentistry argued for immunity similar to prosecutorial immunity. We emphasized that there were procedural safeguards inherent in the prosecutorial system which acted as a check on the prosecutor's independence and which were not present in that case. Kandarian, 813 P.2d at 412. In Koppen, 759 P.2d at 176, the Court summarized Butz and two Montana opinions, Ronek v. Gallatin County (1987), 227 Mont. 514, 740 P.2d 1115, cert. denied, 485 U.S. 962, 108 S.Ct. 1226, 99 L.Ed.2d 426, and State ex rel. Dept. of Justice v. District Court (1977), 172 Mont. 88, 560 P.2d 1328, as follows: [They] stand for the proposition that entities called upon to function judicially should be immunized in order to facilitate the proper execution of their duties. However, the basis for these decisions ... is the common law. Thus, our decisions governing tort liability of governmental agencies provide that a governmental entity may be immune from tort liability if it committed a tort while performing a quasi-judicial function even when the governmental unit is not characterized as a quasi-judicial entity. We addressed this issue at some length in State ex rel. Workers' Compensation Division v. District Court (hereinafter Great Western Sugar ) (1990), 246 Mont. 225, 805 P.2d 1272. We said that the core determination for immunity to apply to the function of the agency there was that it be quasi-judicial rather than administrative or ministerial, noting that our prior decisions had clouded the distinction. Section 2-15-102(9), MCA, of MAPA defines quasi-judicial function as: Quasi-judicial function means an adjudicatory function exercised by an agency, involving the exercise of judgment and discretion in making determinations in controversies.... In Great Western Sugar, 805 P.2d at 1277, we further clarified this as follows: ... Here, the statutory scheme mandates that the Division at least review a self-insurer's financial condition. Admittedly the statutes and administrative rules grant the Division discretion in renewing GW's application as a plan No. 1 self-insurer. However, in this case the Division never exercised this discretion to determine GW's eligibility to self-insure its risk under plan no. 1. Rather, there was an admitted complete failure by the Division to undertake any of the review necessary to made such a determination. Thus, the negligence occurred at a stage where the Division's function was entirely ministerial: (Emphasis supplied.) Official action, the result of performing a certain specific duty arising from designated facts, is a ministerial act.... Another way of expressing the same thought is that a duty is to be regarded as ministerial when it is a duty that has been positively imposed by law, and its performance required at a time and in a manner, or upon conditions which are specifically designated; the duty to perform under the conditions specified not being dependent upon the officer's judgment or discretion.... And that a necessity may exist for the ascertainment, from personal knowledge or from information derived from other sources, of those facts or conditions, upon the existence or fulfillment of which, the performance of the act becomes a clear and specific duty, does not operate to convert the act into one judicial in its nature.  (Emphasis in original.) The discretion afforded by the statutes and rules in this case was never exercised, rather, the Division breached its underlying duty, mandated by the statutory scheme for plan no. 1 insurance, to investigate GW's eligibility to self-insure. Such act was purely ministerial ... and cannot be a basis for invoking quasi-judicial immunity: Accordingly, to be entitled to immunity the state must make a showing that such a policy decision, consciously balancing risks and advantages, took place. The fact that an employee normally engages in discretionary activity is irrelevant if, in a given case, the employee did not render a considered decision.... (Citations omitted.) We then noted that our analysis was limited to common-law quasi-judicial immunity, but that the exercise of judgment and discretion required by § 2-15-102(9), MCA, of MAPA to invoke immunity was analogous to the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a), under which the FTCA does not waive immunity for claims based on negligence of governmental employees exercising or performing discretionary functions of a federal agency, regardless of whether the discretion is abused. Great Western Sugar, 805 P.2d at 1277-78. In Berkovitz v. United States (1988), 486 U.S. 531, 536, 108 S.Ct. 1958-59, 100 L.Ed.2d 531, 540-41, the United States Supreme Court said immune acts must involve permissible exercise of policy discretion: [T]he discretionary function exception will not apply when a federal statute, regulation, or policy specifically prescribes a course of action for an employee to follow. In this event, the employee has no rightful option but to adhere to the directive. And if the employee's conduct cannot appropriately be the product of judgment or choice, then there is no discretion in the conduct for the discretionary function exception to protect. Both in Great Western Sugar and as recognized by the District Court in this case, there was a failure of the agency to follow procedures that would enable the agency to make a decision: The duties imposed by the statutory scheme on the Division's employee were purely investigative, ministerial and administrative. Because the Division failed to perform its duty to review or examine GW's application as prescribed by statute, and because simply performing this duty does not involve the use of quasi-judicial discretion, the Division is not protected by quasi-judicial immunity at this stage. The Division has simply not functioned as such under these facts. Great Western Sugar, 805 P.2d at 1278. The Department is required by statute to license and train foster care providers and to investigate adoptive homes. See § 41-3-1103(b) and (d), MCA; § 41-3-1142, MCA; and § 41-3-202(1) and (2), MCA. We conclude the Department, at all times leading up to the tort sued upon in this case, was acting ministerially. The conclusion we reach in classifying the Department's actions is significant only if quasi-judicial immunity can only attach to a quasi-judicial body which is carrying out the function. Great Western Sugar, 805 P.2d at 1276, which controls here, provides in pertinent part: We conclude that immunity does not attach because the Division is not expressly designated a quasi-judicial board, see § 2-15-124, MCA, see generally Title 2, Chapter 15, MCA, nor was it performing a quasi-judicial function as will be discussed below.... The Department in this case was not a statutorily-designated quasi-judicial board. Great Western Sugar, 805 P.2d at 1277-78, provides that immunity is not confined to entities which are statutorily-designated as quasi-judicial boards. Gerber v. Commissioner of Ins. (1990), 242 Mont. 369, 371-72, 786 P.2d 1199, 1200-01, provides further clarification that quasi-judicial immunity may apply beyond the context of a quasi-judicial board as the Insurance Commissioner is not designated accordingly, yet the Insurance Commissioner may be afforded quasi-judicial immunity for quasi-judicial functions. For example, in Gerber, the Insurance Commissioner's method of conducting an investigation was protected by quasi-judicial immunity because the applicable statutes expressly designated investigations as discretionary acts. Gerber, 786 P.2d at 1200-01. See also Trout v. Bennett (1992), 252 Mont. 416, 427, 830 P.2d 81, 88. We agree with the Department that immunity may apply to the exercise of a quasi-judicial function where there is no statutorily-designated quasi-judicial board involved in the action. However, like the Workers' Compensation Division in Great Western Sugar, the Department here was not carrying on an investigation of the sort which is granted immunity such as one that is a part of a contested case hearing; it is not entitled to immunity when it is not a quasi-judicial body carrying out a quasi-judicial function. We conclude the Department was not acting in a quasi-judicial role in its actions in this case. There was no contested case hearing involved, nor was there any other adversarial type of proceeding. In addition, the Department's actions were not discretionary, but were mandated by statute and were ministerial and administrative in nature. The Department's second argument relating to immunity is that it is granted statutory immunity by § 41-3-203, MCA, which provides immunity for persons required to report and investigate child abuse under the provisions of §§ 41-3-201 and 41-3-202, MCA. This immunity is not intended for the Department; rather, it is intended to protect individuals such as teachers, doctors, and psychologists who are required to report suspected abuse. The stated public policy of Montana is to provide for the protection of children whose health and welfare are or may be adversely affected and further threatened by the conduct of those responsible for their care and protection. Section 41-3-101(2), MCA. We conclude that § 41-3-203, MCA, also does not immunize the Department from tort liability. We hold the Department is not immune from tort liability for its failure to protect R.M. in this case.