Opinion ID: 2541918
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Scope of the Waiver of Sovereign Immunity Under the Board of Claims Act.

Text: The Appellants brought their claims before the Board of Claims. As a result, any award that may have been made by the Board would be paid by the state's general treasury fund. KRS 44.100. This is consistent with the Appellants' assertion that their claims are brought against the defendants in their official capacities. As indicated, the Franklin Circuit Court relied, in part, on Horn by Horn v. Commonwealth to affirm the Board of Claims' determination that claims against the AOC were subject to its jurisdiction. The Court first quoted the following portion of KRS 44.070(1) in Horn: A board of claims . . . is created and vested with full power and authority to investigate, hear proof, and to compensate persons for damages sustained to either person or property as a proximate result of negligence on the part of the Commonwealth, any of its cabinets, departments, bureaus or agencies, or any of its officers, agents or employees while acting within the scope of their employment by the Commonwealth or any of its cabinets, departments, bureaus or agencies.. . . Horn, 916 S.W.2d at 174 (quoting KRS 44.070(1)) (ellipses and emphasis added in Horn ). The Court next noted that Kentucky Constitution, section 27, provides: The powers of the government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them be confined to a separate body of magistracy, to wit: Those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another. Id. at 174-75 (quoting Ky. Const. § 27) (emphasis added). The Court reasoned that [a]s the AOC is a part of the judicial department, it follows that the AOC falls within the reach of KRS 44.070(1) and the Board of Claims. Id. at 175. On further examination of KRS 44.070(1), this Court finds that the decisive word in the statute is not departments, but is the term Commonwealth. [8] KRS 44.070(1) states, in pertinent part, that the Board of Claims is vested with full power and authority over claims as a result of negligence on the part of the Commonwealth, any of its cabinets, departments, bureaus, or agencies, or any of its officers, agents, or employees while acting within the scope of their employment by the Commonwealth or any of its cabinets, departments, bureaus, or agencies. (Emphasis added.) The term Commonwealth is an unambiguous and encompassing term. It was incorrect for the Court in Horn to gloss over the term Commonwealth and determine that the Board of Claims' jurisdiction hinged on the later-appearing term departments. The statute's ensuing enumeration of cabinets, departments, bureaus, or agencies serves to amplify the encompassing term Commonwealth; it does not detract from it. Thus, the waiver of sovereign immunity, as set forth in KRS 44.070, includes all parts of the Commonwealth that make up the whole. More concisely, the Board of Claims Act's waiver of the sovereign immunity of the Commonwealth includes the three departments into which the government of the Commonwealth is divided in the Kentucky Constitution under section 27 (i.e., the executive, the legislative, and the judicial departments of the Commonwealth). Any other construction would not give full meaning to the term Commonwealth as used in the Board of Claims Act. A waiver of sovereign immunity must be expressed in the clearest terms. Withers v. University of Kentucky, 939 S.W.2d 340, 346 (Ky.1997); see also Reyes, 55 S.W.3d at 340. This may be an exacting standard, but KRS 44.070(1) and the other sections of the Board of Claims Act which reference the Commonwealth meet such standard. Further, this Court continues to agree with its prior analysis in Horn that construing the Board of Claims' jurisdiction to extend to each of the three departments (often called branches) of the Commonwealth does not impair the separation of powers doctrine which is fundamental to Kentucky's tripartite system of state government. The limited waiver of sovereign immunity for citizens to seek redress for negligence in the performance of ministerial acts should not infringe upon the core functions of any of the three departments of the Commonwealth. Horn, 916 S.W.2d at 175-76.