Opinion ID: 2514412
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Did the District Court Err in Dismissing the Complaint as to Rich County?

Text: 1. Did the district court err in holding that the claim against Rich County was barred by the failure to give timely notice of a tort claim under the Idaho Tort Claims Act? Almost one year after the accident, the Plaintiff gave Rich County a notice of tort claim. The district court held that the notice was untimely under Idaho Tort Claims Act. Idaho Code § 6-906 requires that all claims against a political subdivision or its employee arising under the provisions of the Act must be filed with the clerk of the political subdivision within one hundred eighty days. The term political subdivision is defined to include any county. I.C. § 6-902(2). The district court held that the words any county were not state specific and would include Rich County, Utah. In so holding, the district court erred. The Idaho Tort Claims Act is a legislative waiver of the State of Idaho's sovereign immunity. Dunbar v. United Steelworkers of America, 100 Idaho 523, 529, 602 P.2d 21, 27 (1979). Idaho has no power to waive the sovereign immunity of another state. The Act makes every governmental entity subject to liability for money damages in tort under specified circumstances. I.C. § 6-903(a). A governmental entity is defined as the state and political subdivisions as herein defined. I.C. § 6-902(3). The word state means the state of Idaho or any office, department, agency, authority, commission, board, institution, hospital, college, university or other instrumentality thereof. I.C. § 6-902(1). In the context of the Act, the term political subdivision means a political subdivision of the State of Idaho, not a political subdivision of another state. The Act by its terms does not apply to other states or their political subdivisions. Prior to the appeal in Athay I, Rich County asked the district court to apply Utah law under the doctrine of comity. The district court refused to do so, and Rich County did not appeal that ruling. In a petition for rehearing, Rich County asks this Court to apply, under the doctrine of comity, either the Idaho Tort Claims Act or Utah law. It contends that there is a basis for dismissing the claim as to it under either state's law. Both parties have briefed the issue of comity, and we will address it. Comity refers to the spirit of cooperation in which a domestic tribunal approaches the resolution of cases touching the laws and interests of other sovereign states. Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale v. United States Dist. Ct., 482 U.S. 522, 543 n. 27, 107 S.Ct. 2542, 2555 n. 27, 96 L.Ed.2d 461, 483 n. 27 (1987). It has been characterized as a golden rule among sovereigns. Black's Law Dictionary 261-62 (7th ed., West 1999). Our Territorial Supreme Court recognized the doctrine in Barnett v. Kinney, 2 Idaho 706, 23 P. 922 (1890). A citizen of the Utah Territory had made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, which preferred certain classes of creditors. The assignment was made in Utah and was valid under that territory's law, but it included some personal property located in Idaho. Three days after the assignment had been made, a foreign corporation executed upon that personal property under a writ of attachment issued by an Idaho court in an action where the foreign corporation was plaintiff and the Utah citizen was defendant. The issue was whether under the doctrine of comity the assignment for the benefit of creditors made in Utah and valid under that territory's law should be recognized in Idaho. Our Territorial Supreme Court framed that issue as follows: The only question remaining in this connection is, was the assignment made by Lipman [the Utah citizen], under the laws of Utah territory, contrary to a clearly expressed statute or to the settled policy of this territory? Id. at 745, 23 P. at 923. The Court held it was contrary to both, but that holding was later reversed by the United States Supreme Court. Barnett v. Kinney, 147 U.S. 476, 13 S.Ct. 403, 37 L.Ed. 247 (1893). Nevertheless, the principle is valid that another state's law will not be applied pursuant to the doctrine of comity if doing so would be contrary to a clearly expressed statute or the settled policy of this state. Pacific Finance Corp. v. Axelsen, 84 Idaho 70, 77, 368 P.2d 430, 433 (1962) (We, therefore, hold that the rule of comity does not contravene `the statute or settled law or policy of the forum,'....). Our State Supreme Court first recognized the doctrine over one hundred years ago in Thum v. Pyke Ogden Sav. Bank, 8 Idaho 11, 66 P. 157 (1901). Two Utah corporations doing business exclusively in Idaho had been placed in receivership in Idaho, and their assets were under the control of the Idaho court. One of the corporations was solvent, but it had pledged its corporate stock as security for a loan made to it by the corporation that later became insolvent. With knowledge of the receivership, a Utah creditor obtained a judgment in a Utah court against the insolvent corporation and executed upon the solvent corporation's stock being held in Utah as security for the loan from the insolvent corporation. Based upon that judgment and execution sale, the creditor asserted in Idaho that because it was the owner of the solvent corporation's stock, it was entitled to all that corporation's assets. The net value of those assets was almost double the amount of the creditor's claim. In refusing to allow the creditor to obtain the assets to the detriment of other creditors, this Court stated, Comity between states requires our courts to treat citizens of other states the same as our own, but no better. 8 Idaho at 23, 66 P. at 160. This Court has not been called upon to address the doctrine of comity with respect to the issue of the sovereign immunity of another state, or that state's political subdivisions, or their respective employees when acting in the scope of their employment or authority. The Constitution of the United States does not protect one State from being sued in the courts of another State. Nevada v. Hall, 440 U.S. 410, 99 S.Ct. 1182, 59 L.Ed.2d 416 (1979). Likewise, the Full Faith and Credit Clause does not require a State to apply another State's law in violation of its own legitimate public policy. Id. at 422, 99 S.Ct. at 1189, 59 L.Ed.2d at 426. In applying the doctrine of comity, there are two options: applying the other state's law or applying Idaho law. As stated above, we will not apply another state's law under the doctrine of comity if doing so would be contrary to a clearly expressed statute or the settled policy of this state. Pacific Finance Corp. v. Axelsen ; Barnett v. Kinney. States that have not entirely waived their sovereign immunity have imposed requirements such as the timely filing of a notice of claim, a waiting period before filing a lawsuit, a statute of limitations, exemptions from governmental liability, and limits on damages, including punitive damages. At the time of the accident in this case, all of those provisions in the Utah Governmental Immunity Act differed from the corresponding provisions of the Idaho Tort Claims Act. For example, the time for filing a notice of tort claim under the Utah Act was one year, former U.C. § 63-30-12, while the comparable provision of the Idaho Act requires that adults file the notice within 180 days, I.C. §§ 6-905 & 6-906. The Utah Act contained an exemption from liability in certain circumstances if the injury arose out of the operation of an emergency vehicle, former U.C. § 63-30-10, [8] while the Idaho Act did not contain such an exemption. Likewise, the Utah Act had a $250,000 damage limit for personal injury to a single person in one occurrence, former U.C. § 63-30-34, while the damage limit under the Idaho Act was $500,000 per occurrence regardless of the number of persons injured, I.C. § 6-926. [9] Our decision on how to apply the doctrine of comity must also give guidance to our trial courts when a tort action is brought in an Idaho court against another state, its political subdivision, or their respective employees when acting in the scope of their employment or authority. Idaho adjoins six states and a Canadian province, all of which have differing statutes. If we were to pick certain provisions of the Utah Act to apply to this case, it would not give much guidance to trial courts when other sovereigns are defendants in Idaho courts, or if Utah changes the provisions of its Act. The policy of this State regarding tort actions against governmental entities is set out in the Idaho Tort Claims Act. Applying that Act when another State is a defendant in a tort action brought in an Idaho court would be treating that State in the same manner as our State would be treated, and it would be consistent with the policy of this State. Based upon the most significant relation test utilized in Grover v. Isom, 137 Idaho 770, 772-73, 53 P.3d 821, 823-24 (2002), the district court determined that Idaho law should apply to this action. In a case such as this where Idaho law applies under the proper choice-of-law analysis, we will apply, pursuant to the doctrine of comity, the relevant provisions of the Idaho Tort Claims Act when a cause of action seeking money damages for negligent or wrongful acts or omissions is asserted against another State, its political subdivisions, or their employees. Because we have never before been asked to apply the doctrine of comity in a tort action against another state, we are announcing a new rule of law. This Court has the discretion to decide whether a new rule of law will be applied to all pending and future cases, or only to future cases, or to future cases and the case in which the rule was announced. Thompson v. Hagan, 96 Idaho 19, 25, 523 P.2d 1365, 1371 (1974). Although we will apply this new rule to all pending and future cases, we will apply the time limit for giving a notice of tort claim only to causes of action that arise after the date of this opinion. Applying that time limit to the present case would result in the Plaintiff's action being dismissed for the failure to file notice of his tort claim against Rich County within one-hundred eighty days. Giving that provision only prospective application would avert injustice to the Plaintiff, since the Plaintiff did not have notice that the relevant provisions [10] of the Idaho Tort Claims Act would be extended to Rich County. Rich County will not be prejudiced because the Plaintiff gave notice within the time period that would have been permitted under Utah law. 2. Did the district court err in concluding that Sheriff Stacey's conduct did not rise to the level of reckless disregard? In Athay I, we held that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Sheriff Stacey's conduct rose to the level of reckless disregard. 142 Idaho at 369, 128 P.3d at 906. On remand, the district court held that because Sheriff Stacey did not know of the deer-vehicle collision north of Montpelier, Sheriff Stacey's conduct did not rise to the level of reckless disregard. As explained above, it is not necessary that Sheriff Stacey know of the deer-vehicle collision for his conduct to rise to the level of reckless disregard. In Athay I, we noted evidence that Ervin turned the headlights and taillights of the Mustang off as he raced through Montpelier. With respect to that, we stated, A reasonable inference is that Sheriff Stacey knew that upon leaving Montpelier the Mustang's lights were off, creating a greater hazard that other drivers would not see the Mustang or that the driver of the Mustang would not see other persons or vehicles on the highway in time to avoid a collision. Id. This was given as one of several factors the jury could consider in deciding whether Sheriff Stacey's conduct rose to the level of reckless disregard. On remand, the Utah Defendants presented an enhanced version of the video taken from Deputy Ludwig's vehicle. They contend that it shows that the taillights of the Mustang were on and therefore Sheriff Stacey could not have known that Ervin had turned off the vehicle's headlights. There is an affidavit in the file from a bystander who stated that when the Mustang went through Montpelier, neither its headlights nor its taillights were on. There is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Mustang's taillights were on. Sheriff Stacey was an employee of Rich County during this pursuit. There is no contention that Rich County would not be liable if he were found by the jury to have acted in reckless disregard. Because there are genuine issues of material fact to be resolved as to whether he did, we vacate the grant of summary judgment in favor of Rich County.