Opinion ID: 2507859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Validity of the Initial Claims

Text: [¶10] Beaulieu I did not create new law. Rather, Beaulieu I clarified that it has always been the law that governmental claims must meet the requirements not just of the WGCA, but also of Wyo. Const. art. 16, § 7. Beaulieu I, 2001 WY 33, ¶¶ 13, 15-17, 20 P.3d at 526-27. See also Beaulieu II, 2004 WY 31, ¶¶ 5-9, 86 P.3d at 865-66 and Yoak v. Ide, 2004 WY 32, ¶ 6, 86 P.3d 872, 874 (Wyo. 2004). A claim that has not been signed by the claimant and certified under penalty of perjury is not a valid claim. Neither the Bell notice of claim nor the Clark notice of claim was valid, and the filing of an invalid claim is the same as the filing of no claim at all. That was the lesson of Beaulieu I. [¶11] The direct effect of the holding in Beaulieu I was to save the plaintiffs' cause of action from a statute of limitations attack. This Court reversed the district court's application of the one-year period for filing an action based upon a governmental claim because no valid governmental claim had yet been presented. Beaulieu I, 2001 WY 33, ¶¶ 15-17, 20 P.3d at 527. Certainly, having said that a defendant may not rely upon an invalid claimthat is, one that has not met the constitutional signature and certification requirementsin arguing in favor of application of the one-year period of limitations found in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-114 (LexisNexis 2003), we cannot now say that a plaintiff may, to the contrary, rely upon a similarly invalid claim in arguing that he or she has met the two-year period of limitations found in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-39-113 (LexisNexis 2003). [1] To repeat what we said in Beaulieu I, Beaulieu II, and Yoak, no governmental claim has been presented [2] under the WGCA until a claim meeting the requirements of Wyo. Const. art. 16, § 7 has been presented.