Opinion ID: 874115
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The district court properly dismissed Allied's claims against the Sheriff for failure to timely post bond.

Text: Idaho Code § 6-610 applies to actions arising out of law enforcement officers' official duties and requires a plaintiff to post bond as a condition precedent to initiating suit against, or serving process on, an officer. I.C. § 6-610(2). Allied contends first that I.C. §§ 6-610(4) and 6-610(5) do not permit an officer to object where bond is not timely filed, but merely permit objection to a plaintiff's complete failure to file a bond. Allied argues that since it filed a bond only one day after filing its complaint, Allied did not totally fail to file a bond and the Sheriff has no grounds for an objection. Idaho Code §§ 6-610(4) and 6-610(5) state: (4) At any time during the course of a civil action against a law enforcement officer, the defendant or respondent may except to either the plaintiff's or petitioner's failure to file a bond or to the sufficiency of the sureties or to the amount of the bond. (5) When the defendant or respondent excepts to the plaintiff's or petitioner's failure to post a bond under this section, the judge shall dismiss the case. In support of its argument, Allied cites dicta in Rogers v. State, 98 Idaho 742, 572 P.2d 176 (1977). There, this Court cautioned that literal application of the statute's requirement that a plaintiff file bond in an amount fixed by a trial court before filing the suit-initiating complaint involves an apparently sizeable jurisdictional problem, because it requires a court to set the bond's value before the court gains jurisdiction over the case. Id. at 743, 572 P.2d at 177. We hold that I.C. § 6-610(2) plainly requires a plaintiff to post bond before it initiates suit against a law enforcement officer, and also that I.C. §§ 6-610(4) and 6-610(5) permit an objection and dismissal where a plaintiff fails to do so. To overcome the jurisdictional problem noted in Rogers, a plaintiff may invoke the jurisdiction of a district court by filing with the court, located in the county where the law enforcement officer performs his or her official duties, a petition requesting an order fixing the amount of bond. The petition should show that the petitioner expects to be a party to an action against a law enforcement officer, the subject matter of the expected action and facts sufficient for the court to establish the amount of bond the plaintiff must post before it files suit or serves process. Cf. I.R.C.P. 27(a)(1) (establishing procedures governing depositions to perpetuate testimony). Allied contends in the alternative, under the doctrine of functus officio, that the December 9, 2008 filing date of its second amended complaint is the date upon which Allied initiated suit against the Sheriff. However, I.R.C.P. 15(c) provides that [w]henever the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to the date of the original pleading. This relation back doctrine protects claims from expiration of the statute of limitations, provided the defendant has sufficient notice. Black Canyon Racquetball Club, Inc. v. Idaho First Nat'l Bank, N.A., 119 Idaho 171, 179, 804 P.2d 900, 908 (1991) (quoting 6 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure §§ 1497, 1496 (1971)). The doctrine of functus officio, on the other hand, holds that an amended complaint supersedes prior complaints such that all subsequent pleadings must be based upon the contents of the amended complaint. W.L. Scott, Inc. v. Madras Aerotech, Inc., 103 Idaho 736, 739, 653 P.2d 791, 794 (1982). Thus, the combined effect of the relation back and functus officio doctrines is that an amended complaint is considered to have been filed on the date the original complaint was filed but to represent, entirely and exclusively, the substance of the plaintiff's claims. Cable v. Olson, 52 Idaho 389, 391, 15 P.2d 737, 737 (1932). In the present case, Allied filed its original complaint, containing claims arising out of the Sheriff's alleged breach of the settlement agreement, on October 9, 2007, and it filed a $700 bond the next day. Allied filed a second amended complaint, also with claims arising out of the Sheriff's alleged breach of the settlement agreement, on December 9, 2008. The second amended complaint thus relates back to October 9, 2007, and precedes the October 10, 2007 date of Allied's bond filing. Since Allied initiated suit against the Sheriff before it filed the bond required by I.C. § 6-610, we hold that the district court properly dismissed Allied's claims against the Sheriff.