Opinion ID: 1439068
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Duke Avnet, Baltimore, for appellant.

Text: Carolyn A. Quattrocki, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., Baltimore, Mark H. Bowen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Pikesville, on brief), for appellee. Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE, CHASANOW, KARWACKI and ROBERT M. BELL, JJ. ELDRIDGE, Judge. The Maryland Tort Claims Act was enacted by Ch. 298 of the Acts of 1981, now codified at Code (1984, 1993 Repl.Vol.), §§ 12-101 et seq., of the State Government Article. The Act waives, to a large extent, state governmental immunity in tort and allows tort suits to be brought against the State under certain circumstances. As originally enacted, the Tort Claims Act included a requirement that, prior to filing suit, a claimant must file a claim with the State Treasurer. By Chapter 538 of the Acts of 1985, the General Assembly amended the administrative claim requirement, and provided that, before instituting an action against the State under the Act, a claimant must submit a written claim to the Treasurer or a designee of the Treasurer within 180 days after the injury to person or property that is the basis of the claim. § 12-106(b)(1) of the State Government Article. Several cases concerning this administrative claim requirement have been before us recently. See Leppo v. State Highway Adminis., 330 Md. 416, 624 A.2d 539 (1993); Lopez v. State Highway Admin., 327 Md. 486, 610 A.2d 778 (1992); State v. Harris, 327 Md. 32, 607 A.2d 552 (1992); Simpson v. Moore, 323 Md. 215, 592 A.2d 1090 (1991). The present case concerns the application of the 180-day claim provision to minors. Plaintiffs Kristine Johnson and Sherry Wolfington sued the State for damages arising out of an automobile accident. Johnson was driving eastbound on Maryland Route 51, and Wolfington was a passenger in her car. They allege that they were injured when, as Johnson was attempting to make a left turn off the roadway, a State Police vehicle, also traveling eastbound in response to a call, collided with their car. At the time of the accident, both Johnson and Wolfington were sixteen years old. The two minors, through their attorney, filed a notice of claim with the State Treasurer on September 14, 1987, some thirteen months after the accident. [1] Thereafter, they filed in the Circuit Court for Allegheny County a complaint for damages against the Maryland State Police as an agency of the State of Maryland. [2] The complaint stated that the action was brought pursuant to the Maryland Tort Claims Act. The State moved to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to comply with the 180-day claim requirement set forth in the statute. [3] The circuit court granted the motion to dismiss. After the court denied the plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration, the plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Special Appeals. We issued a writ of certiorari before argument in the intermediate appellate court, 325 Md. 115, 599 A.2d 819. The plaintiffs mount a three-pronged attack on the circuit court's dismissal of their case. First, they argue that the 180-day time limit for filing a claim under § 12-106(b)(1) was tolled during the plaintiffs' minority. Second, the plaintiffs contend that, even if the time limit were not tolled, they substantially complied with the requirements of § 12-106(b). Third, they argue that, if there were no tolling, and if there were no substantial compliance with the 180-day claim filing requirement, then the requirement violates their state and federal constitutional rights.