Opinion ID: 852959
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Recovery of Municipal Costs

Text: Defendants first argue that the items as damages the City seeks are not recoverable as a matter of law because they fall under the category of municipal costs incurred in the course of ordinary governmental functions. Although there is no Indiana precedent, defendants contend these items are not recoverable at common law. Defendants cite Dist. of Col. v. Air Florida, Inc., 750 F.2d 1077, 1080 (D.C.Cir.1984), and City of Flagstaff v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co., 719 F.2d 322, 323-24 (9th Cir.1983), for the proposition that activities carried on by government are not components of compensable damages. The defendants point out that the items cited by the City are all in the general category of additional services investigation, response to crimes, treatment of victims, services to children, etc.of the type government provides to the general public. The doctrine that a tortfeasor is not liable for the cost of municipal services in responding to an accident has been addressed only infrequently. Then-Judge Kennedy explained it as based on the nature of the entity seeking recovery, not on remoteness of the damage item from the tortfeasor's act. City of Flagstaff, 719 F.2d at 324. Thus, the costs of responding to a single accident or fire may be quantifiable, at least in part, and may satisfy ordinary requirements of proximate cause. The municipal costs doctrine would nevertheless deny recovery on the basis in part that all expect the government to provide emergency services, and if any change is to come in that doctrine it should originate with the legislature. Id. The damages the City seeks for the most part are in the nature of costs of responses to incidents of gun use. There is an inherent issue in any attempt to recover cost of municipal government in responding to even a single incident such as an accident. Even if it is appropriate to charge the arsonist with cost of a run by the fire department, one can fairly debate to what extent these are recoverable. The municipality incurs direct costs (gas for the fire truck, the water bill, etc.), allocated costs of preparedness that would be incurred and are not directly attributable to the incident (depreciation on the firehouse, salaries of administrative personnel, etc.), and some costs that are arguably in either category (salaries of the firemen who respond). In addition to these issues, the City's claims here raise a second level of complexity because they also present the broader issue of identifying the costs attributable to whole classes of incidents, and then allocating those costs among the various contributing factors, only one of which is the acts of the alleged tortfeasor. Despite these complexities there may be merit in some claims by the City for damages to its property from the use of an illegally purchased weapon, and municipal costs may be recoverable under conventional tort disputes in some circumstances. The City's broad description of its damages suggests an aggregation of disparate claims for response costs under generalized allegations. It appears to include many fact patterns that presumably do not support a claim for damages. As explained below, these and other issues may prevent recovery of some claimed items of damage, but the mere fact that the City provides services as part of its governmental function does not render the costs of those services unrecoverable as a matter of law. We do not agree that the City, as a governmental entity, is necessarily disabled from recovering costs from tortious activity. Rather, we agree with those courts that have rejected the municipal cost doctrine as a complete bar to recovery. See James v. Arms Tech., Inc., 359 N.J.Super. 291, 820 A.2d 27, 49 (App.Div. 2003); Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 95 Ohio St.3d 416, 2002-Ohio-2480, 768 N.E.2d 1136, 1149 (2002).