Opinion ID: 1161761
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: quasi-legislative immunity

Text: The Board contends that it is immune from suit under the common law rule which provides that a governmental body is not liable for acts or omissions in the exercise of legislative or quasi-legislative functions. When this court abrogated governmental immunity in Oroz v. Board of County Commissioners of Carbon County, Wyo., 575 P.2d 1155 (1978), we recognized the continued vitality of legislative immunity: This decision    is not to be interpreted as imposing liability upon a governmental body for acts or omissions in the exercise of its legislative or judicial or quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial functions   . Id. at 1158. The subsequent enactment of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act did not affect this well-established common law doctrine. If the Board was acting in a legislative or quasi-legislative capacity when it approved the subdivision permit, it is immune from suit. The rule of immunity for legislative or quasi-legislative action rests upon the principle that courts should not inhibit the legislative process by providing a forum for second guessing legislative policy decisions. The doctrine is available to local officials when they act in a legislative capacity. 2 S. Speiser, C. Krause, and A. Gans, American Law of Torts (1985). The Board asserts that its approval of the Colt Track Acres Subdivision was a quasi-legislative zoning decision. We disagree. While the enactment of a zoning ordinance or regulation is a legislative act, the conduct challenged in this case did not involve the adoption of legislation in any sense. Moreover, the alleged breach of duty did not occur in the determination of fundamental governmental policy. See Restatement, Second, Torts § 895(c) (1979). The duty to require an engineer's certification was purely an imperative administrative duty imposed by the legislature. The doctrine of quasi-legislative immunity does not apply.