Opinion ID: 1218193
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discretionary Act Exception

Text: The first issue that we address is whether, on the undisputed facts of this case, [5] the State was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), Alaska R.Civ.P.; Moore v. State, 553 P.2d 8, 15 (Alaska 1976). The evidence which was before the trial court pertaining to the State's decision not to pick up trash at the Robe River turnout established the following facts: The State had entered into an agreement with the City of Valdez under which the City agreed to service the litter barrels at five locations, including the Robe River turnout. For this service the State agreed to pay the City one hundred fifty dollars per month for two pick-ups per week at each location. This agreement, however, terminated October 1, 1975, apparently in accordance with the State's normal practice. The State's responses to interrogatories submitted by the Carlsons provided the following information: 1. Was the State of Alaska, or any departmental subdivision thereof, responsible for garbage pick up at the Robe River turnout, approximately Mile 2 of the Richardson Highway, on or about the 22nd of October, 1975? ANSWER: As far as can be determined, garbage pick-up at Mile 2 of the Richardson Highway was disbanded around October 1, 1975, and the only State agency responsible for garbage pick-up at Robe River turnout after this time would be the Department of Highways. It is normal practice to cease all litter barrel pick-up at roadside turn-offs around October 1 of each year. No other State agency is responsible after that date as far as we can determine. ..... 8. Does the State of Alaska have any Standard Operating Procedures relating to the removal of refuse, or to the State's obligations or standard procedures relating to the maintenance of roadside areas where garbage customarily accumulates? ANSWER: Not to our knowledge. Despite the normal practice of not picking up turnout trash after October 1, the State did pick up the trash at the Robe River turnout two days after Julie Carlson was attacked by the bear. The standards for applying the discretionary act exception of the Alaska Tort Claims Act [6] have been extensively discussed in three cases: Jennings v. State, 566 P.2d 1304 (Alaska 1977); State v. I'Anson, 529 P.2d 188 (Alaska 1974); State v. Abbott, 498 P.2d 712 (Alaska 1972). In those cases we adopted and reaffirmed the planning-operational test, under which decisions that rise to the level of planning or policy-making are considered discretionary acts which do not give rise to tort liability, while decisions that are merely operational in nature are not considered to be discretionary acts and therefore are not immune from liability. See, e.g., State v. I'Anson, 529 P.2d at 193. The distinction between planning decisions and operational decisions does not depend merely on who made the decision. Rather the distinction is based on the type of decision that is being made, examined within an analytical framework which is sensitive to the policies underlying the discretionary function or duty exception. Id. The reason for preserving sovereign immunity for certain acts of the State is the necessity for judicial abstention in certain policy-making areas that have been committed to other branches of government. Id. In I'Anson, for example, we held that the State's failure to properly mark and stripe a portion of a highway at a campground entrance did not come within the discretionary act exception because functions of this nature do not involve broad basic policy decisions which come within the `planning' category of decisions which are expressly entrusted to a coordinate branch of government. Id. at 193-94. Similarly, in Abbott we held that the State's failure to maintain a highway adequately in the winter was not within the exception because decisions on how to maintain a highway simply do not rise to the level of governmental policy decisions calling for judicial restraint. 498 P.2d at 722 (footnote omitted). We recognized that the initial decision whether to maintain highways in the winter at all is a policy determination but held that the subsequent decisions on how that policy was to be carried out were operational decisions, aimed at implementing the policy decision. Id. We believe that the reasoning in Abbott is controlling here. The State's decision on the broad question of whether to maintain highway turnouts in the winter at all is indeed a policy determination that cannot give rise to tort liability. However, the decisions made pursuant to that policy, on how to implement it  that is, decisions on how to cease maintenance  are operational decisions. As to these the State is under a duty to act with reasonable care. Thus, for example, a decision not to remove the litter barrels from the turnout after October 1 when trash pick-up was discontinued was an operational decision, not a policy decision. If the State negligently implemented the decision to cease trash pick-up at the Robe River turnout, the discretionary act exception to the waiver of sovereign immunity does not shield the State from liability. We therefore reverse the decision of the superior court.