Court Opinion

ID: 9522851
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:32:51.863109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:04:05.465421
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
I concur down the line with the opinion of the Second District of the Court of Appeals which appears at 455 N.E.2d 953. The one hundred and eighty day notice requirement in I.C. § 34-4-16.5-7 applies by its express terms to claims against political subdivisions and not individual public employees. Public employees are protected by the discretionary payment provisions in I.C. § 34-4-16.5-5. Poole’s claims are against individuals and not a political subdivision. Therefore Poole’s claims are not barred by the failure to comply with the notice provision in the Tort Claims Act. On the second issue, I agree with the Court of Appeals that when a judge serves the office of clerk of court, and takes those simple and routine ministerial steps necessary to recall a warrant, he is not performing a judicial act, or a closely related act requiring the exercise of judgment or discretion. And I further agree with the reasoning of the Court of Appeals on the third issue, that judicial immunity should not be extended to assistants of a clerk of court when engaged in simple, routine ministerial tasks. I would therefore permit the claims to go forward in the trial court. However, I hasten also to point out that this legal view does not reflect a belief that a breach of duty with consequent injury exists in the circumstances which gave rise to the institution of this action.