Court Opinion

ID: 9849423
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:39:56.797102+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:23.723334
License: Public Domain

Lockett, J.,
dissenting: I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion affirming the district court. The district court granted summary judgment based upon a finding that a cemetery district is not liable for damages because its failure to maintain, operate, regulate, or care for the cemetery fell within the scope of the discretionary function exception of K.S.A. 75-6104(e) of the Kansas Tort Claims Act. The district court and the majority are wrong for two reasons: *626(1) Operating a cemetery is a proprietary act, not a governmental function subject to the Act and (2) if subject to the Act, the discretionary function exception of K.S.A. 75-6104(e) is not applicable because a legal duty exists.
The burden on die party seeking summary judgment is a strict one. The trial court is required to resolve all facts and inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the evidence in favor of the party against whom the ruling is sought. Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitied to judgment as a matter of law. Mitzner v. State Dept. of SRS, 257 Kan. 258, 260, 891 P.2d 435 (1995).
The Act makes liability the rule and immunity the exception. Jackson v. City of Kansas City, 235 Kan. 278, 286, 680 P.2d 877 (1984). A strict application of the Act is required, and the burden is on the governmental entity to establish its entitíement to any of the exceptions set forth in 75-6104 of the Act. In addition, under the Act a governmental entity is liable for damages caused by a “negligent or wrongful act or omission of any of its employees while acting within the scope of their employment under circumstances where the governmental entity, if a private person [corporation], would be liable under the laws of this state.” (Emphasis added.) K.S.A. 75-6103.
Proprietary Function
Governmental entities perform three types of functions: (1) governmental or public duties as the representative of the State, exercised for the benefit of the public and not for the government; (2) governmental duties exercised for the benefit of the governmental entity as well as the public; and (3) business or commercial enterprise. State v. Moore, 237 Kan. 523, 535, 701 P.2d 684 (1985) (Lockett, J., concurring and dissenting). The Kansas law regulating creation and operation of cemeteries provides for cemetery corporations (private) and cemetery districts (public) created by the qualified electors of the district. K.S.A. 17-1302 et seq. A cemeteiy district that engages in an activity of a business nature generally *627performed by individuals or private corporations acts as a private corporation and not in its sovereign capacity. A cemetery district has the full power to perform in the efficient manner of a private corporation. Moore, 237 Kan. at 535.
The fundamental construction rule is that the intent of the legislature, where it can be ascertained, governs the construction of a statute. The legislature is presumed to have expressed its intent through the language of the statutory scheme it enacted. Brown v. U.S.D. No. 333, 261 Kan. 134, 141-42, 928 P.2d 57 (1996) (interpreting the Kansas Administrators’ Act).
A cemetery district operating a cemetery is required to follow Kansas law, just as private cemeteries are. K.S.A. 75-6104(q), which was amended in 1996 to include cemeteries owned by municipalities, exemots municipalities from liability except in cases of gross or wanton negligence.
Prior to amendment, such municipalities were liable for simple negligence. Absent statutory provisions Lo tL j contrary, RichmondBerea Cemetery District, a governmental e ntitv performing a private function, is liable under the laws. *' thi sta; j. K.S.A. 75-6103.
Legal Duty
A tort is a violation of a duty imposed by law. Mills v. City of Overland Park, 251 Kan. 434, Syl. ¶ 4, 837 P.2d 370 (1992).
The discretionary function exception to the Act, K.S.A. 75-6104(e), is not applicable where a legal duty exists by case law or statute that the governmental entity is required to follow. C.J.W. v. State, 253 Kan. 3, Syl. ¶ 7, 853 P.2d 4 (1993). A governmental entity cannot properly claim that its challenged action falls within the discretionary function exception where the action taken or the failure to act violates a legal duty. Dougan v. Rossville Drainage Dist., 243 Kan. 315, 322, 757 P.2d 272 (1988).
In Lamb v. City of Elsmore, 18 Kan. App. 2d 641, Syl. ¶ 2, 857 P.2d 1380 (1993), the city, which owned and operated an electric light plant and distribution system for the benefits of its inhabitants, was bound to the same degree of care in the maintenance thereof as was a private or public utility.
*628In Rollins v. Kansas Dept. of Transportation, 238 Kan. 453, 458, 711 P.2d 1330 (1985), we first pointed out that the Kansas Department of Transportation, when performing a private function, is to be held to the same standard to which a private individual would be held. We then discussed the distinction between governmental and proprietary functions and the resultant liability in Cross v. City of Kansas City, 230 Kan. 545, 638 P.2d 933 (1982), and determined that supplying water to firefighters via hydrants was a governmental function. The failure to do so was protected from liability by governmental immunity. 230 Kan. 545, Syl. ¶ 2.
The majority correctly recognizes that the purchaser of a cemetery plot “does not acquire a fee simple interest, but only acquires an exclusive right to make internments in the lot and a right to be free from invasion by those who would disturb his or her possession, as well as the use of the public areas of the cemetery to obtain access to his or her lot.” Syl. ¶ 1. Other than the right to inter bodies, the owner of the cemetery retains complete property rights in the grave sites it sells. The majority’s reliance on 75-6104(k) and Siple v. City of Topeka, 235 Kan. 167, 679 P.2d 190 (1984), as a means to exempt Richmond-Berea Cemetery District is wrong. Both the statute and Siple only apply when there is a governmental duty to inspect nongovernment property. Richmond-Berea Cemetery District owned and operated the property upon which Kayla Jo Brock was injured; thus, 75-6104(k) does not apply.
Richmond-Berea Cemetery District is a governmental entity and is required by K.S.A. 17-1330(a) to maintain, operate, regulate, and care for such cemetery. The legal duty was imposed by statute and does not fall within the discretionary function exception of 75-6104(e). Under the facts and law, the district court’s grant of summary judgment was improper. The district court should be reversed and the matter remanded for further action.