Court Opinion

ID: 9667783
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:55:00.314509+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:40.841220
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Reading the majority and other dissenting opinions clearly shows that the beat-goes-on. The scope of governmental immunity is far from being resolved. The ink is barely dry on Gas Services Co. Inc. v. City of London, Ky., 687 S.W.2d 144 (1985) and the exceptions predicted in the dissent begin and certain immunities were preserved in Gas Services itself.
It is my opinion that we should adhere to the Gas Services, supra, decision to provide stability in the law despite the debatable proposition as to whether a municipal corporation as a generic entity is stripped of immunity or if liability attaches only to a city as a municipal corporation. For good or ill, Haney v. City of Lexington, Ky., 386 S.W.2d 738 (1964) set the pattern and Gas Services followed it. Another reason I dissent is because the affirmation of a partial summary judgment does not contribute to the disclosure of the identity of the tort-feasor if any exists. The dissent in Gas Services properly acknowledged the limited concept that liability follows negligence and suggests that a case could be tried against the actual individual committing the tort. The legal process should seek the true wrongdoer, if any.
In my view, individual responsibility has been overlooked in the rush to find a deep-pocket. Any corporation, municipal or otherwise, can act only through its agents or employees. Recovery should first be sought against the active wrongdoer. The conduct of those agents and employees must first be examined before any claim can be sustained against the principal corporation. Therefore, I would not affirm a summary judgment in this field which has not included a careful review of the responsibilities of both principal and agent or employee. In this case, the manufacture and design of the sluice gates may also play an important role in ascertaining responsibility.
Cities should not be treated differently from other governments, special districts or municipal corporations. If the conduct complained of amounts to negligence and is not protected by the exercise of valid legislative or executive judgment, then liability could result.
*942As I noted in my concurring opinion in Gas Services, the only valid exercise of government which should be exempt from tort liability is the purely administrative or legislative decision-making process. Redress from the exercise of poor judgment is at the ballot box. Compensation for the failure to exercise ordinary care under all the circumstances is obtained by damages.
The ultimate answer may be from the general assembly which might aid the people who have incorporated into municipalities by enacting a realistic and comprehensive tort claims act which would recognize the specific differences of particular units of government, acknowledge the source of funds as tax money or service charges and provide for a method of compensation to victims of wrongful conduct.