Court Opinion

ID: 9545607
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:16:10.005022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:10.100342
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Associate Chief Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I concur in part I but dissent from part II of the majority opinion.
Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-12 (1986, Supp. 1988) requires that as a prerequisite to suing a state employee for an act or omission occurring within the scope of his em*221ployment, the plaintiff must, within one year after the claim arises, file a notice of claim with the attorney general and with the agency employing the employee. No attempt to comply with that statute was made here by plaintiff. She seeks to excuse herself from that requirement based on the affidavit of an investigator she hired who stated that seven months after the accident, he called the Division of Personnel Management of the State of Utah requesting confirmation of the state’s employment of Ronald G. Flinders. He further stated that he was advised that no individual with that name was employed by the state according to its records. He apparently did not ask if there was such an employee with that name at the time of the accident.
That denial of employment, however, is entirely insufficient to support an estoppel against the state and excuse plaintiff from complying with the statute. This is because she had in her possession the accident report filed by the investigating police officer that defendant Flinders was driving a state-owned vehicle and that he was employed by a state agency whose address was 4501 South 2700 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84119. She made no attempt to file a claim with any state agency at that address although there is a state office building there housing at least two state agencies, one of which is the Department of Public Safety, which was and is Flinders’ employer. There is in the record an affidavit of an assistant in the personnel division of the Department of Public Safety stating that on the date of the accident, and at all times thereafter, Flinders’ name was on the list of employees of that department, that any person could have contacted that department and received verification of Flinders’ employment there, and that at all times since the date of the accident the Department of Public Safety has been housed in a building at 4501 South 2700 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84119. In granting summary judgment in favor of Flinders, the trial court expressly found that
[h]ad Plaintiff contacted the Personnel Division of the Department of Public Safety, she would have received verification of Defendant Flinders’ employment status with that agency.
Not only did plaintiff fail to file a claim with the Department of Public Safety, she made no attempt whatever to file the claim with the attorney general. No excuse is offered for that omission except that plaintiff was not sure whether Flinders was a state employee. That is entirely insufficient as an excuse.
Since plaintiff always had all the information needed to file a timely claim with the Department of Public Safety and with the attorney general, I cannot escape the conclusion that as a matter of law, her failure to do so was not the fault of Flin-ders or the Department which will work an estoppel against them. Plaintiff’s failure stems solely from her own unwillingness to make any effort to file based on information which she already possessed and which was always accurate. When she chose not to file, she assumed the risk of ignoring information in her possession.