Court Opinion

ID: 9532340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:20:31.418854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:44.678662
License: Public Domain

NEBEKER, Associate Judge,
with whom Associate Judges KERN and HARRIS join, dissenting:
The trial court’s entry of judgment in favor of the District should be affirmed on the ground that appellant failed to satisfy the mandatory notice requirement of D.C. Code 1973, § 12-309.
The section has been interpreted a number of times over the years by various courts of this jurisdiction. Satisfaction of the section’s requirement of written notice of the approximate time, place, cause and circumstances of injury is a condition precedent to the maintenance of suit against the District. Boone v. District of Columbia, 294 F.Supp. 1156 (D.D.C.1968).1
Where, as here, a statute is clear and unambiguous and ‘is specific in the details of its requirements as to the maintenance of an action against the Government, the courts are not at liberty to construe the statute other than according to its terms, or to depart from its clear requirements.’ McDonald v. Government of District of Columbia, 95 U.S.App.D.C. 305, 306, 221 F.2d 860, 861 (1955). It follows that the notice is fatally defective if one or more of the statutory elements is lacking. [Id. at 1157.]
This court has held that the statute must be strictly construed to effectuate its legislative purpose because it is in derogation of the common law. Braxton v. National Capital Housing Authority, D.C.App., 396 A.2d 215, 217 (1978). See also Pitts v. District of Columbia, D.C.App., 391 A.2d 803 (1978). The majority’s present treatment of the issue abandons this line of authority by accepting the April 4, 1975 letter from appellant’s attorney as providing adequate notice,2 despite the fact that the letter gave no information on the cause or the circumstances of the injury.
The requirement that the written notice reflect the cause of the injury must be read in the context of the entire statute. It says an action may not be maintained unless, inter alia, the cause of the injury is set forth. I submit this means that the notice must describe, at least in most conclusory terms, the cause of the injury about which an action may be brought. Here the notice *1371merely stated that an “accident” had resulted in a “fall” and a “broken leg.” The majority says this is enough and whether a possible actionable injury resulted must be the subject of further initiative by the city. Compare this paucity of information with the lengthy discussion of the incident in the police report in Pitts v. District of Columbia, supra a case relied on by both the appellant and the majority here. The Pitts police report included information indicating
the identity of the persons present when the child fell, ... the name of the mother and father of the child, ... the fact that the child fell as she and her mother and sister were descending the stairs, ... the name of the security guard on duty in the building at the time of the accident, ... the number of the emergency vehicle which transported the injured child to the hospital and its crew’s provisional diagnosis of her injuries, and ... the name of the treating physician at the hospital and his diagnosis and prognosis. [Id. at 809.]
In acknowledging a distinction between the nature of the typical police report and a notice drafted by an attorney, the court in Pitts stated:
We recognize, at the outset, that a police report, by its nature, may not fully reflect every salient fact concerning the potential liability of the District with the same degree of clarity and specificity as a document drawn by an attorney. [Id. at 809.]
Curiously, in the instant case, rather than requiring a higher degree of clarity and specificity in a case involving an attorney-drafted notice, the majority here accepts an attorney’s cryptic note containing much less information than did the police report in Pitts. And, the majority substantially bases its decision on the fact that the note was drafted by an attorney.
In relying on the fact that a lawyer sent the letter as somehow adding to its stature as a notice of an actionable injury, the majority has unwittingly taken the final step in interpreting the notice statute into oblivion. Surely, if a lawyer notice may be sufficient in the form this one took, then notice by a layman can hardly be expected to be more detailed. Inescapably, the majority has construed this statute to require nothing more in a notice than “I got hurt on [blank] date at [blank] place” which is owned by the City.
That appellant’s letter fails to meet the statutory requirements is confirmed by the legislative history of the Act. "Witnesses appearing for the District stated that a general description of the place [of the injury] would be inadequate as the actual condition at the particular place must be inspected.” H.R.Rep.No.2010, 72d Cong., 2d Sess. 2 (1933). Here, the letter gave, at best, a “general description of the place.” It included an address but did not provide basic information, such as where inside the building the injury occurred.
The majority would do well to heed the words of Justice Cardozo, who, while construing a similar New York statute, dealt with reasoning not unlike that utilized by the majority.
The Legislature has said that a particular form of notice, conveyed with particular details to particular public officers, shall be a prerequisite to the right to sue. The courts are without power to substitute something else.
* * * * * *
The argument is, however, that these words, which on their face are so plain as to be hardly subject to construction, do not mean what they seem to say, or that the meaning must be rejected as too oppressive to be true. [Thomann v. City of Rochester, 256 N.Y. 165, 172-173, 176 N.E. 129, 131 (1931).]
Our statute requires a written notice that includes, inter alia, information on the “cause, and circumstances” of the injury. The meanings of these two words are plain. The majority’s attempt to re-define them to mean something else places the court in the position of rewriting the notice statute.
*1372I would remand with instructions to the trial court to dismiss the complaint because of appellant’s failure to provide the statutorily required notice.3

. See also Redlands High School District v. Superior Court of San Bernadino County, 20 Cal.2d 348, 356, 125 P.2d 490, 495 (1942).

. Appellant’s additional contention, that telephone conversations between her attorney and a District housing inspector adequately placed the District on notice, fails in the face of our decision in Pitts v. District of Columbia, supra. We held in Pitts that oral communications do not satisfy the § 12-309 requirements. Similarly, in District of Columbia v. World Fire & Insurance Co., D.C.Mun.App., 68 A.2d 222 (1949), the court stated that “verbal notice to a subordinate official cannot take the place of the written notice which the statute says must be given to the ... District government.” Id. at 224. I do not understand that we are overruling those holdings.

. Once forced by the majority beyond the notice issue to the question of the trial court’s grant of judgment n. o. v., I would affirm. The majority opinion, while stating that courts in other jurisdictions have left the question of proximate cause to the jury on similar facts, acknowledges that there is conflicting authority. Ante at-.
In this case, the evidence establishes that the fall was caused by appellant’s foot twisting as she stepped back. Testimony of appellant and others puts a gloss on the entire matter. The incident occurred during a late Saturday night gathering at which there was dancing, drinking, and music. Appellant was very tired from having moved her residence earlier that day, and she had been drinking during the day and at the gathering.
Appellant failed to sustain the burden of establishing that the District’s negligent failure to maintain the statutorily required handrail was the proximate cause of the injury. Holmes v. Moesser, 120 Cal.App.2d 612, 614, 262 P.2d 27, 20 (1953). See also Klein v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 235 Or. 315, 384 P.2d 978 (1963).