Court Opinion

ID: 9731991
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:04:02.142675+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:22.438617
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM:
Appellant Anthony Winters appeals from the grant of summary judgment for failure to comply with the mandatory notice requirements of D.C.Code § 12-309 (1987). We affirm.
By letter dated July 16, 1984, counsel for appellant advised the Mayor of the District of Columbia that his client was making a claim against the District for unliquidated damages “as a result of an accident occurring at the District of Columbia Jail in Lorton, Virginia on or about March 7, *9611984.” The letter provided no additional information about the accident or appellant. On July 31, 1984, appellant signed a pro se complaint which was filed in the Superior Court and received by the District government on October 9, 1984. In the complaint appellant alleged that he had been injured in the Arts and Crafts Shop at the Lorton Reformatory on March 7, 1984, when he cut two fingers while operating a table saw without a safeguard in the absence of a supervisor. His attorney filed an amended complaint on November 16, 1984.
Long established authority in this jurisdiction makes clear that the July 16, 1984, letter did not satisfy the requirements of D.C.Code § 12-309. See, e.g., (William) Campbell v. District of Columbia, 568 A.2d 1076, 1078-79 (D.C.1990); Washington v. District of Columbia, 429 A.2d 1362, 1366 (D.C.1981) (en banc) (letter must describe the “factual cause of the injury” and make clear the basis for the District’s liability). The date was uncertain, the place was uncertain, since the D.C. Jail is not located in Lorton, Virginia and there are seven correctional facilities in Lorton, Inmates of Occoquan v. Barry, 269 U.S.App.D.C. 210, 237 n. 46, 844 F.2d 828, 855 n. 46 (1988), and it was unclear whether appellant was an inmate, employee or visitor. Nor did the letter give any notice of the cause and circumstances of the injury or damage, or the nature of the injury or damage. See Washington v. District of Columbia, supra; Braxton v. National Capital Hous. Auth., 396 A.2d 215, 217 (D.C.1978).
Nor could appellant’s pro se complaint satisfy the notice requirement. District of Columbia v. (Harry) Campbell, 580 A.2d 1295, 1299 (D.C.1990). The statute also was not satisfied by administrative incident reports.2 (William) Campbell, supra, 568 A.2d at 1078-79; accord Cunningham v. District of Columbia, 584 A.2d 573, 575 (D.C.1990). Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

. We assume for purposes of this appeal that appellant could produce such reports, although he has not done so.