Court Opinion

ID: 9796001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:44:57.114563+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:43:50.245250
License: Public Domain

THOMPSON, Judge,
dissenting.
¶ 73 The majority, relying primarily on Backus v. State of Arizona, 534 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 26, 29, ¶ 28, 220 Ariz. 141, 148, 204 P.3d 399, 406, 2008 WL 2764601 (App.2008) for the proposition that a claim “notice is sufficient if it contains ‘any facts,’” concludes that the facts contained in the notices in these cases were good enough under A.R.S. § 12-821.01. Because I conclude that the opinion in Backus impex’missibly read the requirement that the settlement demand be supported by facts out of the statute, I do not follow that opinion. Because the facts set forth in these cases did not suppox-t the settlements demanded, I would affirm the trial court’s dismissals.
¶ 74 In Backus another panel of this court declined to evaluate the facts marshalled in ostensible support of a notice of claim, concluding that we cannot infer any standard of sufficiency into section 12-821.01. 534 Ariz. Adv. Rep. at 28, ¶ 19, 220 Ariz. at 146, 204 P.3d at 404. In doing so, in my view, the court lost sight of the “facts supporting” requirement. In order for facts to “support” a settlement demand, those facts must “corroborate” (Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1913 (2d ed. 1987)) or “argue in favor of’ (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 1739 (4th ed. 2000)) or “substantiate” (17 Oxford English Dictionary 258 (2d ed. 1989)) the amount of money sought in settlement. To say that “any facts” satisfy the statute ignores the logical force of the directive that only certain facts will be compliant, namely those facts that corroborate or advocate for or substantiate the settlement demand. To make this determination, we must in some measure evaluate the facts evinced in ostensible support of a settlement demand.
¶ 75 Following Backus in the refusal to subject the supporting facts in these cases to any evaluative standard, the majority here asserts that the allegations in these notices present information from which injury might be inferred, which injury is necessarily personal and subjective and difficult to quantify, and which injury need not be established with regard to dignatory torts because it is presumed. The common theme of the majority’s observations here is that appellants need not show anything more than the fact of tort liability in their claim notices. But the statute is meant to allow the government “to realistically consider a claim,” by requiring “that claimants explain the amounts identified in the claim by providing ... a factual foundation” for such an evaluation, which evaluation can lead to an expenditure of public funds in settlement. Deer Valley Unified Sch. Dist. v. Houser, 214 Ariz. 293, 296, ¶ 9, 152 P.3d 490, 493 (2007). To accomplish this, the supporting facts must logically relate to the incidence, nature, and severity of the damages suffered by the claimants. In short, the statute requires more than the majority posits. Perhaps it is sometimes difficult to put a number on individual suffering and relate that number to the specific facts of a given case, but the statute calls for it.
¶ 76 As the trial court noted, “[t]here is no explanation whatsoever [in] the letters regarding how the Tribe came up with its $50,000,000 demand” such that the state *233could evaluate the reasonableness of the demand. Similarly, while the Tilousi plaintiffs’ notices aver that some plaintiffs suffered some worries and fears and distress, the notices do not say what worries, fears, and distress were suffered by whom and to what degree these harms were suffered. Further, these plaintiffs’ demands increased over time without any facts supporting additional harms. As real as these harms may well be, I cannot conclude that the government could responsibly settle these claims without the required statutory information.
¶ 77 Accordingly, I would affirm.