Court Opinion

ID: 9748310
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:59:26.804584+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:34.264061
License: Public Domain

FERREN, Associate Judge,
dissenting:
I believe Section 76(b) of the WMATA Compact — a 1976 amendment — modified Section 80 of the Compact, the general sovereign immunity provision, by incorporating for WMATA the local sovereign immunity laws applicable in 1976 (and thereafter) to the police forces of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, respectively. As a consequence, the law explicated in Spencer v. General Hospital of the District of Columbia, 138 U.S.App.D.C. 48, 425 F.2d 479 (1969) (en banc), abandoning the “governmental-proprietary” test in favor of the “discretionary-ministerial” test, should apply here. Under this latter test, an arrest is a ministerial function. Wade v. District of Columbia, 310 A.2d 857, 860 (D.C.1973) (en banc). Thus, “an arresting officer has no immunity from suit for torts committed in the course of making an arrest,” Carter v. Carlson, 144 U.S.App.D.C. 388, 392-93, 447 F.2d 358, 362-63 (1971), rev’d in part on grounds not relevant here, sub nom. District of Columbia v. Carter, 409 U.S. 418, 93 S.Ct. 602, 34 L.Ed.2d 613 (1973), and WMA-TA accordingly is liable as a matter of respondeat superior. See Wade, supra, 310 A.2d at 860; Carter, supra, 144 U.S.App. D.C. at 396, 447 F.2d at 366.
My colleagues, relying on the governmental-proprietary test set forth in Section 80 of the WMATA Compact, correctly note that police arrest actions are “governmental” functions. Savage v. District of Columbia, 52 A.2d 121 (D.C.1947). Thus, if that test were applicable, WMATA would be immune from suit here.1 However, the 1976 Amendment to the WMATA Compact — adopted by the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and the Congress — created a Metro Transit Police force with “the same powers, including the power of arrest, and ... subject to the same limitations, including regulatory limitations,” applicable to the “police force of the political subdivision in which the Metro Transit Police member is engaged.” The plain language— “same powers” and “same limitations” — bespeaks authority and related liability for *974violations congruent with the authority and liability of each local jurisdiction’s police force.
Counsel for WMATA agrees — as I gather my colleagues do — that the signatory states and the Congress can provide in the Compact for local differences in the sovereign immunity of the Metro Transit Police, just as they have localized the other limitations, as well as powers, of that police force. My colleagues, however, too narrowly read the “same powers” and “same limitations” language to mean only “powers and limitations in terms of the power of and limitation regarding the making of an arrest, or the carrying of a weapon,” and “matters concerning WMATA’s internal operating procedures.” Ante at 972. The plain language of Section 76(b), unaided by the “sparse legislative history” ante at 972, refers to the “same powers, including the power of arrest,” and to the “same limitations, including regulatory limitations.” (Emphasis added.) The word “including” implies part of a greater whole; it does not imply the majority’s restricted reading of the 1976 amendment.
I perceive no reason why Section 76(b)’s all-inclusive incorporation of the police powers and limitations of the respective local jurisdictions should be deemed to exclude the local laws on sovereign immunity. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

. In Martin v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 667 F.2d 435 (4th Cir.1981), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a false arrest suit against WMATÁ on Section 80 grounds, without considering the Section 76(b) argument.