Court Opinion

ID: 9680576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:34:25.221342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:29.428817
License: Public Domain

*743MONTGOMERY, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent because I feel it is inappropriate for this Court, in effect, to legislate by changing a long-standing rule of law. This problem was presented squarely to the General Assembly in V. T. C. Lines v. City of Harlan, Ky., 313 S.W.2d 573, in the following language:
“Regardless of how the majority of the personnel of this court may feel at the present time concerning whether we should follow the path marked by the Florida Court, we must recognize that we are faced with a judicial problem which results from the fact that the immunity rule (although never clearly defined) has become so imbedded in the common law of this state over the years that it has become a definite part of our mores. We must make a choice as to whether the change in such a rule should be made by the legislature or by us. The majority of the court believes that the change addresses itself to legislative discretion and that we must content ourselves only with criticism of the rule which we have created.”
The legislative power of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is vested in the General Assembly. Kentucky Constitution, Sections 27 and 29. There is an express prohibition against the exercise of this power by any person or collection of persons other than the General Assembly. Kentucky Constitution, Section 28.
Since the invitation to act was extended to the General Assembly in V. T. C. Lines in 1958, the General Assembly has met in regular session in 1960, 1962, and 1964. Numerous special sessions have been called in which this subject could have been included if any change in this law had been deemed necessary or desirable. No action has been taken on this matter by the General Assembly; not even a bill has been introduced. Inasmuch as the legislative branch of the government is supposed to reflect public sentiment and the changes therein and since this Court recognized municipal immunity as a proper subject for the exercise of the legislative power in V. T. C. Lines, I feel that it is highly presumptuous for the judicial branch of the government now to usurp the recognized prerogative of the legislative branch and to change the law of municipal immunity.
STEWART, J., joins in the dissent.