Court Opinion

ID: 9855323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:22:45.635247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:25:39.640028
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring in result.
I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion. I write separately to explicate what I understand to be the limited effect of the majority opinion. In those instances in which there is a claim, contractual or quasi-contractual, against the county, which the county has refused to pay, the claimant may sue the county directly without appealing the denial of the claim. Insofar as the majority opinion adopts the rationale of the Kansas Court of Appeals in Concannon v. Board of County Comm’rs of Linn County, 6 Kan.App.2d 20, 626 P.2d 798 (1981), as applied to such claims against the county, I agree. Insofar as the majority relies on the language of the Kansas Court which may imply that only when the county commissioners act impartially between two contending parties are appeals the only permitted remedy, I do not agree. There may be other situations in which the county, much like an administrative agency, is more directly involved in a proceeding than merely acting as an impartial tribunal between two contending parties. See, e.g., NDCC § 11-11-14 setting forth the powers of the board of county commissioners. I do not understand the majority opinion to hold that in those instances an appeal from the decision of the county commissioners may be ignored and a suit against the county instituted by a person who feels aggrieved by the decision of the county commissioners.
Furthermore, if we were to apply only the holding in Olson v. Cass County, 253 N.W.2d 179 (N.D.1977), to this case I would affirm. In that case, which involved a suit for declaratory and injunctive relief against the county to prohibit the installation of a culvert, the court denied relief because of the availability of an appeal wherein the issue could be fairly litigated. The rationale that an appeal was an adequate remedy was based on the concept that the appeal would be heard “de novo.” See section 11-11-43 prior to its amendment by 1989 N.D. Laws ch. 83 § 5. At that time, on appeal “de novo” from a decision of the board of county commissioners, the district court “heard testimony, received exhibits, and made its decision as it would in any trial to the court. The court reached its decision without regard to the findings and decision of the Board of County Commissioners.” Berger v. County of Morton, 275 N.W.2d 315, 319 (N.D.1979).
Since that time, faced directly with' the issue of the separation of powers doctrine and the prohibition against delegating to the judiciary duties which are essentially administrative in character, we have concluded that the Legislature cannot provide that the court should substitute its judgment for that of the board of county commissioners and we limited the “de novo” appeal, as applied to the judicial review of decisions of a board of county commissioners, to a trial to determine whether or not the board acted arbitrarily, capriciously or unreasonably. Shaw v. Burleigh County, 286 N.W.2d 792 (N.D.1979). Thus the appeal to the district court no longer involves the unfettered judicial review that was contemplated in Olson, supra, when this Court concluded that an appeal was the method wherein the issue would be fairly litigated. See NDCC § 11-11-43, as amended, and Shaw, supra. For this reason, I agree with the rationale of the Kansas Court, and the result of the majority in this case, for the limited purpose of litigat*601ing contractual or quasi-contractual claims against the county. But I do not believe the majority opinion should be read as impairing the requirement of an appeal in all instances in which the county commissioners are acting as more than an impartial tribunal.
Trinity Hospital Association v. City of Minot, 76 N.W.2d 916 (N.D.1956), may be distinguished. In that case the hospital and two doctors sought to recover from the city for professional services to a person brought to the hospital in the custody of a city police officer. The Court reversed the judgment for the plaintiffs and held that a police officer of a city has no power to create a liability against the city upon contract, express or implied, for medical services or hospital care furnished to a person in official custody. The Court concluded that persons furnishing such services or care may not recover from the city therefor in the absence of an agreement, acceptance or ratification on the part of the governing body and no recovery is permitted upon any theory of quantum meruit or implied contract. The issue of the nature of the remedy was not discussed by the Court. Although bills for the services were duly presented to the city council and disallowed pursuant to sections 40-01-12 and 40-01-13, NDCC, there is, contrary to the statutes governing counties, no provision for appealing the decision of the city council to district court.
Finally, I note there are lurking procedural questions which the majority opinion need not consider in this instance but which may well be the focus of appeal in other instances. Here there was a claim filed with the county by the hospital, a denial of the claim by the county, followed by a suit against the county by the hospital. Is the filing of a claim and a denial thereof a condition precedent to institution of suit against a county? If, as here, a claim is filed and denied, may the claimant pursue an appeal as well as file an independent action against the county and take the most favorable decision of the two proceedings? Although I assume the answer to both questions is No, they have not been determined in this case.
ERICKSTAD, C.J., concurs.