Court Opinion

ID: 9710696
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:15:24.236656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:59.024123
License: Public Domain

*282Johnson, J.,
dissenting.
It is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that so it was laid down in the time of Henry IV. It is still more revolting if the grounds upon which it was laid down have vanished long since, and the rule simply persists from blind imitation of the past.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Path of the Law, 10 Harv. L. Rev. 457, 469 (1897).
.The judicially created doctrine perpetuated by today’s decision denies plaintiff a legal remedy for his injuries solely because the manhole cover he ran over happens to service only the Town’s street and not its sewer system. The majority feels compelled to reaffirm the doctrine, one universally condemned for its unjust results and long-ago discarded by the vast majority of jurisdictions, not because it makes any sense to do so, but rather because it is longstanding and the Legislature has not acted to abolish it.
Neither reason should constrain this Court from acting to abrogate its own laws that no longer have a place in a legal system grounded on modern principles of tort liability emphasizing risk sharing and collective security. This Court, not the Legislature, created general municipal immunity and its accompanying governmental/proprietary distinction, and thus this Court has not only the right but the duty to abolish these concededly unjust laws. No past enactment of the Legislature prevents us from doing so. Rather -than explicitly or implicitly endorsing general municipal liability and the governmental/ proprietary distinction, the Legislature has enacted statutes that, in most instances, merely sought to limit these judicially created doctrines.
I would abolish general municipal immunity along with the governmental/proprietary distinction, but continue to protect local government bodies from being sued for their legislative, judicial and high-level policy decisions, and for their failure to follow up on regulatory duties imposed to protect the general public. Apart from the instant case, I would implement these changes prospectively to give towns the time to adjust their insurance coverage and the Legislature an opportunity to address the issue of municipal immunity, in the event it elects to do so.
I.
Municipal immunity is a common-law doctrine associated with sovereign immunity but arising out of a 1788 English case, Russell v. *283Inhabitants of Devon, 100 Eng. Rep. 359, in which the court dismissed an action by an individual claiming that the failure of county inhabitants to repair a bridge caused damages to his wagon. The decision, which came at a time when government as a corporate entity was still in a nebulous state, turned primarily on the fact that the inhabitants of the unincorporated county had no public fund from which to pay the plaintiff. Holding that the law would not impose the burden on individual citizens, the court opined that “it is better that an individual should sustain an injury than that the public should suffer an inconvenience.” Id. at 362. Although Russell was quickly distinguished into oblivion by the English courts (governmental immunity is not the general rule in England), most American courts in the first half of the nineteenth century, beginning with Mower v. Leiscester, 9 Mass. 247 (1812), adopted the holding in Russell, notwithstanding that the towns involved in those suits were incorporated and had access to public funds. See Muskopf v. Corning Hosp. Dist., 359 P.2d 457, 459 (Cal. 1961); Molitor v. Kaneland Community Unit Dist. No. 302, 163 N.E.2d 89, 91 (Ill. 1959); Long v. City of Weirton, 214 S.E.2d 832, 852-53 (W Va. 1975).
But because general municipal immunity is contrary to the basic legal concept that liability follows negligence and to the spirit of constitutional provisions entitling every person to a legal remedy for injuries suffered, the courts continually looked for ways to limit its reach. Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 645-46 n.28 (1980). The principal limitation became the governmental/proprietary distinction. Under that doctrine, municipalities are liable for activities engaged in pursuant to their corporate or proprietary functions serving the needs of their inhabitants, but are immune from liability for activities engaged in pursuant to their governmental functions serving the demands of the state. 18 E. McQuillin, The Law of Municipal Corporations § 53.23, at 304-05 (3d ed. 1993). Although today it is easy to see why courts have been unable to draw such lines, this distinction may have made sense in a time when municipal corporations were seen as semi-private associations chartered by the state to provide local inhabitants with services that no government had previously performed. Id. § 53.02.10, at 132.
The courts justified the distinction by arguing that local governments should not be liable for activities by which they derived no profit, that public funds should not be diverted to compensate victims for the torts of governmental employees, and that it was not reasonable to hold municipalities liable for torts committed in the *284performance of duties imposed by the state. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 895C cmt. c (1979). Each of these rationales was roundly criticized by commentators and courts alike, who pointed out the terrible inequities and inconsistencies that resulted from application of a doctrine the United States Supreme Court has labeled “inherently unsound.” Indian Towing Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 61, 65 (1955) (refusing to enter nongovernmental/governmental “quagmire,” which “has long plagued the law of municipal corporations” and inevitably led to “chaos” and “irreconcilable conflict”); see Long, 214 S.E.2d at 856 (describing governmental/proprietary dichotomy as “nightmarish”); E. McQuillin, supra, § 53.24.10, at 315 (attempts to fit particular conduct into one of two categories have led to inconsistent, artificial, and inequitable results); W. Keeton, Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 131, at 1051-52, 1054 (5th ed. 1984) (reasons cited in support of municipal immunity and governmental/ proprietary distinction are not sound; there is no rational way to categorize activities of government employees as “governmental” or “proprietary” because “the distinction itself is basically unworkable”); 3 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 25.07, at 460 (1958) (governmental/proprietary distinction “is probably one of the most unsatisfactory known to the law, for it has caused confusion not only among the various jurisdictions but almost always within each jurisdiction”); Annotation, Municipal Immunity from Liability for Torts, 60 A.L.R.2d 1198, 1203 (1958) (attempts to apply distinction “have led to many confusing and contradictory decisions, evoking extensive and bitter criticism from both the courts and legal writers”).
As a result of this criticism, most jurisdictions abrogated general municipal immunity between the late 1950s and the early 1980s, recognizing that the community at large rather than the individual should bear the risk of injury resulting from the negligent conduct of government employees. See, e.g., Parish v. Pitts, 429 S.W.2d 45, 49 (Ark. 1968) (considered conclusion of legal commentators is that burden resulting from governmental enterprises taken for benefit of community at large should be treated as administrative cost and spread among public receiving benefit of services); Brinkman v. City of Indianapolis, 231 N.E.2d 169, 172 (Ind. Ct. App. 1967) (citing trend toward spreading risk and requiring municipalities, like private corporations, to insure themselves); Williams v. City of Detroit, 111 N.W2d 1, 23 (Mich. 1961) (abrogating municipal immunity based on law’s “transition from individualism to collective security”); Restate*285ment, supra, § 895C cmts. d and f (current of criticism is that losses due to injuries resulting from tortious conduct of governmental employees should fall upon municipality as cost of administering government and be borne by public rather injured person); 18 E. McQuillin, supra, § 53.02, at 126 and § 53.02.10, at 133. These judicial decisions were often followed by legislative enactments addressing municipal immunity. E. McQuillin, supra, § 53.02.10, at 133. For the most part, those few jurisdictions that retained general municipal immunity and the governmental/proprietary distinction abandoned any pretext of extolling the merits of the doctrines, but rather contended, as the majority does today, that the law should remain in place because of its antiquity. See id. (some jurisdictions reluctantly adhered to governmental immunity “out of sheer weight of judicial authority”).
To a large extent, Vermont’s history of municipal immunity and the governmental/proprietary distinction parallels the above history. Initially, municipal immunity seemed to have been presumed rather than declared in Vermont. In Baxter v. Winooski Turnpike Co., 22 Vt. 114, 123 (1849), this Court took it to be “well settled” that an individual could not maintain a tort action against a town unless a statute had conferred the right to maintain that particular action. In support of this common-law principle, the Court agreed with Russell “that it is better that an individual should sustain an injury, than that the public should suffer an inconvenience.” Id. at 123; see Welsh v. Village of Rutland, 56 Vt. 228, 234 (1883) (since Russell, settled common-law principle has been that individuals may not sustain actions against towns based on misconduct or nonfeasance of public officers).
Thirty-four years later, in Welsh, 56 Vt. at 234, this Court declared that the more “modern” ground supporting municipal immunity was “that these quasi corporations are mere instrumentalities for the administration of public government and the collection and disbursement of public moneys, raised by taxation for public uses, and which cannot lawfully be applied to the liquidation of damages caused by wrongful acts of their officers.” Applying this rationale, the Court concluded that general municipal immunity should extend only “so far as the acts done are governmental and political in their character and solely for the public benefit and protection,” but not for acts done pursuant to “private franchise powers.” Id. at 234-35; see Winn v. Village of Rutland, 52 Vt. 481, 491-92 (1880) (municipalities are not liable for damages based on conduct arising from municipalities’ *286state-imposed public duties, as opposed to conduct stemming from powers given in charter to benefit municipalities’ inhabitants). Ironically, some of the language in Welsh speaks in terms of immunizing only legislative, quasi-judicial or high-level planning and policy decisions, 56 Vt. at 234-35, but this reasonable approach was not followed there or in later cases. And so this Court commenced its much-maligned adherence to the governmental/proprietary dichotomy.
As in other jurisdictions, this Court early on encountered “considerable difficulty ... in drawing the line which separates governmental activities from those of a corporate or proprietary nature.” Farmer v. Poultney School Dist., 113 Vt. 147, 150, 30 A.2d 89, 91 (1943). Not surprisingly, our attempts to apply this doctrine have been fraught with artificial distinctions and inconsistent and inequitable results. See Marshall v. Town of Brattleboro, 121 Vt. 417, 423, 160 A.2d 762, 766 (1960) (application of doctrine has produced anomalous results); Town of Stockbridge v. State Hwy. Bd., 125 Vt. 366, 369, 216 A.2d 44, 46 (1965) (governmental/proprietary distinction is “not clearly defined” because basis of distinction is difficult to state and thus no established rule exists for determination of what belongs to which class). For instance, as our law stands now, relief may be obtained from towns (1) when the plaintiff is injured because of ice caused by a leaking water main, but not because of ice caused by water escaping from a fire hydrant during a routine thawing operation conducted by town firefighters, see Marshall, 121 Vt. at 423, 160 A.2d at 766; (2) when the plaintiff is injured during the construction of a public playground, but not during the operation of a mechanical rope ski tow in a municipal park, compare Lemieux v. City of St. Albans, 112 Vt. 512, 516, 28 A.2d 373, 375 (1942), with Marshall, 121 Vt. at 425, 160 A.2d at 767-68; and (3) when the plaintiff is injured while driving over a hole caused by the town’s repair of a sewer or water line, but not while driving over a hole caused by the town’s repair of a street, see Hudson v. Town of East Montpelier, 161 Vt. 168, 178 n.3, 638 A.2d 561, 567 n.3 (1993).
Indeed, the latter anomaly is present in the instant case. The parties debated before the superior court whether the manhole cover that plaintiff ran over was indirectly connected to the sewer system via a storm drain system, in which case plaintiff could seek relief from the Town, or whether the manhole was solely associated with maintenance of the street system, in which case the governmental/ proprietary distinction would bar plaintiff from seeking relief from the Town for his injuries. Because the superior court determined that *287the manhole was connected only to street repair, the majority’s decision means that plaintiff has no remedy against the Town. Thus, the majority reaffirms a judicially created doctrine that makes plaintiff’s right to a legal remedy dependent on the function of the manhole that caused his injury. Cf. Whitney v. City of Worcester, 366 N.E.2d 1210, 1215 (Mass. 1977) (person who has been run over by city truck can hardly be expected to appreciate fine nicety of distinction between various functions in which truck driver may have been engaged).
In the majority’s view, we must turn a blind eye toward these inequities because our doctrine creating them has been around a long time and has been accepted by the Legislature. The majority adopts the Town’s position that the Legislature has explicitly and implicitly endorsed general municipal immunity and the governmental/proprietary distinction by (1) enacting various statutes since at least 1797 that make towns liable for only certain types of tortious acts, e.g., Vt. Rev. Stat. §§ 13-14, at 355 (1797) (towns are liable for damages resulting from their failure to maintain roads and bridges); (2) enacting in 1960, and later amending, a statute that waives municipal immunity to the extent that municipalities purchase liability insurance, see 29 V.S.A. § 1403; (3) enacting in 1961 a tort claims act that addressed state but not municipal liability, see 12 V.S.A. §§ 5601-5606; and (4) enacting in 1986 a statute providing that the participation of towns in intermunicipality insurance agreements is not a waiver of sovereign immunity under 29 V.S.A. § 1403, see 24 V.S.A. § 4946. In taking this position, the majority relies on similar past decisions by this Court declining to abrogate municipal immunity. See Lomberg v. Crowley, 138 Vt. 420, 424, 415 A.2d 1324, 1327 (1980) (§ 1403 is clear legislative recognition of judicially created doctrine of governmental immunity); Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont, Inc. v. City of Winooski Hous. Auth., 137 Vt. 517, 519-20, 408 A.2d 649, 650-51 (1979) (accord); Town of Milton v. Brault, 132 Vt. 377, 380, 320 A.2d 630, 632-33 (1974) (accord); Town of South Burlington v. American Fidelity Co., 125 Vt. 348, 350, 215 A.2d 508, 510 (1965) (accord).
Notwithstanding our past disinclination to address the significant inequities caused by general municipal immunity and the governmental/proprietary distinction, we should do so now. See Molitor, 163 N.E.2d at 96 (upon determining that judicially created doctrine is unsound and unjust, court has duty to respond; courtroom doors were closed, and likewise may be opened, without legislative help); *288Enghauser Mfg. Co. v. Eriksson Eng’g, 451 N.E.2d 228, 230-31 (Ohio 1983) (court has not only power but duty to evaluate its own doctrine of municipal immunity in light of reason and logic, and actions, functions and duties of municipalities in twentieth century); see also Stone v. Arizona Highway Comm’n, 381 P.2d 107, 113 (Ariz. 1963) (reconsidering previous decisions that deferred issue to legislature, and concluding that court had power to abrogate judicially created immunity); Haney v. City of Lexington, 386 S.W.2d 738, 741 (Ky. 1964) (retracting earlier decision deferring to legislature on question of whether to abrogate judicially created immunity doctrine); Merrill v. City of Manchester, 332 A.2d 378, 382 (N.H. 1974) (reversing previously stated position that question of expanding municipal liability is matter for legislature); Ayala v. Philadephia Board of Pub. Educ., 305 A.2d 877, 886 (Fa. 1973) (abrogating governmental immunity notwithstanding suggestions in earlier decisions that legislature should take up issue).
The Legislature has never explicitly or implicitly endorsed general municipal immunity or the governmental/proprietary distinction. At best from the Town’s perspective, the Legislature has merely recognized the existence of the court-originated doctrine of municipal immunity and enacted statutes that, for the most part, limit its reach. See Molitor, 163 N.E.2d at 92 (statutes limiting reach of municipal liability do not demonstrate legislative adoption of general municipal immunity); Davies v. City of Bath, 364 A.2d 1269, 1271 (Me. 1976) (statutes intended to curtail harsh effects of municipal immunity did not transform doctrine from court-made rule to legislative policy); Kitto v. Minot Park District, 224 N.W.2d 795, 802 (N.D. 1974) (statutes restricting judicially created municipal immunity do not demonstrate legislative approval of doctrine). In contrast to its comprehensive treatment of state sovereign immunity in the Tort Claims Act, 12 V.S.A. §§ 5601-5606, the Legislature’s sporadic and patchwork response to the judicial doctrine of municipal immunity, designed for the most part to alleviate the doctrine’s harsh results, does not demonstrate its endorsement of general municipal immunity. See Parish, 429 S.W.2d at 48 (only comprehensive enactment encompassing entire field would warrant inference that legislature had adopted judicially created doctrine of municipal liability); Muskopf, 359 P.2d at 461 (absent comprehensive legislative enactment concerning municipal immunity, as opposed to sporadic statutes affecting doctrine, court is not precluded from abrogating judicially created doctrine). Ironically, it is possible that the Legislature has not acted *289to abolish or revamp municipal immunity and the accompanying governmental/proprietary distinction for reasons similar to those cited by the majority — a misplaced deference to a longstanding court doctrine. See Haney, 386 S.W2d at 741 (legislature might expect courts themselves to correct unjust rule that was judicially created); Jackson v. City of Florence, 320 So. 2d 68, 73 (Ala. 1975) (accord); Merrill, 332 A.2d at 382 (accord).
In addition to its belief that the Legislature has endorsed general municipal immunity and the governmental/proprietary distinction, the majority states that the Legislature is better suited to consider the complex public policy issues surrounding municipal immunity. This may be true, but it should not preclude this Court from abolishing its own universally condemned doctrine while affording the Legislature time to step in and address the subject, if it so chooses. See Long, 214 S.E.2d at 859 (although it would be preferable for legislature to speak comprehensively on subject, court should not perpetuate bad law of judicial origin pending fortuity of legislative action). The case law demonstrates that for whatever reasons — perhaps the lack of a powerful or unified voice from persons who have been injured through the negligence of government employees — legislatures in most jurisdictions have not comprehensively addressed issues surrounding municipal immunity until the courts acted first. See E. McQuillin, supra, § 53.02.10, at 133; W Keeton, supra, § 131 n.40, at 1055 (judicial decisions initiated shifts from governmental immunity). I suspect that in Vermont, as elsewhere, the Legislature will not act until this Court acts.
II.
While it is clear that general municipal immunity under the governmental/proprietary dichotomy is bad law that should be abolished, the more difficult question is what, if anything, should remain of municipal immunity? Even those courts declaring that they were abrogating municipal immunity stated that municipalities would continue to be immune for their acts or omissions connected with legislative, judicial, and high-level executive policy decisions. W. Keeton, supra, § 131, at 1052; e.g., Nieting v. Blondell, 235 N.W.2d 597, 603 (Minn. 1975); Merrill, 332 A.2d at 383; Enghauser, 451 N.E.2d at 232; McCall v. Batson, 329 S.E.2d 741, 742 (S.C. 1985). Eventually, in some jurisdictions immunity became dependent on whether the government’s acts or omissions were deemed discretionary rather than ministerial, or planning rather than operational, or *290whether they were analogous to the duties of private individuals rather than uniquely governmental in nature. See E. McQuillin, supra, §§ 53.04.10 and 53.04.20, at 156-57 and 162-63. Sometimes these new dichotomies resulted in the courts creating, over time, governmental immunities more sweeping than when the old governmerital/proprietary distinction had been in place. E.g., Gas Service Co. v. City of London, 687 S.W.2d 144, 147 (Ky. 1985) (municipal immunity was abrogated fifteen years earlier as “judicially created monstrosity,” but gradually reestablished itself under governmental/ proprietary distinction to point where it exceeded its original scope).
Rather than focus on formalistic labels that merely serve as conclusions reached after consideration of the relevant factors, see Hudson, 161 Vt. at 171, 638 A.2d at 563, we should examine the policy considerations surrounding the issue of governmental immunity. Each'of the immunity tests, whether the emphasis is on the discretion of the actor, the level of the decision, or the nature of the conduct, is related to the others and revolves around the same public policy considerations, which in turn, stem primarily from separation-of-powers concerns. To preserve separate and coequal branches of government that- best serve the public’s interests, government officials must feel that they can use free and independent judgment, without the threat of liability hanging over them, regarding decisions involving the balancing of priorities or the allocation of resources. See id. at 173-74, 638 A.2d at 564; Peavler v. Monroe County Bd. of Comm’rs, 528 N.E.2d 40, 44-45 (Ind. 1988) (separation-of-powers doctrine forecloses courts from reviewing political, social and economic actions within province of coordinate branches of government; courts are ill-equipped to review, in context of tort law, government’s policy decisions involving assessment of competing priorities and weighing of budgetary considerations or allocation of scarce resources); E. McQuillin, supra, §§ 53.04.10 and 53.04.20, at 156-57 and 162 (tort law does not provide adequate framework to analyze governmental actions where Teal questions are not negligence, due care, or reasonableness, but rather social wisdom, political practicability, and economic expediency; decisions requiring balancing of priorities and weighing of budgetary considerations are kinds of political acts that courts ought not to second-guess and that are not readily judged by traditional tort standards).
The goal should be to place municipalities on an equal footing with private corporate entities with respect to responsibility for injuries caused by the common torts of their employees, but to shield them *291from liability for acts and omissions that are policy-based or that are adjudicative, legislative, or regulatory in nature. See Gorrell v. City of Parsons, 576 P.2d 616, 620 (Kan. 1978). The American Law Institute summarizes this position in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 895C(2), which provides that local government entities are immune from tort liability only for their acts or omissions “constituting (a) the exercise of a legislative or judicial function, and (b) the exercise of an administrative function involving the determination of fundamental governmental policy.”
The Restatement also recognizes that some courts have considered quasi-judicial or quasi-legislative regulatory and enforcement activities to fall within § 895C. Restatement, supra, § 895C cmt. g; see, e.g., Bolden v. City of Covington, 803 S.W.2d 577, 581 (Ky. 1991) (municipality not liable for failure to enforce fire code safety violation, which is quasi-judicial regulatory enforcement activity); DeBry v. Noble, 889 P.2d 428, 441 (Utah 1995) (municipality not liable for injuries allegedly caused by licensing or inspection decisions). These courts seek to protect municipalities that have taken on a substantial number of regulatory duties for the protection of the general public from being sued for failing (by not exercising those self-imposed or state-imposed duties) to prevent persons from injuring themselves or being injured by others. See Gas Service, 687 S.W.2d at 149. Our case law in analogous contexts supports this position. See Andrew v. State, 165 Vt. 252, 258-60, 682 A.2d 1387, 1391-92 (1996) (state not liable under tort claims act’s private analog test for its alleged negligent inspection of private workplace); Johnson v. State, 165 Vt. 588, 589, 682 A.2d 961, 963 (1996) (state agency not liable to purchasers of motel based on complaint alleging negligent issuance of lodging license to prior owners); Corbin v. Buchanan, 163 Vt. 141, 144, 657 A.2d 170, 172 (1994) (no private cause of action exists against municipality for failing to enforce fire code regulation aimed at protection of general public); Denis Bail Bonds, Inc. v. State, 159 Vt. 481, 489, 622 A.2d 495, 499-500 (1993) (state regulatory agency not liable under tort claims act’s private analog test for allegedly failing to warn plaintiff of complaints filed with agency regarding plaintiff’s agent).
In light of the prior discussion, I would abrogate general municipal immunity and the governmental/proprietary distinction, and adopt Restatement § 895C in its place. In doing so, I would acknowledge our continued support for the position stated in Corbin (and analogous case law construing the private analog test) that government *292entities are not liable for their failure to enforce regulations adopted to protect the public at large.* I would not, however, follow the superior court’s lead and adopt the tort claims act’s private analog test because that test, which has not proven to be a model of clarity itself, is part of a comprehensive statute that includes several limitations and exceptions. Inconsistencies and inequities could result from following the test in the context of municipal immunity cases without applying the accompanying statutorily imposed limitations and exceptions.
Without question, the Restatement approach would not provide the Town with immunity in the present case, which concerns a common tort scenario that implicates neither legislative or judicial functions, nor high-level policy decisions or regulatory activities. Of course, § 895C’s general principles would have to be refined in future cases by examining and considering various fact patterns while keeping in mind the underlying principles that support limited exceptions to general municipal liability. Although it will not be easy to set forth on a case-by-case basis a principled and cohesive doctrine that is both fair and consistent, it will be far better than allowing to stand a doctrine acknowledged to be inequitable and inconsistent. Because of *293its fact-finding power and its ability to weigh social and economic consequences outside a particular adjudicative setting, the Legislature may well be more suited than this Court to address comprehensively issues surrounding municipal immunity; however, this fact should not, and does not, prevent us from acting to rid ourselves of an unfair law that we created.
We could defer to the Legislature’s ultimate authority in this area by abrogating general municipal immunity and abolishing the governmental/proprietary distinction prospectively, as many other courts have done, to allow municipalities time to adjust their insurance coverage and to allow the Legislature an opportunity either to enact comprehensive legislation on municipal immunity, to include municipalities within the Tort Claims Act, or to impose other legislative limitations on municipal liability, if it so chooses. See Becker v. Beaudoin, 261 A.2d 896, 901 (R.I.1970) (while courts need not wait on legislature to repudiate unsound judicial doctrine, they should provide legislature opportunity to weigh in on issue more suited to its control); Restatement, supra, § 895B cmt. f (stating types of legislatively imposed limitations on governmental liability, including damage limits and notice restrictions).
The courts that have abrogated general municipal immunity have differed on whether to apply their holding prospectively or retroactively. Some courts have followed the general rule of retrospective application, e.g., Stone, 381 P.2d at 112; others have taken a “quasi-retroactive” approach that applies their holding only in pending cases in which the municipality is insured for damages stemming from the alleged tort, e.g., McCall, 329 S.E.2d at 742-43; perhaps the majority of jurisdictions have applied their holding “quasi-prospectively” — after a future date except for the case at hand, e.g., Evans v. Board of County Comm’rs, 482 P.2d 968, 972 (Colo. 1971); and, finally, other courts have taken a strict prospective approach, not even affording relief to the plaintiffs that brought the case, e.g., Becker, 261 A.2d at 902-03. I would favor a quasi-prospective approach that would afford relief to the instant plaintiff, but otherwise apply our holding from some future date, say July .1, 1998, after next year’s legislative session. This would allow the towns and the Legislature to react to the change in law, but would afford relief to the party challenging the current law.
III.
There can be no doubt that the effect of governmental immunity is “to sacrifice the injured citizen to the benefit of the public treasury.” *294Roman Catholic Diocese, 137 Vt. at 519, 408 A.2d at 650. This result is not acceptable under modern tort principles favoring collective security unless there are sound public policy reasons to support it. That is not the case under the laws we currently apply to determine whether municipal immunity exists. We have a responsibility to change those laws and to attempt to rectify the gross inequities that they impose on the people of this state. I would affirm the superior court’s decision to allow plaintiff to proceed against the Town, but rely on the grounds stated herein. See Hudson, 161 Vt. at 170, 638 A.2d at 563 (Supreme Court need not adopt trial court’s rationale in affirming its judgment); Shields v. Gerhart, 155 Vt. 141, 149 n.8, 582 A.2d 153, 158 n.8 (1990) (Supreme Court will reach issues beyond certified questions when they are fairly raised by order appealed from).

 Justice Dooley’s dissent misstates my position. It is simply not true that, like the majority, I have chosen merely to point out the deficiencies in possible approaches to municipal immunity and leave it for the Legislature to act. I have attempted to analyze the public policy considerations underlying municipal immunity and, based on those considerations, have stated that I would adopt the American Law Institute’s restatement of the law in this area, hardly a radical stand creating a crisis situation. I have not suggested, as Justice Dooley indicates, .that municipalities should be liable whenever the appropriate response of a government agent could have prevented a personal injury or adverse health consequence. Indeed, as I state above, I continue to support this Court’s position in Corbin v. Buchanan, 163 Vt. 141, 144, 657 A.2d 170, 172 (1994), that government entities are generally not liable for injuries that they allegedly could have prevented by enforcing regulations aimed at protecting the public at large. Regardless of whether Corbin and other cases recently decided by this Court fit within the sphere of the public-duty doctrine, they are consistent with the Restatement’s approach. See Andrew v. State, 165 Vt. 252, 258-60, 682 A.2d 1387, 1391-92 (1996) (state immune from suit based on negligent inspection of private workplace); Johnson v. State, 165 Vt. 588, 589, 682 A.2d 961, 963 (1996) (state immune from suit based on negligent issuance of lodging license); Corbin, 163 Vt. at 144, 657 A.2d at 172 (municipality immune from suit based on failure to enforce fire code regulation); Denis Bail Bonds, Inc. v. State, 159 Vt. 481, 489, 622 A.2d 495, 499-500 (1993) (state immune from suit based on failure to provide notice of complaints filed with state agency). In short, both Justice Dooley and I have stated what we would offer in place of general municipal immunity and have acknowledged that the Legislature is free to arrive at its own solution; the difference, in my view, is that I would start from a framework of principles, while Justice Dooley would simply adopt, with only a promise of future clarification, formalistic labels that are susceptible to a wide variety of interpretations depending on how broadly they are construed.