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Laney v. Fairview City8/9/2002
aintain that the district court erred in concluding that the City is entitled to discretionary function immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10.
ANALYSIS
We note the long-standing principle that "unnecessary decisions are to be avoided and that the courts should pass upon the constitutionality of a statute only when such a determination is essential to the decision in a case." Hoyle v. Monson, 606 P.2d 240, 242 (Utah 1980).
If the district court erred in concluding that the City was immune from suit under the statute, there will be no need to address the constitutional issue before us. We therefore address the statutory interpretation question first.
I. DISCRETIONARY FUNCTION IMMUNITY UNDER THE UTAH GOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY ACT
The appellants argue that the district court erred in granting the City's motion for summary judgment based on its conclusion that the City's omissions to not increase the height of the power lines, to not insulate the lines, and to not provide warning signs near the lines, were immune from suit under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act.
A. Standard of Review
Summary judgment is appropriate only when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and . . . the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, as we do here, we review the district court's conclusions of law for correctness. See Taylor v. Ogden Sch. Dist., 927 P.2d 159, 162 (Utah 1996). We therefore grant no deference to the district court's conclusion that the City is entitled to discretionary function immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10.
B. Discretionary Function Immunity
Plaintiffs argue that maintenance of power lines is not a discretionary function entitled to immunity under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-10. Instead, they assert, the City owes a duty to exercise the highest degree of care to protect the public because it undertook to operate and maintain power lines. The City, on the other hand, contends that decisions to use city funds to improve existing power lines, decisions to raise the height of the lines, to insulate them, or to provide additional warnings, constitute the exercise of a discretionary function. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the City's decisions or omissions--regarding the height and insulation of the power lines, and adjacent warning signs--are discretionary functions for which sovereign immunity has not been waived under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act.
As noted above, we must address three questions in determining whether a governmental entity is immune from suit under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act. First, we must address whether the City's operation of power lines is a governmental function and therefore immunized from suit by the general grant of immunity contained in section 63-30-3(1). See Ledfors v. Emery County Sch. Dist., 849 P.2d 1162, 1164 (Utah 1993). Second, if the operation of power lines is a governmental function, we must determine whether some other section of the Act has waived the blanket immunity in section 63-30-3(1). See id. Finally, if the blanket immunity has been waived, we must determine whether the Act contains an exception to that waiver which results in a retention of immunity against the particular claim asserted by the plaintiffs in this case. See id.
We answer the first question, does the City's operation of power lines constitute a governmental function, in the affirmative. Section 63-30-3(1) states, "Except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter, all governmental entities are immune from suit for any inju
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