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Pauley v. Reinoehl12/17/2003
(Consolidated)
Submitted: June 16, 2003
Upon appeal from the Superior Court. AFFIRMED.
In this appeal from a grant of summary judgment in a personal injury case arising from an auto accident involving a Delaware State Police vehicle we consider whether the General Assembly, by passing the State Tort Claims Act (STC) or the Emergency Vehicle Statute (EVS), intended to waive completely the State's sovereign immunity. A complete waiver of sovereign immunity is inconsistent with the purpose reflected in the title of the STC. This Court has ruled that any doubt about the construction of the STC should be resolved in the State's favor and, therefore, we hold that the STC does not completely waive the State's sovereign immunity.
We also hold that the EVS does not completely waive the State's sovereign immunity. Subsection (d) of the EVS deals only with the waiver of governmental immunity, not sovereign immunity. If the General Assembly intended subsection (d) to waive completely the State's sovereign immunity, it would have done so expressly. A plain reading of the EVS, as well as a survey of the law of other jurisdictions, supports our view that the terms "sovereign immunity" and "governmental immunity" have distinct and separate meanings. Because the trial judge correctly resolved in the State's favor any reasonable doubt about the General Assembly's intent, he did not err by granting Appellees' Motion for Summary Judgment. We, therefore, AFFIRM.
I.
Appellants, the Pauley Plaintiffs, brought suit in the Superior Court to recover for injuries from an auto accident, which also resulted in the death of a passenger in the Pauley vehicle. Appellants claimed that Appellee, Kimberly A. Reinoehl's (a state police officer) negligence or gross negligence caused the accident. In addition, they claimed that Appellees, the State Institutional Defendants, are liable as Reinoehl's employer and the owner of the police car. The Appellants further claimed that the state police negligently trained and supervised Reinoehl and that their independent negligence also proximately caused the accident.
It is important to note that on the date of the accident, the State had available insurance that provided a maximum of $1,000,000 coverage per accident. A portion of this $1,000,000 limit has been used to settle the passenger's family's wrongful death claim. The State Defendants offered the remaining insurance coverage to settle the Pauley Plaintiffs' claim, to no avail. All Defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming immunity from any liability above the amount of the remaining available coverage. The trial judge granted all motions for summary judgment. The State Defendants' Order granting summary judgment was subject to the State tendering the Pauley Plaintiffs all remaining insurance proceeds. The Pauley Plaintiffs filed this appeal.
II.
The doctrine of sovereign immunity protects the State from suit unless a law enacted by the General Assembly waives the State's immunity. All parties agree that the State is protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity unless a waiver has occurred. The State admits that it has waived an amount up to $1,000,000 under its self-insurance program (18 Del. C. ch. 65) ("State Insurance Program"). This Court has confirmed that sovereign immunity is waived to the extent any risk or loss is covered by the State Insurance Program. The Appellants contend, however, that their recovery should not be limited to the State's insurance coverage, for two reasons. First, the STC, 10 Del. C. 4001, completely waives sovereign immunity regardless of the amount of insurance made available in the program.
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