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Casey v. Grayson County Board of Education2/14/2003
TO BE PUBLISHED
OPINION REVERSING AND REMANDING
Joseph W. Casey appeals a summary judgment granted in favor of the Grayson County Board of Education (Board of Education) dismissing his personal injury claim allegedly caused by the negligent operation of a forklift by an employee of the Board of Education. The court determined the doctrine of sovereign immunity barred the claim even though the Board of Education had purchased liability insurance to cover the specific situation. We opine that the language of KRS 160.310 contains an overwhelming implication that suit may be filed against the Board of Education, but that any judgment would be solely enforceable against the insurance carrier, not to exceed policy limits. Hence, we reverse and remand.
After making some repairs and renovations, the Board of Education conducted its annual auction to dispose of the used materials which it had declared surplus. The proceeds from the auction were deposited entirely back into the general operating fund of the Board of Education. Joseph Casey (Casey) claims that in December of 1998, while he was assisting a Board of Education employee load his truck, the employee negligently operated a forklift which resulted in some doors falling off the fork lift and striking Casey, causing low back injuries. For purposes of the summary judgment motion, the court assumed Casey was injured and that the injury was caused by the negligence of the Board of Education's employee. The Board of Education had liability insurance for its employees' negligent operation of mobile equipment, including a forklift.
On appeal, Casey contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because the sale and loading of surplus material was a proprietary function as opposed to a governmental function; and that governmental immunity is waived under KRS 67.186(3) to the extent of policy limits. Both sides cite the recent Supreme Court decisions of Yanero v. Davis, Ky., 65 S.W.3d 510 (2001) and Reyes v. Hardin County, Ky., 55 S.W.3d 337 (2001), as controlling.
Our Supreme Court, in Yanero, revisited sovereign immunity, governmental immunity, and official immunity. Yanero, 65 S.W.3d at 527, held that a school board enjoyed the protection of governmental immunity and cannot be sued in tort for any negligence in the performance of that function as long as it was performing a governmental function. Casey asserts that selling surplus material is a proprietary function, not a governmental function, which subjects the Board of Education to tort liability. In Yanero, the Court distinguished between governmental and proprietary functions by asking whether the particular activity was"a function integral to state government." Id. at 520, quoting Kentucky Center for the Arts Corp. v. Berns, Ky., 801 S.W.2d 327, 332 (1990). Yanero concluded that the organization of school athletic teams was an integral function of a school board and thus a governmental function entitling the board to immunity from liability for torts suffered by players. Inherent in this decision is that the governmental function of the school board includes more than teaching academics. Indeed, as early as 1912, the highest court of our Commonwealth recognized that the term"for local school purposes" included the building, maintenance, repair, improvement, and the equipment of schools. See Shanklin v. Boyd, 146 Ky. 460, 142 S.W. 1041 (1912).
Section 183 of our present Kentucky Constitution requires the General Assembly provide for an efficient system of common schools. Chapter 160 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes creates school districts and authorizes boards of education to run the operation. KRS Chapter 162 governs school pr
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