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MATTER OF ESTATE OF VOSS9/18/1996
Aliccia Voss filed a claim against the State with the Iowa State Appeal Board seeking compensation for the death of her adult son, Bryan Voss. The Board denied her claim. After her subsequent appointment as the administrator of her son's estate, she brought this wrongful death action against the appellees, State of Iowa, Iowa Department of Transportation, and Steve Vannoni. The district court dismissed Voss's lawsuit for failure to exhaust her administrative remedies under the Iowa Tort Claims Act. See Iowa Code ch. 669 (1993). We affirm on the basis that Voss's administrative claim, filed in her individual capacity, did not exhaust the administrative remedies available to the personal representative of her son's estate.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
In February 1993, Bryan Voss died in an automobile accident. Four months later his mother, Aliccia Voss, submitted a claim to the State Appeal Board. See Iowa Code § 669.3. She sought an unspecified amount of damages from the State for the wrongful death of her son. The Board denied her claim.
Subsequently, on January 12, 1995, Voss was appointed the administrator of her son's estate. She then commenced this lawsuit in her representative capacity, seeking damages from the State, the Iowa Department of Transportation and state employee, Steve Vannoni, for her son's wrongful death.
The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, claiming Voss had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. See Iowa R. Civ. P. 104(a). They relied on three arguments to support this contention: (1) Voss's administrative claim was deficient because she provided insufficient information about the accident and damages and failed to state the precise dollar amount she sought; (2) Voss had no capacity to make the claim because she was not the administrator of her son's estate when she filed the claim with the Board; and (3) Voss did not file a separate claim against the state employee as required by Iowa Administrative Code rule 543-1.4(1) (1988). The Department of Transportation sought dismissal on the additional ground it was immune from liability under the Act. See Iowa Code § 669.16. The district court granted the defendants' motion, ruling in their favor on all grounds urged with one exception. The court found it unnecessary to address the lack-of-capacity argument because its rulings on the other issues disposed of the defendants' motion.
Voss appeals. On appeal, she challenges only the dismissal of her claim against the State. Because we are persuaded Voss, in her individual capacity, had no authority to make an administrative claim for her son's wrongful death, no valid claim was submitted to the Board. Consequently, we conclude Voss, as the administrator of the estate, failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. Because our decision on this issue requires affirmance, we need not consider [553 NW2d Page 880]
whether the claim form submitted by Voss was sufficiently specific.
II. Scope of Review.
We review the district court's ruling on a motion to dismiss for correction of errors of law. Estate of Dyer v. Krug, 533 N.W.2d 221, 222 (Iowa 1995). A decision to sustain or overrule a motion to dismiss must rest on legal grounds. Id.
III. Did Voss's Filing of an Administrative Claim in Her Individual Capacity Exhaust the Administrative Remedies Available to the Estate?
A. Exhaustion requirement. A tort claim against the State must first be presented to the State Appeal Board pursuant to the procedures detailed in Iowa Code chapter 669, Iowa's Tort Claims Act. Swanger v. State, 445 N.W.2d 344, 346 (Iowa 1989); see Iowa Code § 669.5. We have held exhau
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