 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Tindley v. Salt Lake City School District5/17/2005
reject plaintiffs' constitutional challenges to the cap. Plaintiffs responded with a cross-motion for summary judgment. The district court granted the District's motion for summary judgment, finding the cap constitutional and dismissing plaintiffs' claims with prejudice. This appeal followed.
ANALYSIS
Historically, the ability to sue the State of Utah or one of its political subdivisions rested on a determination of whether the governmental entity was protected by the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity. That changed in 1965, when the Utah Legislature enacted the Utah Governmental Immunity Act (the "Act"), which barred all causes of action against the state and its political subdivisions unless expressly authorized by statute. Specifically, the Act provided that "all governmental entities," including school districts, "are immune from suit for any injury which results from the exercise of a governmental function." Utah Code Ann. §§ 63-30-2(3), (7), -3(1) (1997 & Supp. 2000). Despite its broad grant of immunity, the Act expressly waived immunity for "injury proximately caused by a negligent act or omission of an employee committed within the scope of employment." Id. § 63-30-10 (1997). Judgments obtained pursuant to this waiver, however, were limited. The Act provided that if a judgment for damages for personal injury against a governmental entity, or an employee whom a governmental entity has a duty to indemnify, exceeds $250,000 for one person in any one occurrence, or $500,000 for two or more persons in any one occurrence, the court shall reduce the judgment to that amount.
Id. § 63-30-34.
Plaintiffs argue that this statutory limitation on judgments violates article I, section 11 of the Utah Constitution, commonly referred to as the open courts clause. Plaintiffs also argue that the cap violates the due process and uniform operation of laws provisions of the Utah Constitution, as well as the equal protection guarantee of the United States Constitution. Finally, plaintiffs assert that the cap violates article XVI, section 5 of the Utah Constitution, which guarantees the right to recover damages for injuries resulting in death.
"The issue of ' hether a statute is constitutional is a question of law, which we review for correctness, giving no deference to the trial court.'" Grand County v. Emery County, 2002 UT 57, 6, 52 P.3d 1148 (quoting State v. Daniels, 2002 UT 2, 30, 40 P.3d 611). Moreover, as this court has recognized, the challenged statute "is presumed constitutional, and we resolve any reasonable doubts in favor of constitutionality." Utah Sch. Bds. Ass'n v. State Bd. of Educ., 2001 UT 2, 9, 17 P.3d 1125 (internal quotations omitted). Because we conclude that plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that the cap violates either the Utah or the United States Constitution, we affirm the summary judgment entered in favor of the District.
I. THE OPEN COURTS CLAUSE: ARTICLE I, SECTION 11 OF THE UTAH CONSTITUTION
We first address plaintiffs' claim that the cap violates the open courts clause found in article I, section 11 of the Utah Constitution. That provision provides:
All courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done to him in his person, property or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, which shall be administered without denial or unnecessary delay; and no person shall be barred from prosecuting or defending before any tribunal in this State, by himself or counsel, any civil cause to which he is a party.
Utah Const. art. I, § 11.
The open courts clause is not merely a procedural protection. Rather, this court has held that th
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Utah Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|