33 Conn. App. 832 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1994
In this negligence action, the plaintiff appeals from the judgment of the trial court (1) granting the named defendant’s motion for summary judgment,
The following facts are relevant to this appeal. On September 1,1989, a commuter train collided with the plaintiff’s vehicle at a railroad crossing in Danbury. As a result of the collision, the plaintiff sustained injuries. On January 10,1991, the plaintiff instituted this negligence action against the named defendant, Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company (Metro-North). The plaintiff was a Connecticut resident at the time of the accident. Metro-North operates a railroad service between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and New Haven with branch service to New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury.
On December 24,1991, Metro-North filed an answer and three special defenses. On September 25, 1992, Metro-North filed a motion for summary judgment
“[T]he granting of summary judgment by the trial court must meet well established standards. Practice Book § 384 provides that ‘[t]he judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and
On the basis of our independent review of the doctrine of sovereign immunity, we conclude that the trial court improperly granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court failed to make a threshold determination as to whether, as a matter of law, the defendant was entitled to claim sovereign immunity in this state. In making such a determination, the trial court is required to assess whether the action is, in effect, against the state,
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded with direction to deny the motion for summary judgment.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment filed by the named defendant, Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company. The two remaining defendants, Consolidated Rail Corporation and Peter O’Hara, are defending the plaintiff’s negligence action pending in the trial court.
Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company is authorized to do business in Connecticut and has a Connecticut agent for service. Metro-North also operates two other rail line services within the state of New York.
On November 6,1992, the trial court filed a memorandum of decision granting Metro-North’s motion for summary judgment without argument or the benefit of the plaintiffs brief. On November 16,1992, the plaintiff filed a motion to reargue, which the trial court granted on November 30, 1992. A second memorandum of decision was filed on January 19, 1993.
The New York Public Authorities Law § 1276 (2) (McKinney 1982) provides in pertinent part: “An action against the authority founded on tort shall not be commenced more than one year after the cause of action therefor shall have accrued . . . .”
In granting Metro-North’s motion for summary judgment, the trial court rejected the plaintiffs claim of estoppel. Because resolution of the plaintiffs first claim is dispositive of this appeal, we do not address the estoppel claim.
In determining whether an action was a suit against the state, the court in Robb v. Sutton, 147 Ill. App. 3d 710, 713, 498 N.E.2d 267 (1986), analyzed two factors, the issues involved and the relief sought. “[I]f a judgment for the plaintiff could operate to control the actions of the State or subject it to liability, it will then be deemed an action against the State, even though the State is not a named party.” Id.
A governmental body cannot avoid suit simply because of its governmental nature. “[W]hether any governmental entity is amenable to suit depends upon whether it is or is not part of the [state] . . . .” Specter v. Commonwealth, 462 Pa. 474, 478, 341 A.2d 481 (1975).
“In order for the doctrine [of sovereign immunity] to apply and immunity to attach, the relief asked must involve some direct or substantial interest of the state. (Lefebvre v. Somersworth Shoe Co., 93 N.H. 354, 357 [41 A.2d 924 (1945)]; see Morrill v. American Reserve Bond Co., 151 F. 305, 308-310 (1907); Ex parte State, 245 Ala. 193, [16 So. 2d 187 (1943)]; Fidelity & Deposit Co. v. Shaid, 103 W. Va. 432 [137 S.E. 878 (1927)] . . . .) Thus, even though the doctrine of sovereign immunity bars suits against the state and its agencies alike, that doctrine will not be applied where the state or governmental unit, although named as a defendant, is not an actual or interested adverse party.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Glassman v. Glassman, 309 N.Y. 436, 443, 131 N.E.2d 721 (1956).
In Glassman v. Glassman, 309 N.Y. 436, 444, 131 N.E.2d 721 (1956), the New York Court of Appeals held that the suit was not against the state because the state did not stand to lose or gain as a result of the litigation. The court ruled that in a suit against the state in which the doctrine of sovereign immunity applies, the state has a pecuniary interest or substantive right to protect. Id.; see also Fidelity & Deposit Co. v. Shaid, 103 W. Va. 432, 439, 137 S.E. 878 (1927) (declining to apply doctrine of sovereign immunity because no money judgment was sought against governmental agency or state).
Prendergast v. Park Authority, 227 Va. 190, 194, 313 S.E.2d 399 (1984).
Robb v. Sutton, 147 Ill. App. 3d 710, 712-13, 498 N.E.2d 267 (1986).
Glassman v. Glassman, 309 N.Y. 436, 443, 131 N.E.2d 721 (1956).
Ohio Valley Contractors v. Board of Education, 170 W. Va. 240, 241, 293 S.E.2d 437 (1982). That an entity is heavily dependent on state financial support does not necessarily justify a conclusion that it is entitled to state immunity. Id., 242; see also Deal v. Tannehill Furnace & Foundry Commission, 443 So. 2d 1213, 1216 (Ala. 1983), where the state Supreme Court concluded that a state park commission was created as an arm of the state of Alabama and any judgment for the injured plaintiff would directly diminish any monetary appropriation made by the commission out of the state treasury. Such a payment, the court held, would directly affect a state property right and was “tantamount to a lawsuit against the State itself.” Id.
Guthrie v. State Ports Authority, 307 N.C. 522, 532, 299 S.E.2d 618 (1983).
Deal v. Tannehill Furnace & Foundry Commission, 443 So. 2d 1213, 1216 (Ala. 1983).
Deal v. Tannehill Furnace & Foundry Commission, 443 So. 2d 1213, 1216 (Ala. 1983).
Deal v. Tannehill Furnace & Foundry Commission, 443 So. 2d 1213, 1215 (Ala. 1983).
See Deal v. Tannehill Furnace & Foundry Commission, 443 So. 2d 1213, 1216 (Ala. 1983) (that state park commission used state-owned land for its statutory purpose was cited as one factor pointing to strong nexus between commission and state).
The principle that a state’s sovereign immunity from tort liability extends into a sister state is no longer a required tenet under the United
The trial court cited, inter alia, Ecker v. West Hartford, 205 Conn. 219, 530 A.2d 1056 (1987), and Morris Plan Industrial Bank v. Richards, 131 Conn. 671, 42 A.2d 147 (1945), for the proposition that Connecticut’s two year statute of limitations in negligence actions could not be applied in this case because it is a procedural limitation rather than substantive in nature. These cases hold that “[wjhere ... a specific time limitation is contained within a statute that creates a right of action that did not exist at common law [as does the statute in this case], then the remedy exists only during the prescribed period and not thereafter. ... In such cases, the time limitation is not to be treated as an ordinary statute of limitation, but rather is a limitation on the liability itself, and not of the remedy alone.” (Citations omitted.) Ecker v. West Hartford, supra, 232. We need not reach the substantive issue addressed in these cases because the threshold issue of whether there is sovereign immunity was not addressed by the trial court.