Donald E. GIBSON, Administrator, etc., et al., Appellants, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania et al. Florence E. HELSEL, Administratrix, etc., et al., Appellants, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania et al. Richard F. McCLEMENT, Administrator, etc., Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania et al. Gladys J. RUSSELL, Administratrix, etc., Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania et al. David SELDERS et al., Appellants, v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania et al.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
June 2, 1980
415 A.2d 80
Argued March 11, 1980.
Herbert L. Olivieri, Chief, Torts Litigation Unit, John L. Sweezy, Harrisburg, for Com. and Dept. of Environmental Resources.
W. Arch Irvin, Jr., Wayman, Irvin & McAuley, Pittsburgh, for Gannett, Fleming, Corddry & Carpenter, Inc. amicus curiae in support of appellants.
Robert G. Rose, Spence, Custer, Saylor, Wolfe & Rose, Johnstown, for Laurel Management Co. amicus curiae.
Frederick N. Egler, Egler & Reinstadtler, Pittsburgh, Samuel R. DiFrancesco, Jr., William G. Barbin, Gleason, DiFrancesco, Shahade & Markovitz, Johnstown, for Greater Johnstown Water Authority, amicus curiae.
OPINION OF THE COURT
ROBERTS, Justice.
This court abrogated sovereign immunity on July 14, 1978, in Mayle v. Pennsylvania Department of Highways, 479 Pa. 384, 388 A.2d 709 (1978), application for reargument denied, 479 Pa. 411, 390 A.2d 181 (1978). Thereafter the Legislature promulgated Act 152 creating, for the first time in Pennsylvania, statutory sovereign immunity. Act of September 28, 1978, P.L. 788, §§ 1 et seq. This case presents the question of whether it is constitutional to apply Act 152 to causes which became actionable prior to the Act. Because we conclude that Act 152 may not constitutionally govern such actions, this Court reverses the orders of the Commonwealth Court dismissing the present consolidated case, and remands for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Laurel Run Dam No. 2 flooded Tanneryville, Pennsylvania during a heavy rainstorm on July 20, 1977. Between July 11 and October 4, 1978, appellants filed in Commonwealth Court five separate actions in trespass against appellees Department of Environmental Resources and the Commonwealth, alleging that appellees’ negligent supervision of the dam caused the flood and resulting loss of life, limb, and
Section 5 of Act 152 expressly manifests the Legislature‘s intention to apply the Act to claims, like those of appellants, which arose before the Act‘s promulgation. Compare Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, Act of November 26, 1978, P.L.1399, § 803,
It is well-settled that the Legislature may not extinguish a right of action which has already accrued to a claimant. This Court has consistently held that the Legislature‘s repeal of a law which created a right of action does not disturb any actions accrued thereunder:
“There is a vested right in an accrued cause of action . . . A law can be repealed by the law giver; but the rights which have been acquired under it, while it was in force, do not thereby cease. It would be an absolute injustice to abolish with the law all the effects it had produced. This is a principle of general jurisprudence; but a right to be within its protection must be a vested right.”
Lewis v. Pennsylvania R. R. Co., 220 Pa. 317, 324, 69 A. 821, 823 (1908) (quotations omitted); see Rebel v. Standard Sanitary Mfg. Co., 340 Pa. 313, 319, 16 A.2d 534, 537-38 (1940); Commonwealth ex rel. Margiotti v. Cunningham, 337 Pa. 289, 301-02, 10 A.2d 559, 563-64 (1940); accord, Creighan v. Pittsburgh, 389 Pa. 569, 574, 132 A.2d 867, 870 (1957); Smith v. Fenner, 399 Pa. 633, 641, 161 A.2d 150, 154 (1960).
The separation of powers doctrine suggests a fortiori that the Legislature may not disturb actions which have accrued under the Judiciary‘s authority. See Commonwealth ex rel. Carroll v. Tate, 442 Pa. 45, 274 A.2d 193 (1971). As this Court has explained:
“In the very nature of things, a law that is enacted after the case has arisen can be no part of the case. Such a law can have only a forced and unnatural relation to the case, and must produce an untrue decision; a decision, not of the case arising between the parties, as it ought to be, but of a case partly created by the legislature.
When, therefore, the constitution declares that it is the exclusive function of the courts to try private cases of disputed right, and that they shall administer justice ‘by the law of the land,’ and ‘by due course of law,’ it means to say, that the law relating to the transaction in contro-
versy, at the time when it is complete, shall be an inherent element of the case, and shall guide the decision; and that the case shall not be altered, in its substance, by any subsequent law.”
Menges v. Dentler, 33 Pa. 495, 498-99 (1859); see Kay v. Pennsylvania, 65 Pa. 269, 277 (1870); Commonwealth v. Sutley, 474 Pa. 256, 263, 378 A.2d 780, 783 (1977).
This established view is consistent with federal decisional law which squarely holds that a legislature may not constitutionally eliminate in toto a remedy, whether judicially or legislatively created, which has already accrued. See Ettor v. Tacoma, 228 U.S. 148, 33 S.Ct. 428, 57 L.Ed. 773 (1913); Forbes Pioneer Boat Line v. Board of Comm‘rs, 258 U.S. 338, 42 S.Ct. 325, 66 L.Ed. 647 (1922) (Holmes, J.); Lynch v. United States, 292 U.S. 571, 54 S.Ct. 840, 78 L.Ed. 1434 (1934) (Brandeis, J.); W. B. Worthen Co. ex rel. Bd. of Comm‘rs v. Kavanaugh, 295 U.S. 56, 55 S.Ct. 555, 79 L.Ed. 1298 (1935) (Cardozo, J.); accord, United States Trust Co. v. New Jersey, 431 U.S. 1, 26-7, 97 S.Ct. 1505, 1520, 52 L.Ed.2d 92 (1977). As Chief Justice Marshall wrote, “[t]he very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives an injury.” Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 87, 102, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803).
A tort cause of action generally accrues on the date of the accident or injury. See Smith v. Fenner, 399 Pa. 633, 641, 161 A.2d 150, 154 (1960); Rebel v. Standard Sanitary Mfg. Co., 340 Pa. 313, 16 A.2d 534 (1940); see generally Bell v. Koppers Co., Inc., 481 Pa. 454, 458, 392 A.2d 1380, 1382 (1978) (procedural rules apply to cases filed after effective dates; substantive rights are governed by law in effect at time causes of action accrue). Although tort claims against the Commonwealth were not actionable before our decision in Mayle, see e. g. Meagher v. Commonwealth, 439 Pa. 532, 266 A.2d 684 (1970), Mayle allowed such suits to be maintained. Appellees contend that Mayle should not be applied “retrospectively” to claims such as these which arose before the decision in Mayle. We cannot agree. Fully applying
Judicial decisionmaking inherently requires courts to resolve conflicts after they arise. See P. Mishkin, The High Court, The Great Writ and Due Process of Time and Law, 79 Harv.L.Rev. 56, 60 (1962). As Justice Holmes observed: “Judicial decisions have had retrospective operation for near a thousand years.” Kuhn v. Fairmont Coal Co., 215 U.S. 349, 372, 30 S.Ct. 140, 148, 54 L.Ed. 228 (1910) (dissenting opinion). Only recently have courts limited the full effect of their decisions. See e. g. Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1965); Schreiber v. Republic Intermodal Corp., 473 Pa. 614, 375 A.2d 1285 (1977); see generally P. Mishkin, The High Court, supra; R. J. Aldisert, The Judicial Process 877-938 (1976). The prime impetus behind this occasional willingness not to give a decision full effect is the concern that a novel decision will unfairly prejudice those formerly advantaged by the old rules.4 See e. g. Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 92 S.Ct. 349, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971) (decision on statute of limitations applied in limited fashion to avoid bar on tort recovery); Cipriano v. Houma, 395 U.S. 701, 89 S.Ct. 1897, 23 L.Ed.2d 647 (1969)
We see no reason here not to give Mayle full effect. First it must be obvious that application of Mayle to claims based on torts occurring prior to that decision will not unfairly prejudice the Commonwealth. It would be unrealistic to assume that the Commonwealth has committed torts in reliance upon case precedent granting it immunity. See R. Traynor, La Rude Vita, La Dolce Giustizia; Or Hard Cases Can Make Good Law, 29 U.Chi.L.Rev. 223, 231 (1962). In any event, we held in Mayle that considerations of fairness required the abrogation, not maintenance, of the sovereign immunity doctrine. There this Court rejected the argument that elimination of that doctrine would overburden the Commonwealth:
“[T]he Commonwealth has show no evidence that tort liability of a government or a public authority has ever resulted in either undue clogging of the courts or destabilization of government finances. Indeed, the Commonwealth admits it does not know what, if anything, will happen to court dockets and public finances if the immunity of the Commonwealth from tort liability is abolished. This sort of speculation cannot support a doctrine so ‘plainly unjust . . . to persons injured by the wrongful conduct of the State [and which] [n]o one seems to defend . . . as fair.’
If anything, the information before us suggests that making governments liable for their torts will not substantially raise the costs of government or upset governmental financial stability. Certainly, the greatest threats to the financial stability of state and local governments in recent years have not concerned tort liability, but limita-
tions on taxing authority and liability on contractual obligations such as bonds and labor agreements. Further, because negligence involves the reasonableness of the actor‘s conduct, unreasonably expensive protective measures will not be required of governments any more than they are required of private parties. Welfare economic analysis suggests that government, if suable in tort, may become more efficient, although this improvement may not appear on its balance sheets as added assets or reduced liabilities.”
Mayle v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Highways, supra, 479 Pa. at 394-95, 388 A.2d at 714.
Second, this Court has already applied Mayle to those cases pending in the courts on the date of the Mayle decision. E. g. Steinberg v. Commonwealth, Dept. of Public Welfare, 480 Pa. 321, 389 A.2d 1086 (1978); Grieser v. Commonwealth, Dept. of Transportation, 480 Pa. 447, 390 A.2d 1263 (1978); Tokar v. Commonwealth, Dept. of Transportation, 480 Pa. 598, 391 A.2d 1046 (1978); Dubree v. Commonwealth, 481 Pa. 539, 393 A.2d 293 (1978); Kenno v. Commonwealth, Dept. of State Police, 481 Pa. 562, 393 A.2d 304 (1978); Brungard v. Hartman, 483 Pa. 200, 394 A.2d 1265 (1978); Reinert v. Pennsylvania, Dept. of Transportation, 482 Pa. 612, 394 A.2d 490 (1978). There is no principled reason to discriminate now against appellants whose causes also accrued before Mayle, but whose complaints were filed post-Mayle.5 Though the date of a complaint‘s institution is relevant to the tolling of a statute of limitations, it has no place in the determination of appellants’ substantive rights. Significantly, both classes of suits affect the Commonwealth in equal measure, and therefore must be treated in like fashion. Applying Mayle, then, we hold that because appellants’ claims accrued on July 20, 1977, these claims are free
The orders of the Commonwealth Court are reversed and the consolidated case is remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
LARSEN, J., joins in this opinion and files a concurring opinion.
FLAHERTY, J., joins in the concurring opinion of LARSEN, J., and in this opinion.
EAGEN, C. J., and O‘BRIEN and NIX, JJ., dissent.
LARSEN, Justice, concurring.
I join Mr. Justice Roberts’ opinion, however, I would go further and declare Act 152 unconstitutional.
FLAHERTY, J., joins in this concurring opinion.