Summary 2009 WY 147

Summary of Decision issued December 3, 2009

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Motley v. Platte County, WY

Citation: 2009 WY 147

Docket Number: S-08-0171

Appeal from the District Court of Platte County, the Honorable Keith G. Kautz, Judge.

Representing Appellant Motley: H. Michael Bennett of H. Michael Bennet, PC, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee Platte County: Bruce A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Thomas W. Rumpke, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Richard Rideout, Law Offices of Richard Rideout, PC, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Facts/Discussion: Motley worked for the Platte County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy sheriff. In 2006, he filed a complaint against the county, the Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Steve Keigley alleging he was suspended and later terminated without cause and without notice and opportunity for a hearing in violation of § 18-3-611.
In Beaulieu II, the Court held that the failure of the complaint in a governmental claims action to allege compliance with both the statutory filing requirements of § 1-39-113 and the constitutional signature and certification requirements of Art. 16, § 7 precludes the district court from acquiring subject matter jurisdiction over the claim. The Court noted it had regularly upheld the strictness of the rule over the intervening years and stated that stare decisis dictated adherence to the rule in the instant case.

Conclusion: Because Motley’s complaint failed to allege the requisite constitutional compliance under Beaulieu II, the district court never acquired subject matter jurisdiction over the action. Since the Court was also without jurisdiction, the appeal was dismissed.

Dismissed.

J. Golden delivered the decision.

C.J. Voigt concurred: W.R.C.P. 8(a)(1) requires a civil complaint to contain a short and plain statement of the grounds upon which the court’s jurisdiction depends. The district court’s jurisdiction over a governmental claim depends upon the plaintiff’s compliance with Art. 16, § 7 of the Wyoming Constitution and with the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (WGCA).
J. Burke joined by J. Kite dissented: The Justices dissented for the same reasons they identified in the dissent in the July 2009 McCann decision. The Justices disagreed with the application of stare decisis in the instant case. They noted that McCann was the first case in which a litigant lost the right to have a case determined on the merits solely on the basis that the complaint failed to meet the judicially created pleading requirements announced in Beaulieu II. Left unanswered in McCann and Beaulieu II are questions relating to the applicability of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure to governmental claims litigation. The judicially created pleading rules relating to governmental claims should either be eliminated or applied in accordance with the W.R.C.P. As they are being applied now, they conflict with the W.G.C.A. and constitute an over-reaching by the judicial branch.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc8hpm7 .

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