Summary 2010 WY 58

Summary of Decision issued May 7, 2010

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

Case Name: Uptown Café, Inc. v. Town of Greybull

Citation: 2010 WY 58

Docket Number: S-09-0032

Appeal from the District Court of Big Horn County, the Honorable Steven J. Cranfill, Judge.

Representing Uptown Cafe: G. Mark Garrison of Garrison & Krisjansons, PC, Cody, Wyoming.

Representing Greybull: Larry B. Jones and William L. Simpson of Simpson, Kepler & Edwards, LLC, Cody, Wyoming.

Facts/Discussion: In May 2007, Uptown Café filed a complaint, pursuant to the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (WGCA) seeking to recover damages allegedly caused by a leaking sewer line owned and operated by Greybull.
The disposition of the appeal was controlled by Beaulieu II. The failure of a complaint in a governmental claims action to allege compliance with both the constitutional signature and certification requirements and the statutory filing requirements can prevent the district court from acquiring subject matter jurisdiction over the claim.
Conclusion: Because Uptown Café’s complaint failed to allege the requisite constitutional compliance under Beaulieu II; the district court never acquired subject matter jurisdiction over the action. Accordingly, the district court’s summary judgment order was null and void. Since there was no order invoking the Court’s jurisdiction, the appeal was dismissed.

Dismissed.

J. Golden delivered the decision.

J. Kite dissenting, joined by J. Burke: The Justice dissented for the same reasons articulated in J. Burke’s dissenting opinion in McCann v. City of Cody. The allegations sufficiently allege the conditions precedent for filing a claim against Greybull to invoke the district court’s subject jurisdiction. If the complaint was insufficient, allow Uptown Café to amend it. If the rules created by the Court for pleading a governmental claim lead to the conclusion that the complaint is legally insufficient and Uptown Café is not permitted to amend, the rules should be abolished because they serve no useful purpose and create obstacles to the determination of governmental claims on their own merits.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/2ckc92n .

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