When A City Bus And A Biker Collide, What Happens Next?

On November 5, 2021, a man named Clifford Bain was seriously injured when a bus owned and operated by the City of Cheyenne collided with him while he was driving a motorcycle.

Bain suffered extensive and permanent injuries as a result of the collision.

He then filed a complaint against the bus driver and the City pursuant to the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act.

The bus driver and the City admitted liability, but asserted they were immune from any liability exceeding $250,000.

Bain then filed a motion for partial summary judgement claiming the limitation is unconstitutional under the Wyoming Constitution.

The district court disagreed and denied Bain’s motion, so he went to the Wyoming Supreme Court. They, too, determined the limitation is not on damages, but rather a limitation on the waiver of immunity under the WGCA.

Background

While governmental immunity traces its roots to common law, the Wyoming Supreme Court abrogated local governmental immunity in 1978 in Oroz v. Bd. of Cnty.

In response, “the legislative and executive branches of government then enacted and signed into law the [WGCA,] which reestablished the tort immunity of a ‘governmental entity’ subject to certain enumerated exceptions.”

Significantly, the legislature stated its purpose for enacting the WGCA in the statute:

(a) The Wyoming legislature recognizes the inherently unfair and inequitable results which occur in the strict application of the doctrine of governmental immunity and is cognizant of the Wyoming Supreme Court decision of Oroz v. Board of County Commissioners, 575 P.2d 1155 (1978).

It is further recognized that the state and its political subdivisions as trustees of public revenues are constituted to serve the inhabitants of the state of Wyoming and furnish certain services not available through private parties and, in the case of the state, state revenues may only be expended upon legislative appropriation. This act is adopted by the legislature to balance the respective equities between persons injured by governmental actions and the taxpayers of the state of Wyoming whose revenues are utilized by governmental entities on behalf of those taxpayers. This act is intended to retain any common law defenses which a defendant may have by virtue of decisions from this or other jurisdictions.

Under the WGCA, state and local governments—including counties, cities, and school districts—are largely immune from liability, but may be held accountable for certain types of tortious conduct, including negligence, if the claim fits within the statute’s defined waivers.

Most states, not just Wyoming, provide immunity for property damage, personal injury, or even death caused by the wrongful act or omission or the negligence of a state employee acting within the scope of employment. Regrettably, it is often at the misfortune of innocent third parties at the wrong place at the wrong time.