Harvey v. Dept. of Correction

Citations

• 337 Conn. 291

Syllabus

The plaintiff, the administratrix of the estate of the decedent, B, sought to recover damages from the defendants, the Department of Correction and the provider of health care for those in the department's custody, for B's allegedly wrongful death. In July, 2015, the Claims Commissioner authorized B to bring an action against the defendants for medical malpractice, but B died without having done so. In September, 2016, the plaintiff brought the present action against the defendants. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the action was time barred by the statute (§ 4-160 (d)) requiring a plaintiff who has been granted authorization to sue the state by the Claims Commissioner to bring an action within one year from the date that the authorization was granted. The plaintiff filed an objection, arguing that the one year time limitation contained in § 4-160 (d) was inoperative because the two year time limitation in the wrongful death statute (§ 52-555 (a)) controlled her wrongful death claim on behalf of B's estate. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and rendered judgment for the defendants. The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment to the Appellate Court, which affirmed. The Appellate Court concluded that the plaintiff was required to comply with both the one year time limitation contained in § 4-160 (d) and the two year time limitation contained in § 52-555 (a). More specifically, the Appellate Court held that, because § 4-160 created a right of action against the state that did not exist at common law, that statute's one year time limitation constituted a strict limitation on the waiver of sovereign immunity. The Appellate Court also rejected the plaintiff's claim that the two year statute of limitations in § 52-555 (a) superseded or rendered inoperative the one year limitation on the waiver of sovereign immunity, reasoning that nothing in the text of § 4-160 (d) excepts wrongful death