Deaconess Hospital v. State

518 P.2d 216, 10 Wash. App. 475, 1974 Wash. App. LEXIS 1459
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJanuary 22, 1974
DocketNo. 754-3
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 518 P.2d 216 (Deaconess Hospital v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deaconess Hospital v. State, 518 P.2d 216, 10 Wash. App. 475, 1974 Wash. App. LEXIS 1459 (Wash. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

McInturff, J.

Plaintiff appeals from an order dismissing its action for lack of jurisdiction.

In its complaint plaintiff alleged a taking or damaging of its property without prior condemnation proceedings, in violation of article 1, section 16 (amendment 9) of the Washington State Constitution, due to the construction of a freeway near plaintiff’s property. Plaintiff brought this inverse condemnation action1 against the state in Spokane County Superior Court. The state moved for dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, arguing the action, being against the state, was required to be brought in Thurston County, under RCW 4.92.010. The motion was heard and a judgment of dismissal was granted.

Issue: Under the Washington State Constitution, is an inverse condemnation action for a taking or damaging of private property under article 1, section 16 subject to the provisions of article 2, section 26 and RCW 4.92.010, its executing statute, requiring actions against the state to be brought in Thurston County?

Article 1, section 16 (amendment 9) of the Washington State Constitution provides:

[477]*477Eminent Domain. Private property shall not be taken for private use, except for private ways of necessity, and for drains, flumes, or ditches on or across the lands of others for agricultural, domestic, or sanitary purposes. No private property shall be taken or damaged for public or private use without just compensation having been first made, or paid into court for the owner, and no right-of-way shall be appropriated to the use of any corporation other than municipal until full compensation therefor be first made in money, or ascertained and paid into court for the owner, irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by such corporation, which compensation shall be ascertained by a jury, unless a jury be waived, as in other civil cases in courts of record, in the manner prescribed by law. Whenever an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated use be really public shall be a judicial question, and determined as such, without regard to any legislative assertion that the use is public: Provided, that the taking of private property by the state for land reclamation and settlement purposes is hereby declared to be for public use.

(Italics ours.)

Article 2, section 26 of the state constitution reads:

Suits Against the State. The legislature shall direct by law, in v/hat manner, and in what courts, suits may be brought against the state.

RCW 4.92.0102 in effect at the time of this action provided:

[478]*478Where brought — Cost bond. Any person or corporation having any claim against the state of Washington shall have a right of action against the state in the superior court of Thurston county. The plaintiff in such action shall, at the time of filing his complaint, file a surety bond executed by the plaintiff and a surety company authorized to do business in the state of Washington to the effect that such plaintiff will indemnify the state against all costs that may accrue in such action, and will pay to the clerk of said court all costs in case the plaintiff shall fail to prosecute his action or to obtain a judgment against the state: Provided, That actions for the enforcement or foreclosure of any lien upon, or to determine or quiet title to, any real property in which the state of Washington is a necessary or proper party defendant may be commenced and prosecuted to judgment against the state in the superior court of the county in which real property is situated, and that no surety bond as above provided for shall be required in any such action: Provided further, That actions on a claim arising out of tortious conduct may be commenced against the state in the superior court of Thurston county, the county in which the claim arises, or the county in which the plaintiff resides. Such action shall be subject to a change of venue as provided by law.

Initially, we must answer the question of whether article 1, section 16 is self-executing. In Kincaid v. Seattle, 74 Wash. 617, 626, 134 P. 504, 135 P. 820 (1913),:the court intimated the self-executing nature of this constitutional provision by stating: “The constitutional right to compen[479]*479sation cannot be taken away, for the right to redress the wrong does not and cannot be made to depend upon statute law.” In interpreting a similar California constitutional provision,3 the court in Bacich v. Board of Control, 23 Cal. 2d 343, 346, 144 P.2d 818, 821 (1944) stated more pointedly:

The instant action is predicated upon the constitutional provision that private property may not be taken or damaged for a public purpose without the payment of just compensation. (Cal. Const., art. I, sec. 14.) That clause of the Constitution is self-executing and hence neither consent to sue the State nor the creation of a remedy by legislative enactment is necessary to obtain relief thereunder (Rose v. State of California, 19 Cal.2d 713, [123 P.2d 505]).

We hold that article 1, section 16 (amendment 9) of the Washington State Constitution is similarly self-executing, and therefore not dependent upon legislative enactment before exercise of rights protected under it. This constitutional provision, by its self-executing nature, directly conflicts with any unreasonable legislative burdens or restrictions upon the exercise of this constitutional provision. More specifically, is the legislature empowered to impose a jurisdictional venue requirement necessitating actions for a taking or damaging of property, under article 1, section 16, be brought in Thurston County? We answer in the negative.

The legislature has made claim-filing a condition precedent to enforcement of the right of action against the state under RCW 4.92.010. O’Donoghue v. State, 66 Wn.2d 787, 405 P.2d 258 (1965). However, the legislature does not [480]*480have the power to limit enforcement of article 1, section 16 rights by imposition of a claim-filing requirement. Decker v. State, 188 Wash. 222, 62 P.2d 35 (1936); Ulery v. Kitsap County, 188 Wash. 519, 63 P.2d 352 (1936); Jacobs v. Seattle, 100 Wash. 524, 171 P. 662 (1918). From this it is apparent that the legislature may not substantially impair article 1, section 16 rights, nor place an unreasonable burden on their exercise. We do not say that every legislative condition placed upon the exercise of rights granted under a self-executing constitution provision is unconstitutional.

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Related

Adams v. City of Atlanta
322 S.E.2d 730 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1984)
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589 P.2d 273 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1978)
State v. Sherrill
534 P.2d 598 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 P.2d 216, 10 Wash. App. 475, 1974 Wash. App. LEXIS 1459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deaconess-hospital-v-state-washctapp-1974.