Gray v. Rhoads

55 Va. Cir. 362, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 300
CourtCharlottesville County Circuit Court
DecidedJuly 2, 2001
DocketCase No. 99-95
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 55 Va. Cir. 362 (Gray v. Rhoads) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Charlottesville County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gray v. Rhoads, 55 Va. Cir. 362, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 300 (Va. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

By judge Lydia Calvert Taylor

This civil action was brought by Plaintiff, administrator of the estate of his son, Frederick Gray, against several police officers, their supervisors, and the County of Albemarle asking for damages as a result of the death of the Plaintiffs son from a shot fired by one of the individual police defendants. All judges in the circuit having recused themselves, the undersigned was appointed to preside over the case by Ihe Virginia Supreme Court. After Defendants demurred to the Plaintiffs Motion for Judgment, briefs were filed, and arguments heard from both sides.

Plaintiff alleges that on May 15,1997, Albemarle County Police Officer Amos Chiarappa and four other Albemarle County police officers, all white, were dispatched to a reported domestic disturbance in an apartment complex, which involved the decedent, Plaintiffs son, who was black, and his [363]*363girlfriend, who was white. The Plaintiff claims that, while the police officers were handcuffing his son, the son apparently broke free, and may have advanced toward Officer Chiarappa, at which point the officer fatally shot Plaintiff’s son, the decedent.

Plaintiff sued Captain Douglas Rhoads and John Miller, individually and in their capacities as Captain and Chief, respectively, of the Police Department of Albemarle County; the County of Albemarle; John Chiarappa, the police officer who shot decedent; and four other police officers who had been at the scene, David Wallace, Jamie Hanover, Phil Giles, and Sham Perry. The issues to be decided are: (1) whether the Plaintiff can maintain an action against the County of Albemarle; (2) whether the Plaintiff has alleged facts to state a claim under the Virginia Wrongful Death statute; (3) whether the Plaintiff can maintain an action against the individual Defendants for deprivation of certain rights under the Virginia Constitution, including decedent’s rights (a) to not be deprived of life without due process, (h) against unreasonable seizure,1 and (c) to equal treatment and freedom from race discrimination; (4) whether the Plaintiff can maintain an action against the individual Defendant supervisors for the torts of negligent training, supervision, hiring, or retention; and (5) whether the Plaintiff’s claims against all individual Defendants are barred by sovereign immunity.

The Plaintiff’s claims in this action are state law claims only. Plaintiff originally brought this action in this Court; Defendants then removed the case to federal court. Plaintiff took the position in federal court that the constitutional claims asserted in this case were purely state constitutional claims, leaving no federal jurisdiction. Apparently in reliance on that assertion, tire federal district court remanded the case to state court, where it was assigned to this judge.

Discussion

A. Liability of Albemarle County

It is well settled in Virginia that counties, which are political subdivisions of the state, can only be sued in the manner prescribed by statute. Parker v. Prince William County, 198 Va. 231, 234, 93 S.E.2d 136, 138 (1956). In [364]*364order to sue Albemarle County in this action, the Plaintiff had to first present his claim to the governing body of the County in accordance with Code of Virginia § 15.2-1248:

No action shall be maintained by any person against a county upon any claim or demand until such person has presented his claim to the governing body of the county, unless die governing body has entered into a binding arbitration agreement or there is a provision in a written contract with the county to submit to arbitration any controversy thereafter arising. When there exists such a provision in a contract or there is a written agreement to arbitrate, the provisions of the Uniform Arbitration Act, Article 2 (§ 8.01-581.01 et seq.) of Chapter 21 of Title 8.01, shall apply.

Because the clear wording of the statute does not limit the claims or demands subject to its requirements to contract actions, this Court holds that its statutory limitation governs tort and civil rights claims against counties as well. If a claim is presented to die governing body and is disallowed in whole or in part, a plaintiff has a right of appeal within thirty days of the governing body’s decision, in accordance with Code of Virginia § 15.2-1246:

When a claim of any person against a county is disallowed in whole or in part by the governing body, if such person is present, he may appeal fiom the decision of the governing body within thirty days fiom the date of the decision. If the claimant is not present, the clerk of the governing body shall serve a written notice of the disallowance on him or his agent, and he may appeal fiom the decision within thirty days after service of such notice. In no case shall the appeal be taken after die lapse of six months fiom die date of the decision. The appeal shall be filed with the circuit court for the county. No appeal shall be allowed unless the amount disallowed exceeds ten dollars. The disallowance may be appealed by serving written notice on the clerk of the governing body and executing a bond to the county, with sufficient surety to be approved by the clerk of the governing body, with condition for the faithful prosecution of such appeal, and the payment of all costs imposed on the appellant by the court.

The Supreme Court in Burk v. Porter, 222 Va. 795, 284 S.E.2d 602 (1981), held that the predecessor statutes to § 15.2-1246 et seq. “provide the exclusive procedure for litigating claims against a county,” and that “[fjailure [365]*365to allege compliance with these statutes is fatal to an action against a county.” Nothing in that opinion limited the statutory coverage to contract claims, as opposed to those under tort law. The Supreme Court also used broad language in holding, in Nuckols v. Moore, 234 Va. 478 (1987), that the language of the predecessor statute, “demonstrates a legislative intent to provide a comprehensive procedure for the presentation, auditing, challenge, defense, and judicial review of monetary claims against a county.” Id. at 481, 362 S.E.2d at 717 (emphasis in original). Only non-monetary claims against a county would be exempt from the statutory requirement. Id.

The Plaintiff has failed to allege in the Motion for Judgment that he has complied with these provisions; in fact, at the February 5, 2001, hearing, Plaintiff acknowledged that he had not filed a claim as required by §15.2-1248. Therefore, this Court sustains the Defendants’ demurrer and dismisses the claim against Albemarle County with prejudice.

B. Count I: Wrongful Death

The first count in the motion for judgment claims that all defendants are jointly and severally liable for wrongful death.

Defendants assert that wrongful death is a “right of action,” not a “cause of action,” and that as such wrongful death is only a vehicle by which the Plaintiff may pursue a cause of action that exists under the common law of Virginia. However, Horn v. Abernathy, 231 Va. 228, 343 S.E.2d 318 (1986), cited by the Defendants, states that both the right of action and the cause of action were created by statute in derogation of the common law.

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Bluebook (online)
55 Va. Cir. 362, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-rhoads-vacccharlottesv-2001.