Koppen v. Board of Medical Examiners

759 P.2d 173, 233 Mont. 214, 45 State Rptr. 1433, 1988 Mont. LEXIS 235
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 11, 1988
Docket87-472
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 759 P.2d 173 (Koppen v. Board of Medical Examiners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koppen v. Board of Medical Examiners, 759 P.2d 173, 233 Mont. 214, 45 State Rptr. 1433, 1988 Mont. LEXIS 235 (Mo. 1988).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE McDONOUGH

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Plaintiffs William and Kimberly Koppen (Koppens) and Alan and Susan Buck (Bucks) appeal from the order of the District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District, Flathead County, dismissing their complaint against defendants Board of Medical Examiners (Board) and State of Montana. We affirm.

The appellants present one issue on appeal:

“Does Section 2-9-112, M.C.A., which provides for judicial immunity, extend to executive agencies, such as the Montana Board of Medical Examiners, for negligent failure to perform their statutory duties?”

Plaintiffs Kimberly Koppen and Susan Buck both became pregnant during the summer of 1983 and contracted with Dr. David V. Kauffman for assistance with the delivery of their babies, expected during March of 1984. The baby born to the Koppens died after a short period of survival. The baby born to the Bucks died at the age of 8V2 months.

The Koppens and the Bucks filed suit against the Board and the State on February 18, 1987, alleging the Board was negligent in failing to limit or revoke Dr. Kaufman’s license to practice medicine, or otherwise prevent him from practicing obstetrics. According to the complaint, the Board had received complaints about Dr. Kaufman’s fitness to practice medicine but failed to respond to them. The complaint characterized this as a failure by the Board to discharge its duty under Section 37-3-202, MCA, to ensure that all physicians li[216]*216censed in Montana maintain standards of conduct in the greatest public interest. The complaint alleged that because of the Board’s failure, Dr. Kauffman’s treatment was below the level of care and skill required of physicians in Montana, which caused avoidable complications in the two pregnancies and resulted in the deaths of both infants.

On April 1, 1987, the Board and the State filed a motion to dismiss based on the contention that the Board performs a quasi-judicial function, thereby entitling both defendants to absolute immunity from suit. The District Court granted the motion by its order of September 28, 1987, and thereafter entered judgment in favor of the Board and the State.

The rationale in the District Court’s Order began by quoting portions of Section 2-9-112, MCA:

“(1) The State and other governmental units are immune from suit for acts or omissions of the judiciary.

“(2) ...

“(3) The Judiciary includes those courts established in accordance with Article VII of the Constitution of the State of Montana.”

The court pointed out that the term “includes” in subparagraph 3 of the statute is not a “limiting term.” According to the court, if the legislature had wanted to limit the immunity, it could have drafted the provision to mean specifically only those courts established under Article VII. Because the word used was “includes,” the court determined that the legislature’s grant of immunity extended to administrative agencies exercising “quasi-judicial” authority.

The court cited Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d (1978), as stating the correct rationale for quasi-judicial immunity. In Butz, the U.S. Supreme Court began its analysis of quasi-judicial immunity by stating the rationale for judicial immunity:

“ [Controversies sufficiently intense to erupt in litigation are not easily capped by a judicial decree. The loser in one forum will frequently seek another, charging the participants in the first with unconstitutional animus, [citation omitted.] Absolute immunity is thus necessary to assure that judges, advocates, and witnesses can perform their respective functions without harassment or intimidation.”

Butz, 98 S.Ct. at 2913. The court then examined the nature of administrative proceedings and the controversies involved, and concluded:

[217]*217“We think that adjudication within a federal administrative agency shares enough of the characteristics of the judicial process that those who participate in such adjudication should also be immune from suits for damages.”

Butz, 98 S.Ct. at 2914. In this case, the District Court applied the rule in Butz to the Board, a state administrative agency, and concluded that the Board’s adjudicatory function would warrant quasi-judicial immunity, which the court found to be afforded by Section 2-9-112, MCA.

The appellants argue that the District Court’s reading of Section 2-9-112, MCA, is too liberal. Appellants’ brief outlines general rules of statutory construction stating that any statute in derogation of rights otherwise guaranteed by a constitution must be strictly construed. The right involved in this case, according to appellants, is the right to sue state government entities in tort, which they assert is conferred by Article II, Section 18 of the Montana Constitution:

“The state, counties, cities, towns, and all other local governmental entities, shall have no immunity from suit for injury to a person or property, except as may be specifically provided by law by a % vote of each house of the legislature.”

Appellants argue that the grant of judicial immunity in Section 2-9-112, MCA, is in derogation of this right, and must therefore be construed strictly. The brief notes that the Board is an executive agency created pursuant to Article VI of the constitution rather than Article VII, which in appellants’ view places the Board outside the scope of the judicial immunity found in Section 2-9-112, MCA. The conclusion drawn from this by appellants is that they have the right to sue the Board and the State for negligence, and the District Court was in error when it dismissed their suit.

The decision of the District Court was rendered on a motion to dismiss. The judge sat without a jury, no testimony was taken and the facts are relatively uncontested. In cases such as this, our scope of review is much broader, and we are free to make our own examination of the entire case and make a determination in accordance with our findings. Shimsky v. Valley Credit Union (1984), 208 Mont. 186, 189-90, 676 P.2d 1308, 1310. However, we will affirm the result reached by the District Court if it is correct, even if the reasons given for that result are incorrect. Shimsky, 676 P.2d at 1310.

The District Court was correct in concluding that the Board is entitled to quasi-judicial immunity from suit. However, we do not need to read Section 2-9-112, MCA, as providing for quasi-judicial [218]*218immunity. The Board’s quasi-judicial immunity is derived from the common law, which we hold to be controlling here.

Article II, Section 18 of the Montana Constitution abolished sovereign immunity in Montana. The Bill of Rights Committee of the 1972 Constitutional Convention stated in its Comments accompanying the proposed text of Section 18 that its purpose was to abolish “the archaic doctrine of sovereign immunity.” 2 Mt. Leg. Council, Montana Constitutional Convention, 1971-72, 637.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Case
D. Montana, 2026
Obert v. State
2024 MT 270 (Montana Supreme Court, 2024)
Larson v. Bradshaw
D. Montana, 2024
McDaniel v. State
2009 MT 159 (Montana Supreme Court, 2009)
Nelson v. State of Montana
2008 MT 336 (Montana Supreme Court, 2008)
Rosenthal v. County of Madison
2007 MT 277 (Montana Supreme Court, 2007)
Silvestrone v. Park County
2007 MT 261 (Montana Supreme Court, 2007)
Eklund v. Trost
2006 MT 333 (Montana Supreme Court, 2006)
Massee v. Thompson
2004 MT 121 (Montana Supreme Court, 2004)
Rahrer v. Board of Psychologists
2000 MT 9 (Montana Supreme Court, 2000)
Blackburn v. Blue Mountain Women's Clinic
951 P.2d 1 (Montana Supreme Court, 1997)
Newville v. State, Dept. of Family Services
883 P.2d 793 (Montana Supreme Court, 1994)
Trout v. Bennett
830 P.2d 81 (Montana Supreme Court, 1992)
State, Bd. of Dentistry v. Kandarian
813 P.2d 409 (Montana Supreme Court, 1991)
Gerber v. Commissioner of Ins. of State
786 P.2d 1199 (Montana Supreme Court, 1990)
Koppen v. Board of Medical Examiners
759 P.2d 173 (Montana Supreme Court, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
759 P.2d 173, 233 Mont. 214, 45 State Rptr. 1433, 1988 Mont. LEXIS 235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koppen-v-board-of-medical-examiners-mont-1988.