Sandra Harvey, Administratrix (Estate of Isaiah Boucher) v. Department of Correction et al.

Summary

The Connecticut Supreme Court held that an administratrix bringing a wrongful-death action against the state after obtaining Claims Commissioner authorization had to comply with both the two-year wrongful-death limitation in General Statutes § 52-555 (a) and the one-year authorization period in § 4-160 (d). Because the action was commenced after the authorization period expired, sovereign immunity deprived the trial court of subject matter jurisdiction. The court affirmed the Appellate Court’s judgment upholding dismissal.

Holdings

1. A plaintiff bringing a wrongful-death action against the state after obtaining Claims Commissioner authorization to sue for medical negligence must comply with both the two-year limitation in General Statutes § 52-555 (a) and the one-year limitation in General Statutes § 4-160 (d).
2. The plaintiff’s action was barred because it was commenced more than one year after the Claims Commissioner authorized suit, depriving the court of subject matter jurisdiction under the principles of sovereign immunity.
3. Neither General Statutes § 52-594 nor Leahy v. Cheney saved the plaintiff’s action; even assuming § 52-594 applied, the action was served after the additional one-year period measured from the decedent’s death.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a wrongful-death action against the state, brought after Claims Commissioner authorization to sue for medical negligence, must comply with both the two-year limitation in General Statutes § 52-555 (a) and the one-year limitation in General Statutes § 4-160 (d).
2. Whether the wrongful-death limitation in § 52-555 (a) supersedes or renders inoperative the one-year limitation on the Claims Commissioner’s authorization to sue under § 4-160 (d).
3. Whether General Statutes § 52-594 or the reasoning of Leahy v. Cheney saved the plaintiff’s action from dismissal.

Disposition

affirmed