Amarylis Fisher v. Town of Hampden et al.

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court dismissed as interlocutory an appeal from the denial of several municipalities’ motion for summary judgment in Amarylis Fisher’s negligence action. The court held that unresolved factual questions concerning the municipalities’ control over a bus or its driver were material to determining whether the Maine Tort Claims Act motor-vehicle exception to governmental immunity applied.

Holdings

1. A denial of summary judgment asserting immunity from suit is ordinarily immediately reviewable, but interlocutory review is unavailable when the immunity determination depends on underlying factual questions that the trial court has not yet resolved.
2. The appeal had to be dismissed as interlocutory because material factual disputes remained concerning whether the municipalities had some measure of direct control over the bus or its driver, a fact relevant to whether they were using the bus under the motor-vehicle exception to the Maine Tort Claims Act.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the denial of the municipalities' motion for summary judgment asserting Maine Tort Claims Act immunity was immediately reviewable on an interlocutory appeal.
2. Whether unresolved factual questions concerning whether the bus was part of the Community Connector and the municipalities' degree of direct control over the bus or its driver precluded appellate determination of the motor-vehicle exception to Maine Tort Claims Act immunity.

Disposition

dismissed