Connecticut Law Revision Commission

 

Proposed revision to process concerning claims against the State

 

January 6, 2003

 

 

 

Prepared by David L. Hemond

 

 

 

 

Section 1.  Section 4-158 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

 

Sec. 4-158. Jurisdiction of commissioner. Payment of claim. [Report] Request to assembly for review. Waiver of payment on [protest] request for review to assembly.

 

(a) The Claims Commissioner may deny a claim, approve [immediate] payment of a just [claims] claim not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, recommend to the General Assembly payment of a just claim in excess of fifty thousand dollars, or, if appropriate pursuant to section 4-160, authorize a claimant to bring an action on the claim before the Superior Court. [not exceeding seven thousand five hundred dollars.]  If the Claims Commissioner approves payment of a claim not in excess of fifty thousand dollars, [The] the clerk of the Office of the Claims Commissioner shall deliver to the Comptroller a certified copy of the Claims Commissioner's order and, if no request for review is made to the General Assembly within the period, if any, allowed for a request for review, the Comptroller shall make payment from such appropriation as the General Assembly may have made for the payment of claims or, in the case of contractual claims for goods or services furnished or for property leased, from the appropriation of the agency which received such goods or services or occupied such property. Within five days after the convening of each regular session, the Claims Commissioner shall report to the General Assembly on all claims decided pursuant to this section.

 

(b) Any person who, having filed a claim for more than seven thousand five hundred dollars, wishes to protest an award or denial of an award, including any dismissal or denial of permission to sue, of the Claims Commissioner under the provisions of this section may [waive immediate payment and his claim] request the General Assembly to review the award or denial.  The Attorney General may request the General Assembly to review any award of the Claims Commissioner in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars.  Each request for review shall be submitted to the General Assembly under the provisions of section 4-159. Such request for review [waiver] shall be in writing and shall be filed with the Claims Commissioner within [ten] twenty days after the [claimant] person requesting the review receives a copy of the [order approving payment] award or denial being protested.  Filing of the request for review automatically stays payment of any award subject to the request for review.

 

 

Sec. 2.  Section 4-159 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

Sec. 4-159. [Recommendations for payments in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars]  Reviews and requests for review. Action by General Assembly.

 

(a)  [After hearing, the Claims Commissioner shall make his recommendations to the General Assembly for the payment or rejection of amounts exceeding seven thousand five hundred dollars.] Within five days after the convening of each regular session and at such other times as the speaker of the House of Representatives and president pro tempore of the Senate may desire, the Claims Commissioner shall submit [such recommendations] to the General Assembly all recommendations for payment of claims in excess of fifty thousand dollars and all requests for review taken pursuant to section 4-158, together with a copy of [his] the Claims Commissioner’s findings and of the hearing record of each claim so reported. The General Assembly may (1) accept or alter any such recommendation or decision of the Claims Commissioner; [or] (2) reject any such recommendation or decision and grant or deny the claimant permission to sue the state; or (3) remand the recommendation or decision for the Claims Commissioner for such reconsideration as the General Assembly may direct. The General Assembly may grant the claimant permission to sue the state under the provisions of this section when the General Assembly deems it just and equitable and believes the claim to present an issue of law or fact under which the state, were it a private person, could be liable.  If the General Assembly approves payment of a claim, the clerk of the Office of the Claims Commissioner shall deliver to the Comptroller a notice of the General Assembly’s order and the Comptroller shall make payment in the manner prescribed for  payment of an order of the Claims Commissioner pursuant to section 4-158.

 

(b)  The review shall be conducted according to such process as may be determined by the General Assembly.

 

 

Sec. 3.  Section 4-154 of the general statutes, as amended by section 4 of public act 167, is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

 

Sec. 4-154. Decision; finding of fact.

 

Within ninety days after hearing a claim, the Claims Commissioner shall render a decision. The Claims Commissioner shall make a finding of fact for each claim and file such finding with the [order] decision or recommendation disposing of the claim. The clerk of the Office of the Claims Commissioner shall deliver a copy of such finding and [order] decision or recommendation to the claimant and to the representative for the state, which representative may in appropriate cases be the Attorney General.  If [such claim] the Claims Commissioner makes a recommendation for an award in excess of fifty thousand dollars that will be submitted to the General Assembly by the Claims Commissioner pursuant to the provisions of section 4-159, the clerk shall give notice to the claimant that such [claim] recommendation for an award will be so submitted, and that the General Assembly may accept, alter, [or] reject, or remand the recommendation of the Claims Commissioner, or may grant the claimant permission to sue the state in the Superior Court.  If the claimant has the right to request review of the decision of the Claims Commissioner to the General Assembly in accordance with section 4-158 of the general statutes, as amended by section 1 of this act, the clerk shall give notice to the claimant that the claimant may request the General Assembly to review the decision, and that the General Assembly may accept, alter, reject, or remand the decision of the Claims Commissioner, or may grant the claimant permission to sue the state in the Superior Court.  The notice shall indicate the time within which any request for review must be brought.

 

 

Sec. 4.  Section 4-160 of the general statutes, as amended by section 3 of public act 01-167, is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

Sec. 4-160. Authorization of actions against the state.

 

(a) When the Claims Commissioner deems it just and equitable, he may authorize suit against the state on any claim which, in his opinion, presents an issue of law or fact under which the state, were it a private person, could be liable.

(b) In any claim alleging malpractice against the state, a state hospital or a sanitorium or against a physician, surgeon, dentist, podiatrist, chiropractor or other licensed health care provider employed by the state, the attorney or party filing the claim may submit a certificate of good faith to the Claims Commissioner in accordance with section 52-190a. If such a certificate is submitted, the Claims Commissioner shall authorize suit against the state on such claim.

(c) In each action authorized by the Claims Commissioner pursuant to subsection (a) or (b) of this section or by the General Assembly pursuant to section 4-159 or section 1 of public act 01-167, the claimant shall allege such authorization and the date on which it was granted, except that evidence of such authorization shall not be admissible in such action as evidence of the state’s liability. The state waives its immunity from liability and from suit in each such action and waives all defenses which might arise from the eleemosynary or governmental nature of the activity complained of. The rights and liability of the state in each such action shall be coextensive with and shall equal the rights and liability of

private persons in like circumstances.      

(d) No such action shall be brought but within one year from the date such authorization to sue is granted. With respect to any claim pending before the Claims Commissioner on October 1, 1992, or presented to the Claims Commissioner on or after said date for which authorization to sue is granted, any statute of limitation applicable to such action shall be tolled until the date such authorization to sue is granted. Action shall be brought against the state as party defendant in the judicial district in which the claimant resides or, if the claimant is not a resident of this state, in the judicial district of Hartford or in the judicial district in which the claim arose.

(e) Civil process directed against the state shall be served as provided by section 52-64.

(f) Issues arising in such actions shall be tried to the court without a jury.

(g) The laws and rules of practice governing disclosures in civil actions shall apply against state agencies and state officers and employees possessing books, papers, records, documents or information pertinent to the issues involved in any such action.

(h) The Attorney General, with the consent of the court, may compromise or settle any such action. The terms of every such compromise or settlement shall be expressed in a judgment of the court.

(i) Costs may be allowed against the state as the court deems just, consistent with the provisions of chapter 901.

(j) The clerk of the court in which judgment is entered against the state shall forward a certified copy of such judgment to the Comptroller. The Attorney General shall certify to the Comptroller when the time allowed by law for proceeding subsequent to final judgment has expired and he shall designate the state agency involved in the action. Upon receipt of such judgment and certification the Comptroller shall make payment as follows: Amounts directed by law to be paid from a special fund shall be paid from such special fund; amounts awarded upon contractual claims for goods or services furnished or for property leased shall be paid from the appropriation of the agency which received such goods or services or occupied such property; all other amounts shall be paid from such appropriation as the General Assembly may have made for the payment of claims.

(k) Within five days after the convening of each regular session, the Attorney General shall report to the Judiciary Committee of the General Assembly on the status and disposition of all actions authorized pursuant to this section, or section 4-159 or brought against the state under any other provision of law and in which the interests of the state are represented by the Attorney General.  The report shall include (1) the number of claims pending in state and in federal court, categorized by the alleged ground for the cause of action, (2) the number of new claims brought in the preceding year in state and in federal court, categorized by the alleged ground for the cause of action, (3) the number of claims disposed of in the preceding year, categorized by the ground for the cause of action for which payment was made and by whether disposed of by settlement or by litigation to final judgment, and noting the amount of claims paid within the respective categories, and, (4) such other information as may be requested from time to time by the Judiciary Committee of the General Assembly.  The report shall individually identify each claim disposed of for an amount in excess of $100,000.

 

Sec. 5.  Section 4-165b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

 

Sec. 4-165b. Claims against the state by inmates of state correctional and reformatory institutions.

 

(a)  Any claim by an inmate of any institution of the Department of Correction or the Department of Children and Families that is properly brought to the Claims Commissioner may be referred by the Claims Commissioner for hearing before a human rights referee appointed pursuant to section 46a-57 of the general statutes, as assigned by the Chief Human Rights Referee.  For purposes of that claim, the referee, sitting with the powers of the Claims Commissioner, shall hear the case pursuant to chapter 53 of the general statutes at such suitable place as the referee finds is convenient and just to the claimant and to the Attorney General.  The decision of the referee shall have the force and effect of a decision of the Claims Commissioner.  If the referee recommends an award in excess of fifty thousand dollars or if a request for review is made pursuant to section 4-158, the recommendation shall be submitted by the Claims Commissioner to the General Assembly for approval in accordance with the provisions of section 4-159.

 

(b)  If the human rights referee approves payment of a claim so referred, the clerk of the Office of the Claims Commissioner shall deliver to the Comptroller a notice of the referee’s order and the Comptroller shall make payment in the manner prescribed for  payment of an order of the Claims Commissioner pursuant to section 4-158.

 

(c) On and after May 3, 1976, any inmate of any institution of the Department of Correction or the Department of Children and Families who suffers an injury which results in a fatality or in a permanent handicap may file a claim against the state. Such claim shall be heard and decided in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

 

[(b)] (d) All matters pending before the committee established pursuant to section 18-95 of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to 1975, on May 3, 1976, shall be construed as pending with the same status with the Claims Commissioner on said date.

 

 

Sec. 6.  (new)

 

The Commissioner of Correction shall establish a lost property board within the department to hear and determine any claim by an inmate of a correctional facility who seeks compensation not in excess of three thousand five hundred dollars for lost personal property or damage to personal property. The board shall hear and determine such claim and may, if it determines the claim is one which in equity and justice the state should pay, award damages.  In the event that the claim is denied or denied in part, the inmate may, within sixty days, petition the Claims Commissioner in accordance with section 4-147 of the general statutes for consideration of the claim.  Filing of a claim with the lost property board tolls the time for presentation of the claim under section 4-148 of the general statutes.   The commissioner shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 of the general statutes to implement the provisions of this section.

    

 

Sec. 7.  Section 4a-20 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

 

Sec. 4a-20. (Formerly Sec. 4-37b). Duties.

 

The State Insurance and Risk Management Board shall determine the method by which the state shall insure itself against losses by the purchase of insurance governed by the provisions of title 38a to obtain the broadest coverage at the most reasonable cost. It shall direct the negotiations for purchase of such insurance and determine whether deductible or other risk retention provisions should be included in the insurance contract. Wherever appropriate it shall determine that the state shall act as a self-insurer and may request funds from the contingency fund to establish reserves and carry out such practices as are necessary to safeguard the self-insurance activity. Said board may develop and implement risk management and loss prevention programs related to insurance plans established pursuant to the provisions of sections 4a-19 to 4a-21, inclusive, and may recommend to the Governor and the General Assembly the enactment of policies designed to reduce risks and hazards that may result in agency liability for tortious conduct. It shall designate the agent or agents of record and shall select the companies from whom insurance coverage and surety bonds shall be purchased. Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, including without limitation sections 38a-707 and 38a-825, it shall have full authority to negotiate either a commission or fee structure to compensate the agent or agents of record for services performed. It shall also have full authority to retain consulting firms and to negotiate their fee compensation for services performed. Any refund, dividend or other payment from any insurance company in connection with insurance for the state shall be returned to the Comptroller for deposit in the General Fund. The board shall establish specifications for each contract of insurance and shall request bids for each such contract through the agent of record. Each such contract shall be for a specified period of time.

 

Sec. 8.  Section 4a-21 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:

 

Sec. 4a-21. (Formerly Sec. 4-37c). Annual report.

 

[Said board] The State Insurance and Risk Management Board shall, on or before September first, annually, make a report to the Governor and the Judiciary Committee of the General Assembly of its activities during the year ending the preceding June thirtieth. Such report shall include (1) an evaluation of the state insurance program in terms of adequacy and reasonableness of cost, (2) a complete statement of the costs of said program enumerating lines of coverage, (3) an evaluation of the effectiveness of each portion of the program involving deductibles or partial self-insurance, (4) a statement of the agent or agents of record, or consultants, if any, (5) an evaluation of the agent or agents of record, or consultants, if any, (6) a breakdown of the actual commissions or fees paid, (7) any recommendations adopted by the board for the enactment of policies designed to reduce risks and hazards that may result in agency liability for tortious conduct, (8) the status and disposition of claims administered through the state insurance program, and [(7)] (9) such other matters as the board determines to be appropriate and necessary. The report on the status and disposition of claims shall include (A) the number of claims pending under the state insurance program, categorized by the alleged ground for the claim, (B) the number of new claims brought under the state insurance program in the preceding year, categorized by the alleged ground for the claim, (C) the number of claims disposed of in the preceding year, categorized by the ground for the claim for which payment was made and by whether disposed of by settlement or by litigation to final judgment, and noting the amount of claims paid within the respective categories, and, (D) such other information within the cognizance of the board as may be requested from time to time by the Judiciary Committee of the General Assembly.  The report shall individually identify each claim disposed of for an amount in excess of $100,000.  Each such report shall become a public record.