2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 19a-24. (Formerly Sec. 19-5a). Claims for damages against Commissioners of Public Health and Mental Retardation and certain officials, employees, council members and trustees. Immunity. Indemnification.

      Sec. 19a-24. (Formerly Sec. 19-5a). Claims for damages against Commissioners of Public Health and Mental Retardation and certain officials, employees, council members and trustees. Immunity. Indemnification. (a) Any claim for damages in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars on account of any official act or omission of the Commissioner of Public Health or the Commissioner of Mental Retardation or any member of their staffs, any member of the Council on Tuberculosis Control, Hospital Care and Rehabilitation, the Council on Mental Retardation or either of the boards of trustees of the state training schools or any member of any regional advisory and planning council or any superintendent, director, employee or staff member of any chronic disease hospital or state training school or state mental retardation region shall be brought as a civil action against the commissioners in their official capacities and said commissioners shall be represented therein by the Attorney General in the manner provided in chapter 35. Damages recovered in such action shall be a proper charge against the General Fund of the state and shall be paid in the manner provided in section 3-117. Any such claim for damages not in excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars shall be presented to the Claims Commissioner in accordance with chapter 53 if such claim is otherwise cognizable by the Claims Commissioner.

      (b) Neither the Commissioner of Public Health nor the Commissioner of Mental Retardation nor any member of their staffs, shall be held personally liable in any civil action for damages on account of any official act or omission of any superintendent, director, employee or staff member of any chronic disease hospital or state training school or state mental retardation region nor on account of any official act or omission of such commissioners or member of their staffs or any member of the councils or boards of trustees created by sections 17a-270 and 17a-271.

      (c) No employee or staff member of said commissioners or any superintendent, director, employee or staff member of any chronic disease hospital or state training school or state mental retardation region shall be held personally liable in any civil action for damages on account of any official act or omission not wanton or wilful of such superintendent, director, employee or staff member.

      (d) The state of Connecticut shall indemnify and save harmless each member of the councils or boards of trustees established by sections 17a-270, 17a-271 and 17a-273 from all claims and demands that may accrue or be asserted by reason of any act of such councils or boards of trustees or any failure to act by such councils or boards of trustees where no malice, fraud or conflict of interest is found to exist. The provisions of this section shall be deemed to apply individually to each member of such councils or boards of trustees.

      (e) Any person to whom the provisions of subsection (b), (c) or (d) hereof are applicable and against whom any action shall be brought on account of any act alleged to be an official act or omission as aforesaid or any other act as to which protection is afforded by the provisions of this section shall be represented therein by the Attorney General in the manner provided in chapter 35.

      (1957, P.A. 244, S. 1; September, 1957, P.A. 11, S. 31; 1959, P.A. 148, S. 18; P.A. 73-643, S. 1; P.A. 75-567, S. 74, 80; 75-638, S. 11, 23; P.A. 76-153, S. 12; 76-371, S. 3, 5; P.A. 77-614, S. 323, 610; P.A. 78-303, S. 59, 93, 136; P.A. 83-587, S. 71, 96; P.A. 86-41, S. 1, 11; P.A. 88-111; P.A. 90-230, S. 28, 101; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 99-60.)

      History: 1959 act extended application of statute, adding members of councils and boards of trustees created by Secs. 17-172a, 17-172b, 19-3 and 19-113 and superintendent, etc., of state training school, substituted commissioner of health for directors and chairman of commission, deleted reference to employees or staff member of central office of commission and added provision to Subsec. (a) re damages recovered; Sec. 19-118 transferred to Sec. 19-5a in 1968; P.A. 73-643 deleted reference in Subsec. (b) to members of councils or boards of trustees created by Secs. 17-172a, 17-172b, 19-3 and 19-113 and added Subsecs. (d) and (e) re protection of members of councils and boards and re representation of persons protected under section by attorney general; P.A. 75-567 restored reference to Secs. 17-172a 17-172b, 19-3 and 19-113 in Subsec. (b) for clarity; P.A. 75-638 included commissioner of mental retardation in protection provisions; P.A. 76-153 protected members of regional center advisory and planning councils and persons associated with regional centers and added reference to Sec. 19-4h in Subsec. (d) but Sec. 19-4h was not, in fact, added; P.A. 76-371 required that for protection to be in force in Subsec. (c), act or omission must not be "wanton or wilful" rather than that it must be performed "in good faith, without malice, with reasonable care and upon probable cause"; P.A. 77-614 replaced commissioner of health with commissioner of health services, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 78-303 deleted reference to public health council in Subsec. (a) and references to Secs. 19-3 and 19-113 in Subsecs. (b) and (d); Sec. 19-5a transferred to Sec. 19a-24 in 1983; P.A. 83-587 made a technical amendment to Subsec. (a); P.A. 86-41 made numerous technical changes; P.A. 88-111 amended Subsec. (a) to apply the requirement that any claim for damages be brought as a civil action against the commissioners to claims in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars and to add the requirement that any claim for damages not in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars be presented to the claims commissioner; P.A. 90-230 corrected internal references in Subsec. (d); P.A. 93-381 replaced commissioner of health services with commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 99-60 amended Subsec. (a) to increase amount of claim for damages from one thousand five hundred dollars to seven thousand five hundred dollars.

      See Sec. 4-165 re immunity of state officers and employees from liability.

      Annotation to former section 19-5a:

      Cited. 26 CS 83.

      Annotations to present section:

      Was intended by legislature to apply to all civil actions against commissioners of health and mental retardation or any member of their staffs. Legislature has thus waived sovereign immunity of the state in those cases to which statute applies. 191 C. 222, 225-233. Cited. 202 C. 561-563. When state, by statute, waives its immunity to suit, the right to a jury trial cannot be implied but must be affirmatively expressed. 221 C. 346, 347, 349, 350, 352, 354, 355.

      Cited. 13 CA 493, 496. Cited. 17 CA 130, 134.

      Subsec. (a):

      Cited. 191 C. 222, 228. Cited. 221 C. 346, 352.

      Subsec. (b):

      Cited. 221 C. 346, 349, 354.

      Subsec. (c):

      Cited. 221 C. 346, 354.

      Subsec. (d):

      Cited. 221 C. 346, 355.