The Utah Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that the parents of a suicide victim cannot bring a wrongful death suit against a regional counseling center because of their failure to serve the correct government entity that oversees the center.
During oral arguments in February, an attorney representing the parents of Bryan Davis said there was confusion over whether the center was run by the state, county or other governmental body when his clients decided to sue.
Davis hanged himself while in the care of the Central Utah Counseling Center.
Under Utah's Governmental Immunity Act, a notice of claim for a suit must be filed within one year of the incident. According to the Supreme Court decision issued Tuesday, the attorney for Davis' parents began investigating the death one month after the suicide on Dec. 23, 1998. Eleven months later, notice of claims were filed with the Utah Attorney General's Office and the Juab County Clerk.
However, although CUCC receives state funds, it is an entity governed by an interlocal agreement between Juab, Millard, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier and Wayne counties and has a governing board comprising county commissioners from those areas.
An attorney for the center told the Utah Supreme Court that is was likely the notice of claim found its way from the county clerk's office to a county commissioner's office, where it sat for months.
The Davises' attorney, Bruce Pritchett, said the county didn't even have a copy of CUCC's interlocal agreement on file to allow him to figure out where the notice needed to be served.
But according to the ruling, the court found that Pritchett failed to serve notice to CUCC's governing board, in violation of the state's immunity act. The state's high court appeared to give no leeway for the circumstances that appeared to cause confusion on who was legally liable.
"Because CUCC is an interlocal agency that may invoke those protections, plaintiffs were required to strictly comply with the Immunity Act. They failed to do so and are therefore precluded from bringing suit against CUCC and its employees," the court decision states.
Bryan Davis was 19 when he hanged hung himself while undergoing treatment at CUCC in Nephi. Davis' parents say claim the center had deficiencies that led to the man's death and said , including the fact that Davis' treating doctor had a history of being suicidal himself.
Justice Matthew Durrant disqualified himself from the case. Judge Denise Lindberg ruled in his stead.
E-MAIL: gfattah@desnews.com