Sometimes I have really bad days where nothing goes right. I will miss a deadline or keep on misspelling a word in a document even though I know perfectly well how to spell it. I'll get an email to my Sloper account telling me what a no good blogger I am. Ok, ok, I'm such a great blogger, this never happens, but I'm trying to sketch out a scene, all right!
Then I'll say to myself F**k it, I am going to sue the State of Connecticut. I'll make them sorry for what the Court System has done to me." Most of the time this kind of self talk has been just that--talk. However, a few days ago, in another fit of pique, I actually followed through, went to google and typed into the search box the phrase: "How to sue to State of Connecticut."
And, ladies and gentlemen, it is a little harder to sue the State of Connecticut than I thought it would be! This is how it works.
If you want to sue the State of Connecticut for some wrongdoing it has done to you, you must first get permission from a single man, Mr. J. Paul Vance, Jr., the State's Claims Commissioner.
What is the Claims Commissioner for? Well, this is the story. As it turns out, "The state, unlike most of its citizens, is immune from liability and from suit. Without its consent, the state cannot be held liable in a legal action for any damage or injury it may cause or for the cost of any good service or benefit it may have received."
So, the State can sue you and mess up your life, but you cannot sue the State. So, in other words, this is like a "citizen beware" situation where the State of Connecticut is simply not responsible for its actions. So when the State causes you harm or damage by neglecting its responsibilities, or when you delivered goods or services to the State and were not paid, the State is statutorily not responsible and can get away with the harm it has done by its actions, unless--and here is the kicker--its one representative which it hired for itself and pays a full salary to agrees that a citizen can pursue a claim, i.e. Mr. J. Paul Vance, Jr., the Claims Commissioner for the State of Connecticut.
Why is this so? Well, apparently, the State has "sovereign immunity" a British concept that we inherited from our Colonial days. It originates with the phrase, "The King (sovereign) can do no wrong." Likewise, the State of Connecticut can do no wrong, unless the Claims Commissioner decides to waive the sovereign immunity of the State after determining that such a waiver is "just and equitable."
And further, "In most other cases where there is no legal or administrative remedy available, a person claiming to be injured or damaged as a result of state action must pursue a claim through the Office of the Claims Commissioner (OCC)." This means that this one individual, the Claims Commissioner, has an extraordinary amount of power to do as he or she pleases in the role of gatekeeper to justice in the State of Connecticut!
The legislation dictating the office and duties of the Claims Commissioner is set forth in Chapter 53 of the Connecticut General Statutes and includes provisions which allow the Governor to approve the appointment of a Claims Commissioner with the approval of the General Assembly every four years. The position of Claims Commissioner originated in the 1970s, and is a system unlike that of any other state.
But that is not a surprise to Connecticut citizens. This is a State where extraordinary corruption reigns in the Family Court System where citizens are trashed every day--why would we be surprised by corruption elsewhere in the State!
According to commentary I read online provided by David Cooney, a former president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, "From the lawyers I have spoken to in other states, this is not something they have ever heard of." Other States might have Claims Commissions or Boards, but only Connecticut puts the entire responsibility in the hands of one person.
How does this system work? When a party submits a claim, the Claims Commissioner has three options, i.e. 1) If it is $7,500 or under it can approve the amount for immediate payment; 2. If it is over $7,500 it can recommend that the General Assembly either pay or reject a claim; and 3. It can allow lawsuits against the State of Connecticut to proceed. The decisions of the Claim's Commissioner can only be appealed to the legislature.
How many claims does the Office of the Claims Commissioner process each year? The amount of claims that the Claim's Commissioner deals with each year are in the hundreds--three hundreds, five hundreds, numbers like that. Out of those claims maybe around two dozen lawsuits have been allowed to proceed each year. Once the Claim's Commissioner has received a claim he or she has two years to take care of it.
Would you believe that in the vast majority of other States you can just file a lawsuit if you want to sue the State? Yes, it's true, in other States, that's exactly how they do it!
Seeing as I still remained in the mood to sue after doing all this research, I went to the website for the Office of the Claims Commissioner and checked the FAQ section to see what I needed to do. How do I file a claim? Answer: Refer to Chapter 53...; When must a claim be served and filed? Answer: Refer to Chapter 53. In other words, what a marvelously informative website...NOT!
Guess someone doesn't want us citizens to sue! I wonder why! But do not be discouraged. If you are interested in submitting a claim against the State of Connecticut, I recommend as a first step, just to obtain initial contact information, that you check out the website of the Claims Commissioner and go from there. The website is at:
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