The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
004
:
ACTIONS BY OR AGAINST OFFICERS; LIABILITY; PENALTIES
(Cite as: 24 V.S.A. § 901a)
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§ 901a. Tort claims against municipal employees
(a) As used in this section, “municipal employee” means any person employed for a wage
or salary by a municipality; a volunteer whose services have been requested by the
legislative body of a municipality; a volunteer whose services have been requested
by a municipal officer; or a volunteer whose services have been requested by an employee
of the municipality acting within the scope of the employee’s authority.
(b) When the act or omission of a municipal employee acting within the scope of employment
is alleged to have caused damage to property, injury to persons, or death, the exclusive
right of action shall lie against the municipality that employed the employee at the
time of the act or omission; and no such action may be maintained against the municipal
employee or the estate of the municipal employee.
(c) When a municipality assumes the place of a municipal employee in an action as provided
in subsection (b) of this section, the municipality may assert all defenses available
to the municipal employee, and the municipality shall waive any defense not available
to the municipal employee, including municipal sovereign immunity.
(d)(1) The municipality shall defend and indemnify a municipal employee for any legal costs
if a municipal employee is improperly named as a defendant in a proceeding.
(2) The municipality shall defend or, when a cause of action contains elements not covered
by insurance, reimburse legal defense and expense costs incurred by a municipal employee
in the event that a municipal employee is named as a party under subsection (e) of
this section and the employee is dismissed from the matter before the entry of a judgment
by the court or the acts or omissions of the employee are determined not to be willful,
intentional, or outside the scope of the employee’s authority.
(e) This section shall not apply to an act or omission of a municipal employee that was
willful, intentional, or outside the scope of the employee’s authority.
(f) When two or more conflicting statutes provide protection to a municipal employee whose
act or omission is alleged to have caused damage to property, injury to persons, or
death, a court shall apply the statute that grants greater protection to the municipal
employee. (Added 2003, No. 62, § 1; see effective date note below.)