The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 : Municipal and County Government

Chapter 033 : Municipal Officers Generally

Subchapter 004 : Actions by or Against Officers; Liability; Penalties

• § 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.)