Gabriel v. Bauman

Citation2014 S.D. 30,847 N.W.2d 537
Decision Date21 May 2014
Docket NumberNo. 26589.,26589.
PartiesAreyman E. GABRIEL, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Tim J. BAUMAN, Chester Rural Fire Protection District, and Chester Fire Department, Defendants and Appellees.
CourtSupreme Court of South Dakota

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Peter J. Bendorf, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Gary W. Schumacher, Wilkinson & Wilkinson, De Smet, South Dakota, Attorneys for plaintiff and appellant.

Lisa M. Prostrollo, Michael L. Luce, Murphy, Goldammer & Prendergast, LLP, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Attorneys for defendant and appellee Tim J. Bauman.

Michael J. Schaffer, Paul H. Linde, Schaffer Law Office, Prof., LLC, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Attorneys for defendants and appellees Chester Rural Fire Protection District & Chester Fire Department.

KONENKAMP, Justice.

[¶ 1.] Responding to an emergency, a volunteer firefighter speeding on his way to the fire station struck a vehicle crossing an intersection, injuring the plaintiff and his passenger. In the suit against the firefighter and his local fire district, plaintiff alleged that the firefighter's conduct was willful, wanton, and reckless and that the fire department negligently trained the firefighter and inadequately equipped the firefighter's vehicle. The circuit court dismissed the suit on summary judgment, ruling as a matter of law that there was insufficient evidence the firefighter and fire district acted willfully, wantonly, or recklessly under SDCL 20–9–4.1.

Background

[¶ 2.] Tim Bauman is a volunteer firefighter for the Chester Fire Department in the Chester Rural Fire Protection District. On the 4th of July in 2007, Bauman and his wife, Cheryl, were at a celebration in Wentworth, South Dakota. Cheryl is a volunteer first responder and an EMT. While at the celebration, Bauman received a page from Chester Fire directing him to respond to a fire. They left the celebration in Bauman's personal pickup. He activated his hazard lights and sped toward the fire hall. When Bauman was traveling south on Lake County Road 15, he came over a hill and saw a north-bound vehicle positioned to make a left turn where the road intersected with Horizon Heights Road. Cheryl also saw the vehicle and said, “Oh, no, don't go, don't go,” and then, “Oh, thank God, they're not going to go.” But the driver, Areyman Gabriel, then proceeded into the intersection. Bauman later explained that although he slowed his vehicle near the intersection, at which he had the right of way, Gabriel's north-bound vehicle turned directly in front of him. Bauman slammed on his brakes, but could not avoid the collision. Both Gabriel and his passenger, Mandi Gronseth, were injured.

[¶ 3.] Gronseth brought suit against Bauman and Chester Fire in the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota. She alleged that Bauman was negligent, which negligence proximately caused her injuries. She further claimed that Chester Fire was vicariously liable for Bauman's negligence under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Gronseth later dismissed her claim against Bauman. Chester Fire moved for summary judgment asserting that Bauman was immune from liability under SDCL 20–9–4.1, which immunity extended to Chester Fire. The statute, known as the “Good Samaritan statute,” provided at the time:

No peace officer, conservation officer, member of any fire department, police department and their first aid, rescue or emergency squad, or any citizen acting as such as a volunteer, or any other person is liable for any civil damages as a result of their acts of commission or omission arising out of and in the course of their rendering in good faith, any emergency care and services during an emergency which is in their judgment indicated and necessary at the time. Such relief from liability for civil damages shall extend to the operation of any motor vehicle in connection with any such care or services.

Nothing in this section grants any such relief to any person causing any damage by his willful, wanton or reckless act of commission or omission.

Id.

[¶ 4.] Before ruling on Chester Fire's motion for summary judgment, the federal district court recognized that this Court had not yet interpreted SDCL 20–9–4.1. Therefore, the district court certified the following question to the South Dakota Supreme Court:

The Defendant driver was driving his own vehicle to the fire hall from which the firemen would then drive an emergency vehicle to the scene of the fire. Is the driving to the fire hall “any emergency care or services during an emergency....” so that SDCL 20–9–4.1 would preclude liability to Plaintiff passenger unless Plaintiff showed the causing of “any damage by [Defendant's] willful, wanton or reckless act of commission or omission”?

In re Certification of a Question of Law, 2010 S.D. 16, ¶ 6, 779 N.W.2d 158, 161 (alteration in original). We answered:

[T]he act of this volunteer fire fighter driving to the fire hall in a personal vehicle in response to an emergency fire call is included within the language “any emergency care and services,” so that SDCL 20–9–4.1 would preclude liability unless Gronseth shows that Bauman's conduct was “willful, wanton or reckless[.]

Id. ¶ 16.

[¶ 5.] While Gronseth's federal suit was pending, Gabriel brought suit in state court against Bauman and Chester Fire. He, like Gronseth, alleged that Bauman was negligent and Chester Fire was vicariously liable for Bauman's negligence. Gabriel further alleged that Chester Fire negligently trained Bauman and failed to equip his vehicle appropriately. After this Court's decision in Certification of a Question of Law, 2010 S.D. 16, 779 N.W.2d 158, Gabriel amended his complaint to allege that Bauman's conduct was willful, wanton, or reckless. He then reasserted that Chester Fire was vicariously liable for Bauman's negligence and that Chester Fire negligently trained Bauman and inadequately equipped Bauman's vehicle, which conduct proximately caused injury to Gabriel.

[¶ 6.] Bauman and Chester Fire moved for summary judgment on the ground that Bauman's conduct was not willful, wanton, or reckless as a matter of law. During the hearing, Bauman and Chester Fire directed the circuit court to cases interpreting the phrase “willful and wanton misconduct” from our long-repealed guest statute. See, e.g., Melby v. Anderson, 64 S.D. 249, 266 N.W. 135 (1936) (citing our former guest statute, which has been repealed by 1978 S.D. Sess. Laws ch. 240, § 1). Relying on these cases, Bauman and Chester Fire insisted that Gabriel must prove that Bauman consciously realized that by speeding in response to an emergency he would in all probability collide with Gabriel's vehicle. Chester Fire further asserted that SDCL 20–9–4.1 extended immunity to Chester Fire against Gabriel's negligent training and equipment claims.

[¶ 7.] At the conclusion of the hearing, the circuit court orally granted Bauman and Chester Fire summary judgment. It ruled that [t]here was nothing beyond the speed of Mr. Bauman that was a factor in this accident from his conduct[,] and based on the law, “speed alone is insufficient.” The court further ruled that “the training and equipment issue[s] with Chester Fire “were not willful, wanton, or reckless” as a matter of law.

[¶ 8.] In this appeal, Gabriel asserts that the circuit court erred when it granted summary judgment to Bauman because (1) the cases interpreting the repealed guest statute are not controlling, (2) speed alone may constitute willful, wanton, or reckless conduct, and (3) there are additional circumstances beyond Bauman's speed to support a finding that Bauman acted willfully, wantonly, or recklessly. Gabriel also asserts that the court erred when it granted summary judgment to Chester Fire because Chester Fire's administrative decisions related to training and equipment do not meet the “during an emergency” requirement of SDCL 20–9–4.1.1

Analysis and Decision

[¶ 9.] Gabriel maintains that the circuit court erroneously relied on South Dakota's repealed guest statute to rule as a matter of law that Bauman did not act willfully, wantonly, or recklessly. SeeSDCL 32–34–1 (repealed by 1978 S.D. Sess. Laws ch. 240, § 1). Under that statute, a passenger in a vehicle could not recover damages from the vehicle owner or operator for negligence unless there was “willful and wanton misconduct of the owner or operator” and that misconduct contributed to the guest's injury. Id. Emphasizing the absence of the word “reckless” and highlighting that the guest statute used the conjunctive “and,” Gabriel argues that “willful and wanton misconduct” cannot invoke the same statutory standard as a “willful, wanton, or reckless act of commission or omission[.] Moreover, he argues that there is no support for the court's declaration that speed alone can never rise to the level of willful, wanton, or reckless conduct. Finally, Gabriel contends that he presented sufficient evidence in addition to Bauman's speed to establish that there is an issue of material fact in dispute on whether Bauman's conduct was willful, wanton, or reckless.

[¶ 10.] In granting Bauman and Chester Fire summary judgment, the circuit court did not identify what standard it used under SDCL 20–9–4.1 or what language it found persuasive from our cases interpreting the repealed guest statute. Nonetheless, at the close of the hearing, the court ruled:

The court does find as a matter of law that Mr. Bauman's conduct was not willful, wanton, or reckless as defined by statute. That there's not a material fact in issue relating to that decision.

The court finds that under the cases previously determined by the Supreme Court, speed alone is insufficient. There was nothing beyond the speed of Mr. Bauman that was a factor in this accident from his conduct.

Bauman and Chester Fire assert that although the guest statute has been repealed, this “Court's directives regarding the meaning of willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct remain authoritative[...

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