Baker v. City of Ottumwa

• Decision Date: 26 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-32,96-32
• Citation: 560 N.W.2d 578
• Parties: Joe BAKER, Appellant, v. The CITY OF OTTUMWA and Aaron Dannull, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 578

560 N.W.2d 578

Joe BAKER, Appellant, v. The CITY OF OTTUMWA and Aaron Dannull, Appellees.

No. 96-32.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 26, 1997.

Glenn L. Norris and George F. Davison, Jr. of Hawkins & Norris, Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Logan and Hugh J. Cain of Hopkins & Huebner, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee City of Ottumwa.

John A. Pabst of Pabst Law Firm, Albia, for appellee Aaron Dannull.

Considered by LARSON, P.J., and NEUMAN, SNELL, ANDREASEN, and TERNUS, JJ.

NEUMAN, Justice.

This appeal stems from an accident that occurred at a water park owned by the City of Ottumwa. Plaintiff Joe Baker, a patron on the park's speed slide, suffered a serious eye injury when defendant Aaron Dannull, another park patron, negligently interfered with Baker's clear path down the slide. Baker sued the city, as well as Dannull, but the city succeeded on its summary judgment claim to immunity under Iowa Code section 670.4(12) (1995). The case proceeded to trial against Dannull, and the jury returned a verdict for Baker in the sum of $10,229.21.

Baker appeals, claiming the court erred by (1) dismissing his claims against the city, (2) permitting Dannull to claim the city's conduct was the sole proximate cause of Baker's injury, and (3) refusing to grant a new trial based on the alleged inadequacy of the jury's verdict. Dannull cross-appeals, challenging the court's refusal to permit the jury to allocate a percentage of fault against the city. Finding no error, we affirm on both appeals.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

The City of Ottumwa owns and operates "The Beach Ottumwa," a municipal water park featuring various swimming pools and waterslides. This appeal concerns the "200' Speed Slide." To ride the slide, a patron climbs a high platform to access an entry chute or "flume." A lifeguard posted on the platform directs the rider to lie back so that the rider has no view of the bottom of the slide. At the lifeguard's cue, the rider plunges down an eighty foot, near-vertical slide into a horizontal flume. Water filling the flume slows the rider's motion, thus ending the ride. The ride lasts three-to-five seconds.

On June 24, 1993, Baker, who was then nineteen years of age, rode the speed slide several times without incident. On Baker's final descent, however, twelve-year-old Dannull stuck his foot over the side wall of the horizontal flume to test the temperature of the water. As Baker sped by, Dannull's heel struck him in the eye. The record reveals that Dannull was in an unauthorized area; the lifeguard stationed at the bottom of the slide evidently was not paying attention.

Baker's injury required stitches above his left eye followed by surgery to correct a fracture to the left orbital floor. The surgery involved securing a plate to the bone of the orbital rim with two small screws. Dr. Keith Carter, the ocuplastic surgeon who performed the procedure, reported a successful operation with Baker only experiencing slight double vision on extreme upgaze. Although Baker complained of sporadic headaches and twitching in his left eye following the operation, Dr. Carter believed the symptoms were not related to the eye injury.

Baker sued the City of Ottumwa, and the city cross-petitioned against Dannull. The city then moved for summary judgment, citing an exemption from liability under Iowa Code section 670.4(12) for tort claims related to swimming pools. Baker resisted the motion, arguing the statute unconstitutionally denied him equal protection and due process of law. The district court granted the motion, dismissing Baker's suit against the city.

Baker successfully moved to amend his petition to assert a direct claim against Dannull. Dannull then attempted to file a cross-claim against the city, but it was dismissed on the city's motion.

Baker and Dannull proceeded to trial. Baker moved in limine to preclude Dannull from asserting as an affirmative defense that the negligence of the city caused Baker's injuries. Over Baker's objection, the court ruled that Dannull could attempt to prove the city was the sole proximate cause of Baker's injuries. The court instructed the jury that to prevail on this defense, Dannull would have to prove that the lifeguards were negligent and their conduct was the sole proximate cause of Baker's injuries.

The jury returned verdicts finding Dannull's fault proximately caused Baker's damages and the City of Ottumwa was not the sole proximate cause of Baker's injuries. The jury found no fault by Baker. It awarded Baker $8679.21 for past medical expenses, $1250 for past pain and suffering, and $300 for past loss of function of the body. No award for future damages was made.

Baker moved for a new trial, claiming the jury award was inadequate as a matter of law and the district court erred in instructing the jury on the sole proximate cause defense. Dannull moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, arguing that dismissal of the City of Ottumwa unfairly prevented him from assigning it a percentage of fault despite its immunity from liability. Both parties' motions were denied. Baker appealed and Dannull cross-appealed.

II. Issues on Appeal.

A. Governmental immunity.

Baker's appeal centers on his claim the court erred when it interpreted section 670.4(12) to exempt the city from liability. He maintains the statute has no applicability when, as here, the claim relates to negligent supervision of municipal employees rather than failure to comply with swimming pool regulations. He also asserts application of the statute unconstitutionally denies him equal protection and due process. See U.S Const. amend. XIV; Iowa Const. art. I, §§ 6, 9.

These questions reach us on appeal from summary judgment. Because the only dispute concerns legal consequences flowing from undisputed facts, our review is limited to whether the district court correctly applied the law. City of West Branch v. Miller, 546 N.W.2d 598, 600 (Iowa 1996). As to Baker's constitutional challenge, our review is de novo. Des Moines Register & Tribune Co. v. Dwyer, 542 N.W.2d 491, 495 (Iowa 1996).

Iowa Code chapter 670, which governs tort liability of governmental subdivisions, subjects every city to liability for the torts of its officers and employees unless such torts fall within exemptions spelled out in section 670.4. See Iowa Code § 670.2; City of West Branch, 546 N.W.2d at 600. At issue here is section 670.4(12) which states that the liability imposed by section 670.2 shall have no application to

[a] claim relating to a swimming pool or spa as defined in section 135I.1 which has been inspected by a municipality or the state in accordance with chapter 135I, or a swimming pool or spa inspection program which has been certified by the state in accordance with that chapter, whether or not owned or operated by a municipality, unless the claim is based upon an act or omission of an officer or employee of the municipality and the act or omission constitutes actual malice or a criminal offense.

Iowa Code § 670.4(12).

The immunity authorized by section 670.4(12) is made applicable to a waterslide by definition found at Iowa Code section 135I.1(4): " 'Swimming pool ' means an artificial basin and its appurtenances, either constructed or operated for swimming, wading, or diving, and includes a swimming pool, wading pool, waterslide, or associated bathhouse." (Emphasis added.)

Baker's first argument--that the exemption relates to health standards, not negligent lifeguards--is defeated by the broad language of section 670.4(12). By its very terms, the exemption applies to any "act or omission" that falls short of actual malice or crime. Iowa Code § 670.4(12). This language precludes Baker's attempt to narrow the statute's focus. Nothing in the statute immunizes negligence in the performance of pool inspections while preserving claims against negligent lifeguards. Clearly the suit before us fits the broad classification of "claim relating to a swimming pool," see id., and the district court was correct in so ruling.

Baker claims in the alternative that the statute is constitutionally infirm. He argues that section 670.4(12) denies municipal swimming pool accident victims the legal protections afforded persons who are injured at other places of entertainment and recreation. Moreover Baker contends the statute prevents him from enjoying a significant property right--the right to assert his legal claim against the city in court. Like the district court, we find no merit in these contentions.

We begin by noting the district court properly applied a rational basis analysis to Baker's equal protection claim because no suspect classification or fundamental right is implicated. See Glowacki v. State Bd. of Med. Exam'rs, 501 N.W.2d 539, 541 (Iowa 1993). Under the rational basis test, constitutional safeguards are offended only if the classification rests on arbitrary grounds unrelated to the achievement of a legitimate state interest. Id.; Suckow v. NEOWA FS, Inc., 445 N.W.2d 776, 779 (Iowa 1989). Legislative acts are cloaked with a presumption of constitutionality, even when application of the statute results in some inequality. Suckow, 445 N.W.2d at 778. A discriminatory classification is, therefore, permissible "if any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify it." Id. (quoting McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 425-26, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 1105, 6 L.Ed.2d 393, 399 (1961)).

Here the district court believed the legislature enacted the swimming pool exemption "to foster community recreational activities and water safety training." We agree that these are legitimate governmental interests and the statute furthers the interests in a rational way.

Baker contends on appeal that even assuming public water safety is a legitimate governmental interest, operating a water park is nevertheless a proprietary--not governmental--function. The distinction, however, is immaterial to our inquiry. By its terms, ...