Doe v. Greenville County School Dist.

• Decision Date: 27 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 26372.,26372.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: John DOE and Jane Doe, Appellants v. GREENVILLE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.

651 S.E.2d 305

John DOE and Jane Doe, Appellants v. GREENVILLE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.

No. 26372.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard May 3, 2007.

Decided August 27, 2007.

Rehearing Denied October 19, 2007.

Gregg E. Meyers, of Charleston, for Appellants.

Christopher R. Antley, of Devlin & Parkinson, of Greenville, for Respondent.

Chief Justice TOAL:

John Doe and Jane Doe ("Mr. and Mrs. Doe") sued the Greenville County School District ("the School District") asserting several causes of action arising from incidents of sexual activity between Mr. and Mrs. Doe's minor daughter and a substitute teacher employed by the School District. The trial court granted the School District's motion to dismiss all causes of action, and Mr. and Mrs. Doe appealed. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Doe discovered that their fourteen-year old daughter was involved in a sexual relationship with a substitute teacher from her school. The substitute teacher was charged and convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor as a result of this inappropriate relationship. Ultimately, Mr. and Mrs. Doe sued the School District alleging several causes of action based upon the alleged negligent supervision on the part of the School District.¹ Specifically, Mr. and Mrs. Doe allege that the School District had prior complaints and warnings regarding the substitute teacher's inappropriate interest in young girls, and that the School District knew or should have known about the development of this relationship.

The School District filed a motion to dismiss all causes of action, and the trial court granted the motion. Mr. and Mrs. Doe appealed, and this Court certified the case from the court of appeals pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR. Mr. and Mrs. Doe raise the following issue for this Court's review:

Did the trial court err in granting the School District's motion to dismiss Mr. and Mrs. Doe's claims?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Generally, in considering a Rule 12(b)(6), SCRCP, motion to dismiss, the trial court must base its ruling solely upon allegations set forth on the face of the complaint. Stiles v. Onorato, 318 S.C. 297, 300, 457 S.E.2d 601, 603 (1995). The motion may not be sustained if the facts alleged in the complaint and the inferences that can be drawn therefrom would entitle the plaintiff to any relief under any theory. Id.

LAW/ANALYSIS

Mr. and Mrs. Doe argue that the trial court erred in granting the School District's motion to dismiss. We agree that the trial court erred in granting the School District's motion to dismiss Mr. and Mrs. Doe's action for negligent supervision. We disagree, however, with Mr. and Mrs. Doe's argument that the trial court erred in granting the School District's motion to dismiss the causes of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress, loss of consortium, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of an assumed duty in loco parentis.

A. Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress

Mr. and Mrs. Doe argue that the trial court erred in dismissing their claim against the School District for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Specifically, Mr. and Mrs. Doe argue that the trial court mistakenly perceived their claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress as a bystander liability claim similar to that discussed in Kinard v. Augusta Sash & Door Co., 286 S.C. 579, 582, 336 S.E.2d 465, 467 (1985). Mr. and Mrs. Doe contend that their claim should have been regarded as another basis upon which emotional distress could be inflicted through negligent acts. We disagree.

In Kinard, this Court recognized that a parent may bring a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress as a result of injury to his or her child. Kinard, 286 S.C. at 582, 336 S.E.2d at 467. The Court instructed that such an action is strictly limited to the "bystander liability" scenario. Id. In order to prevail on this cause of action, a plaintiff must show that:

(a) the negligence of the defendant caused death or serious physical injury to another;

(b) the plaintiff bystander was in close proximity to the accident;

(c) the plaintiff and the victim are closely related;

(d) the plaintiff contemporaneously perceived the accident; and

(e) the plaintiff's emotional distress manifests itself by physical symptoms capable of objective diagnosis and be established by expert testimony.

Id. at 582-83, 336 S.E.2d at 467. This Court has not otherwise defined the parameters of a cause of action for the negligent infliction of emotional distress arising out of an injury to someone other than the plaintiff. 11 S.C. JUR. Damages § 21 (1992).

In this case, Mr. and Mrs. Doe admit that they did not and cannot allege facts which would support a bystander liability cause of action. Because South Carolina courts have limited the recognition of negligent infliction of emotional distress claims in circumstances such as the one presented in this case to bystander liability, Mr. and Mrs. Doe have not stated a claim which is cognizable under South Carolina law.

Therefore, we hold that the trial court did not err in dismissing Mr. and Mrs. Doe's cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

B. Loss of Consortium

Mr. and Mrs. Doe argue that the trial court erred in dismissing their claim for loss of consortium. Mr. and Mrs. Doe contend that this Court's decision in Taylor v. Medenica, 324 S.C. 200, 222, 479 S.E.2d 35, 47 (1996), is not dispositive in this case because Taylor dealt only with a child's claim for loss of parental consortium. Additionally, Mr. and Mrs. Doe argue that the Court should acknowledge their claim because South Carolina has long acknowledged claims arising from the seduction of a child. We disagree.

At common law, a father possessed the right to maintain an action for the injuries of his minor child. See Hughey v. Ausborn, 249 S.C. 470, 476, 154 S.E.2d 839, 841-42 (1967). This right was based upon the concept that a father was entitled to compensation for the loss of services and earning capacity of his minor child. Id. Additionally, the father could recover for other pecuniary losses, including medical expenses incurred as a result of the injury. Id. Conversely, the common law right of a husband to recover damages for loss of consortium resulting from the injury of his wife was more encompassing. A spousal loss of consortium claim was based upon the husband's right to the companionship, aid, society, and services of his wife. Cook v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 196 S.C. 230, 243-44, 13 S.E.2d 1, 7 (1941). This common law right belonged only to the husband, and therefore, a wife could not recover similar damages resulting from the injury of her husband. In 1969, the South Carolina legislature adopted Code § (56) 615, which is now codified at S.C.Code Ann. § 15-75-20 (2005), to allow both spouses the right to recover for loss of consortium.

In Taylor v. Medenica, this Court held that the determination of which relationships may give rise to a loss of consortium claim in South Carolina is one best left to the discretion of the legislature. 324 S.C. 200, 222, 479 S.E.2d 35, 47 (1996) (declining to recognize a cause of action for loss of parental consortium). The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina adopted the Taylor analysis in finding that South Carolina law did not provide a cause of action for loss of consortium of a child or for filial consortium. Kirkland v. Sam's East, Inc., 411 F.Supp.2d 639, 641 (D.S.C.2005). Today, we extend our Taylor analysis in holding that South Carolina law does not recognize claims for loss of filial consortium. Such rights did not exist under the common law, and the legislature has not provided such a right by statute.

The dissent would find that parents have a common law right to sue for loss of filial consortium despite the clear distinctions between a parent's claim for loss of services and a spouse's claim for loss of consortium found in our previous jurisprudence. The cases which the dissent utilizes to support its conclusion that filial consortium claims existed at common law directly address parental claims for loss of services, not loss of filial consortium. See Wright v. Colleton County, 301 S.C. 282, 289, 391 S.E.2d 564, 569 (1990) (providing that a parent's claim for loss of services and medical expenses resulting from the injury of a minor child is within the tort claims act statutory definition of "loss"); see also, e.g., Berger v. Charleston Consol. Ry. Gas & Elec. Co., 93 S.C. 372, 76 S.E. 1096 (1913) (addressing a father's action for medical expenses and loss of services of his injured child). As discussed above, our common law only allowed a parent to maintain an action for the loss of a child's services and earning capacity. These common law claims did not include the intangible losses of aid, companionship, and society which have traditionally defined loss of consortium claims. Accordingly, in absence of some action from the legislature, this Court has no authority upon which it could rely in finding that South Carolina law recognizes claims for loss of filial consortium.

Additionally, Mr. and Mrs. Doe's claim that South Carolina's recognition of a cause of action for seduction is a valid basis for recognizing a claim for loss of filial consortium is misleading. A claim for seduction requires the plaintiff to establish that the defendant, by promising to marry or through some other device, enticed the plaintiff, an unmarried chaste woman, to consent to unlawful sexual intercourse. See 18 S.C. JUR. Seduction § 2 (1993). The right to sue upon an action for seduction belongs to the victim of the seduction. See 18 S.C. JUR. Seduction § 9. However, traditionally, a claim for seduction was a father's (or mother's in the absence of the father) right of action for the loss of his daughter's services. See 18 S.C. JUR. Seduction § 8. In...