Greider v. Shawnee Mission Unified School D. 512

• Decision Date: 17 March 1989
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 87-2111-S.
• Citation: 710 F. Supp. 296
• Parties: Alexander GREIDER, a minor By and Through his Father and Next Friend, Timothy D. GREIDER, Plaintiff, v. SHAWNEE MISSION UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT # 512, JOHNSON COUNTY, STATE OF KANSAS Mark Isenberg, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Kansas

710 F. Supp. 296

Alexander GREIDER, a minor By and Through his Father and Next Friend, Timothy D. GREIDER, Plaintiff, v. SHAWNEE MISSION UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT # 512, JOHNSON COUNTY, STATE OF KANSAS Mark Isenberg, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 87-2111-S.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

March 17, 1989.

David R. Morris, G. Gordon Atcheson, Shamberg, Johnson, Bergman & Goldman, Chartered, Overland Park, Kan., for plaintiff.

Keith Martin, Payne & Jones, Chartered, Overland Park, Kan., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SAFFELS, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on defendants' motion for summary judgment, plaintiff's motion for a partial summary judgment, and defendants' motion in limine.

The uncontroverted facts for purposes of these motions are as follows.

In the fall of 1985, plaintiff Alexander Greider ("Greider") was an eighth grader at Trail Ridge Junior High. He was enrolled in an industrial arts class taught by defendant, Mark Isenberg ("Isenberg") and was injured in that class while using a table saw. Greider had been classified by the defendant school district as a behaviorally disturbed child and therefore "handicapped" under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 ("EHA"), 20 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq. Since Greider was a "handicapped" child, the district was required by the EHA to develop an Individual Education Program ("IEP") for Greider in consultation with his parents. School representatives and the student's parents meet once a year to review the IEP. The annual review of the IEP is not designed to determine individual courses into which a handicapped student will be placed. A special education teacher was to decide into which "regular" classes the handicapped student should be enrolled.

One of the special education teachers at Trail Ridge Junior High determined that Greider should be enrolled in Isenberg's woodworking class. The special education instructor claims she notified Isenberg that Greider was a special education student, and further advised him of Greider's particular problems and needs. However, Isenberg does not recall receiving any such notice.

While in Isenberg's woodworking class, Greider severely injured his hand on a table saw. He now brings suit by and through his father and next friend, Timothy D. Greider, contending the school district and Isenberg were negligent in several regards. He contends that defendants failed to take reasonable steps to protect his safety. According to Greider, those failures included placing him in the class despite his behavioral disturbance, failing to properly notify Isenberg of his enrollment in the class and of his particular problems and needs, failing to properly instruct plaintiff on safety procedures while taking into consideration his behavioral disturbance, and failing to provide proper guards and warnings on the table saw. Further, Greider contends defendants were negligent in failing to properly supervise Greider's activities in the woodworking class.

In their motion for summary judgment, defendants argue that all actions of which plaintiff complains were discretionary in nature and that they are therefore entitled to immunity under the Kansas Tort Claims Act, K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq. ("KTCA").

A moving party is entitled to summary judgment only when the evidence indicates that no genuine issue of material fact exists. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Maughan v. SW Servicing, Inc., 758 F.2d 1381, 1387 (10th Cir.1985). An issue of fact is "material" only when the dispute is over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The requirement of a "genuine" issue of fact means that the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party. Id. Thus, the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment. Id. The court must consider factual inferences tending to show triable issues in the light most favorable to the existence of those issues. United States v. O'Block, 788 F.2d 1433, 1435 (10th Cir.1986). The court must also consider the record in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Bee v. Greaves, 744 F.2d 1387, 1396 (10th Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1214, 105 S.Ct. 1187, 84 L.Ed.2d 334 (1985). The language of Rule 56(a) mandates the entry of summary judgment against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

The KTCA is applicable to school districts and their employees. See K.S.A. 75-6102(b), (c), (d). K.S.A. 75-6104 provides:

A governmental entity or an employee acting within the scope of the employee's employment shall not be liable for damages resulting from ... (e) any claim based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a governmental entity or employee, whether or not the discretion is abused and regardless of the level of discretion involved.

The Kansas Supreme Court most recently discussed the discretionary function exception to the KTCA in the case Dougan v. Rossville Drainage Dist., 243 Kan. 315, 757 P.2d 272 (1988). The supreme court in that case stated the general doctrine that under the KTCA, "liability is the rule and immunity is the exception." Id. at 318, 757 P.2d at 275. No workable definition of "discretionary" is provided by the statute or the case law. However, the court's discussion of a line of Kansas cases dealing with the discretionary exception provides some guidance in this case. The court cited Hopkins v. State, 237 Kan. 601, 702 P.2d 311 (1985) for the general rule that "the discretionary function exception is available only when no mandatory duty or guidelines exist." Dougan, 243 Kan. at 323, 757 P.2d at 278 (citing Hopkins, 237 Kan. at 610, 702 P.2d at 318). The line of Kansas cases cited in Dougan also rely upon the presence or absence of a legal duty in deciding whether the discretionary function exception should be applicable Dougan, 243 Kan. at 323, 757 P.2d at 278. The court in Dougan further referred to a Tenth Circuit case interpreting identical language in the Federal Tort Claims Act; see Barton v. United States, 609 F.2d 977 (10th Cir.1979). The court determined that the discretionary function exception was available only when there was "no clearly defined mandatory duty." Dougan, 243 Kan. at 323, 757 P.2d at 278. "If a government official in performing his statutory duties must act without reliance upon a fixed or readily ascertainable standard, the decision he makes is discretionary and within the exception." Barton, 609 F.2d at 979.

Thus, in the present case, the school board is entitled to immunity only if its actions were not governed by any ...