GSN Capital, LLC v. Shoshone City & Rural Fire Dist.

• Jurisdiction: Idaho,United States
• Parties: GSN CAPITAL, LLC, dba Sticks + Stones and Dave Zortman, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SHOSHONE CITY & RURAL FIRE DISTRICT, Defendant-Respondent.
• Citation: 541 P.3d 703
• Decision Date: 11 January 2024
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Docket Number: Docket No. 49279-2021

541 P.3d 703

GSN CAPITAL, LLC, dba Sticks + Stones and Dave Zortman, Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.SHOSHONE CITY & RURAL FIRE DISTRICT, Defendant-Respondent.

Docket No. 49279-2021

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, June 2023 Term.

Opinion filed: January 11, 2024

Givens Pursley LLP, Boise, for Appellants.Donald Z. Gray argued.

Naylor & Hales, P.C., Boise, for Respondent.Reid K. Peterson argued.

ZAHN, Justice.

GSN Capital, LLC, dba Sticks + Stones and Dave Zortman(collectively "GSN") sued the Shoshone City & Rural Fire District(the "District") after GSN's sawmill property was destroyed by a wildfire.GSN asserted a negligence claim against the District, arguing it should have called for additional mutual aid to combat the fire, should have deployed fire units to protect GSN's property, and should have performed a mitigation and salvage operation to save part of GSN's property.The district court dismissed GSN's claim after determining that the District was entitled to discretionary function immunity for the decision to not call for additional mutual aid and that it did not owe GSN a duty in tort when it decided to route fire resources to protect other residential properties and did not conduct a mitigation and salvage operation until after the fire was contained.On appeal, GSN argues these determinations were erroneous.We agree that the District did not owe GSN a duty in tort for any of the challenged decisions and, therefore, affirm the district court's judgment dismissing GSN's negligence claim.Because the lack of a duty is fatal to GSN's claims, we do not address the parties’ arguments concerning discretionary function immunity and immunity under the Idaho Disaster Preparedness Act.

I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A.Factual Background

The District is a fire protection district organized under Idaho Code section 31-1402.It has one full-time employee, Chief Casey Kelley, and relies on volunteer firefighters to provide fire protection services.The District has entered "mutual aid agreements" with surrounding fire agencies and the United States Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"), pursuant to which the District may request assistance from those agencies in case of an emergency.A call for mutual aid is a request for assistance, but each agency determines whether to respond and how many units to send depending on their availability.

At around 11:00 p.m. on July 25, 2017, lightning started a wildfire northwest of the City of Shoshone.The District was dispatched to the fire.Chief Kelley responded to the scene and determined the fire was burning on land managed by the BLM.Chief Kelley called the BLM for assistance and the BLM assumed full command of the firefighting operations when it arrived on the scene.The District assisted the firefighting operations until the BLM established a containment line outside of Shoshone.The BLM released the District from firefighting operations during the afternoon of July 26.

Around 7:00 p.m. that evening, Chief Kelley was notified that a high-wind thunderstorm caused the fire to break containment.The BLM requested the District return to aid with firefighting efforts.At 7:26 p.m., Chief Kelley and several District trucks and personnel arrived at the scene of the fire, which was quickly approaching Shoshone.Chief Kelley estimated that approximately twenty to thirty homes were in danger.As he arrived on scene, Chief Kelley called for mutual aid assistance from Gooding Fire, Richfield Fire, Dietrich Fire, Jerome Rural Fire, and Jerome City Fire.Chief Kelley recognized that he could have also requested mutual aid from Twin Falls County, but concluded additional units would not be impactful.

Approximately thirty minutes after Chief Kelley arrived on scene, the District and the BLM entered "unified command," which meant that both agencies coordinated their resources to fight the fire.The District's immediate response consisted of two firefighting units and Chief Kelley's command vehicle.A third District firefighting unit arrived on scene at approximately 7:40 p.m. Chief Kelley directed the District's units to take defensive action to protect property threatened by the fire.Chief Kelley directed one unit to protect several homes and another unit to protect against the fire jumping across a roadway.These units began successfully diverting the fire around the threatened homes.The units were then reassigned to protect a log home where the outbuilding had caught fire.The BLM asked the District's third unit to assist with protecting other homes in the area, and Chief Kelley agreed to let the third unit continue aiding the BLM in its protective operations.

At 7:50 p.m., emergency crews began evacuating residents living in homes and an RV park threatened by the fire.At approximately 8:00 p.m., an emergency crew drove onto the GSN property and asked Mrs. Zortman to evacuate, but she declined.The GSN property is located in Shoshone, east of the area where immediate firefighting operations were taking place.The GSN property contains a sawmill business called Sticks + Stones, which the Zortmans own and operate.The Zortmans were in the process of building a permanent residence on the property and were temporarily living in an RV on the property.In addition to the large sawmill, the Sticks + Stones portion of the property contains significant amounts of highly flammable materials such as sawdust, woodchips, and stacked logs.The GSN property had not been fitted with sprinklers, had not been subject to controlled burns, and did not contain fire lines.

Shortly after 8:00 p.m., the fire jumped across a road into a large vacant area containing dry brush and grass.The fire quickly began expanding within the vacant area, threatening a trailer park to the north, homes to the south, and the GSN property to the east.At this time, Chief Kelley decided that it would be too dangerous to position units in front of the advancing fire given its speed.The fire quickly burned through the vacant area and toward the GSN property.

At approximately 8:18 p.m., the first mutual aid unit arrived at the scene, which was commanded by Gooding Fire Chief Brandon Covey.When Chief Covey arrived, the GSN property was either on fire or imminently threatened.Chief Kelley ordered Chief Covey to defend homes south of the vacant area near the GSN property.When Chief Covey arrived to defend the homes, he noticed the Sticks + Stones sawmill had caught fire.Chief Covey spoke with an individual who indicated that nobody was in the sawmill and everyone from the GSN property was safe.For safety reasons, Chief Covey decided not to move in front of the fire as it quickly spread east.Instead, Chief Covey defended the homes to the south.Chief Kelley concluded at this time that there was no reasonable strategy for protecting Sticks + Stones from the fire.Chief Kelley instead deployed additional resources to protect homes and mobile homes threatened to the north and south.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., a District fire unit drove into the Sticks + Stones driveway and District volunteers witnessed the sawmill burning fiercely.The District unit moved on to an area south of the GSN property to prevent the fire from spreading there.At this time, a BLM crew indicated over the radio that it was leaving the GSN property near the sawmill because it was too hot and dangerous.

Once the fire reached the GSN property, it rapidly spread.Except for a sales yard and the partially built residence, the GSN property became fully engulfed in fire soon after the BLM crew radioed that it was leaving the area.Sometime after the BLM drove on to the Sticks + Stones property, Chief Kelley drove onto the GSN property to assess the situation and determined not to take any action at that time due to firefighter safety concerns and lack of resources.Firefighting efforts continued around, but not on, the GSN property.

At approximately 10:45 p.m., Chief Kelley felt the fire had been contained to the point where the houses and mobile homes were no longer immediately threatened.Available crews then worked to contain, rather than extinguish, the fire on GSN's property so it would not spread to the surrounding area.At approximately 2:30 a.m., Mr. Zortman returned to the GSN property to assess the damage.Mr. Zortman spoke with a District unit nearby and asked for assistance protecting the unburnt sales yard.Chief Kelley arrived shortly thereafter and spoke with Mr. Zortman.Mr. Zortman indicated to Chief Kelley that "[t]here was stuff left to save, but it wasn't worth the risk of putting it out at that time when nobody's had any sleep because all of [Chief Kelley's] volunteers were out on the fire the night before all night."Chief Kelley then placed District units near the sales yard to protect that portion of the property, and efforts to prevent the further spread of the fire continued throughout the night.

Sometime the next day, Mr. Zortman was interviewed by multiple news media outlets.Mr. Zortman indicated that "[w]e would thank the firefighters, but they weren't here."After hearing about the interview, Chief Kelley returned to the GSN property and spoke with Mr. Zortman.Mr. Zortman indicated that he was not happy with the District's efforts and asked the District to return and fully extinguish the still-burning sawmill.Later that evening, District units returned to the sawmill and spent 5 hours and 192,000 gallons of water extinguishing the remaining fire.

B.Procedural Background

GSN sued the District, alleging its negligence allowed Sticks + Stones to catch fire.GSN later clarified that it alleged the District was negligent for failing to call for additional mutual aid, for not engaging in firefighting operations to prevent the fire from reaching GSN's property, and for not undertaking mitigation and salvage efforts.GSN asserted that (1) the District owed a statutory duty to GSN under Idaho Code section 31-1401;(2) the District owed GSN a duty...