Martin v. Twin Falls School Dist.# 411
| Decision Date | 22 November 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 28188.,28188. |
| Citation | 59 P.3d 317,138 Idaho 146 |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
| Parties | Marianne MARTIN, individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of Karisa Martin, Tritan Martin and Dylan Martin on their behalf and Meghan Martin, individually, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. TWIN FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT # 411, Defendant-Respondent, and City Of Twin Falls; Ryan Canoy; John Odom dba Odom's Concrete & Excavation; and John and Jane Does I-X, Defendants. |
Stephan, Kvanvig, Stone & Trainor, Twin Falls, for appellants. Laird B. Stone argued.
Anderson, Julian & Hull, LLP, Boise, for respondent. Brian K. Julian argued.
The plaintiffs appeal the grant of partial summary judgment dismissing their negligence action against a school district for the school district's failure to provide crossing guards at an intersection two blocks from the school. We affirm the dismissal of the action as to the school district.
On September 15, 2000, at about 8:13 a.m., Karisa, Tritan and Dylan Martin were walking together on their way to school in Twin Falls, Idaho. The children attended Sawtooth Elementary School, which is one of the schools within Twin Falls School District # 411. As they were crossing a street at an intersection approximately two blocks from the school, a pickup truck driven by Ryan Canoy struck Karisa and Tritan. Dylan witnessed the accident. Karisa and Tritan were both injured. The City of Twin Falls had designated the intersection as a school crossing, and the crossing had been marked appropriately with signs, flashing lights, and painted lines on the highway.
On June 8, 2001, the plaintiffs filed this action against the City of Twin Falls, the School District, the pickup driver, and his employer. The School District moved for partial summary judgment dismissing this lawsuit as to it. The district court heard and granted the motion. On December 31, 2001, the district court entered judgment dismissing the complaint as to the School District, and it certified that judgment as final pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure. The plaintiffs then appealed.
In an appeal from an order of summary judgment, this Court's standard of review is the same as the standard used by the trial court in ruling on a motion for summary judgment. Infanger v. City of Salmon, 137 Idaho 45, 44 P.3d 1100 (2002). All disputed facts are to be construed liberally in favor of the non-moving party, and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the record are to be drawn in favor of the non-moving party. Id. Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Id. If the evidence reveals no disputed issues of material fact, then only a question of law remains, over which this Court exercises free review. Id.
In Rife v. Long, 127 Idaho 841, 908 P.2d 143 (1995), this Court addressed the common-law duty of a school district to protect students when they are off school property. In Rife, a fifth grader was injured while walking home from school when he stepped off the curb at an intersection and walked into the rear wheels of a tractor-trailer. The Rifes sued the school district arguing that it had a common-law duty to see that its students travel to and from school safely. This Court held that the school district in Rife did not have a duty to protect its students when they are not in its custody.
We find, in weighing these basic policy considerations, the burden on our school districts would be enormous. If we were to impose a duty on each school district to protect its students outside of school and school hours, they would incur substantial financial and additional manpower burdens. Conversely, the harm to the students is relatively small given that the school district releases the students back to the care of their parents at the end of the school day. We believe the common law duty arose because the parents are not in a position to protect their children while they are attending school. Thus, the school district bears that burden while the children are in its custody. However, after school has adjourned for the day, and the students have been released, the parents are free to resume control over the child's well-being. Accordingly, we decline to extend a common law duty under the circumstances of this case.
127 Idaho at 847, 908 P.2d at 149. Thus, the school district could not be held liable for the injuries received by the Rife child while he was walking home from school.
The Rifes also contended that the school district had assumed a duty to provide crossing guards at the intersection where the accident occurred because it provided crossing guards at crossing areas it had designated in front of the school. In rejecting that argument, this Court stated as follows:
We note the District has designated crossing areas directly in front of the middle school and does provide crossing guard protection for students crossing in those areas. That does not mean, however, that it has assumed a duty to provide crossing protection at any intersection a student may cross. The intersection where the accident occurred was several intersections away from the school and the approved school crossings. The District only assumed a duty to provide safe crossing at the designated crossings, and thus there was no assumed duty in this case.
127 Idaho at 848, 908 P.2d at 150. By providing crossing guards at some crossings, the school district did not assume the duty to provide crossing guards at other intersections students cross while walking to and from school.
Relying upon a partial sentence taken out of context from the above-quoted portion of the Rife decision, the plaintiffs contend that the School District had assumed the duty to provide a crossing guard at the intersection where the Martin children were injured. The plaintiffs argue as follows:
The Rife court states "The District only assumed a duty to provide safe crossing at the designated crossings, ..." The Martin accident occurred in a designated crossing. The School District has crossing guards at other such crossings within the district boundaries but none at this crossing. The Martin accident is the very exception the Rife court addresses with that language.
According to the plaintiffs, Rife held that by providing crossing guards at some crossings, a school district assumes the duty to provide crossing guards at all "designated crossings," which plaintiffs construe to mean all crossings designated by the entity in charge of public roads. The plaintiffs reason that because the School District in this case provided guards at some crossings, it assumed the duty to provide guards at all "designated crossings," which would include the intersection where the Martin children were injured because it had been designated by the City of Twin Falls as a school crossing.
The words "designated crossings" in the segment of the Rife decision quoted by the Martins referred to the crossings designated by the school district in front of the school at which it provided crossing guards. It did not refer to any place where there was a designated pedestrian or school crossing. As the Rife Court stated in the same paragraph from which the plaintiffs extracted their quote, "We note the District has designated crossing areas directly in front of the middle school and does provide crossing guard protection for students crossing in those areas." 127 Idaho at 848, 908 P.2d at 150. By providing crossing guards at certain intersections or pedestrian crossings, the school district did not thereby assume the duty to provide guards at any other intersections or crossings. Rife v. Long, 127 Idaho 841, 908 P.2d 143 (1995).
The plaintiffs also argue that by adopting a policy dealing with crossing guards, the School District assumed the duty of providing crossing guards at the intersection where the Martin children were injured. The policy upon which the plaintiffs rely is a two-page document that states the qualifications; job goal; essential functions, duties and performance responsibilities; and terms of employment for school crossing guards.1 This policy does not in any way purport to state where crossing guards will be placed. By adopting this policy, the School District did not in any way assume a duty to place crossing guards at any particular intersection or pedestrian crossing. Just as a school district that provides crossing guards at particular school crossings does not assume a...
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