McMahon v. St. Croix Falls School Dist.

• Decision Date: 04 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-2413.,98-2413.
• Citation: 596 N.W.2d 875,228 Wis.2d 215
• Parties: James McMAHON and Linda McMahon, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. ST. CROIX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT and Wausau Underwriters Insurance Company, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals

228 Wis.2d 215

596 N.W.2d 875

James McMAHON and Linda McMahon, Plaintiffs-Appellants,¹ v. ST. CROIX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT and Wausau Underwriters Insurance Company, Defendants-Respondents.

No. 98-2413.

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin.

Submitted on briefs March 30, 1999.

Decided May 4, 1999.

On behalf of the plaintiffs-appellants, the cause was submitted on the briefs of Jason W. Whitley of Novitzke, Gust & Sempf of Amery.

On behalf of the defendants-respondents, the cause was submitted on the brief of Mark A. Siefert of Law Offices of Stilp & Cotton of Eau Claire.

Before Cane, C.J., Myse, P.J., and Hoover, J.

CANE, C.J.

James and Linda McMahon appeal a summary judgment dismissing their wrongful death suit against defendants St. Croix Falls School District and Wausau Underwriters Insurance Company (the district) for the suicide of their fifteen-year-old son, Andrew. The McMahons offer two reasons for reversal. First, they argue that the circuit court erred when it established a bright-line rule, based on public policy considerations, that a school district has "absolute immunity for its negligent acts when a student commits suicide." Second, they claim that the public policy concerns expressed in Sanem v. Home Ins. Co., 119 Wis. 2d 530, 350 N.W.2d 89 (1984), are inapplicable here. We reject these arguments and conclude that under Bogust v. Iverson, 10 Wis. 2d 129, 102 N.W.2d 228 (1960), Andrew's suicide constitutes an intervening, superseding cause that breaks the chain of causation. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

The parties do not dispute the following facts. At the time of his death, Andrew was a freshman at St. Croix Falls High School. On January 26, 1996, James McMahon, Andrew's father, drove Andrew to school, but Andrew did not attend classes that day. A district policy provides that if a student is absent from school, the school will call the parents at home or work to verify the absence. The district did not call the McMahons, however. A classmate, Jamie Stocker, discovered Andrew's body in Stocker's closed garage. An autopsy lists the cause of death as suicide from self-immolation; Andrew doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. According to the McMahons' affidavits, they were unaware that Andrew had received five failing grades, had been removed from the basketball team for those grades, and had been "very upset in school and at times crying."²

In granting summary judgment, the circuit found no disputed material issues of fact and dismissed the McMahons' complaint with prejudice on public policy grounds, citing Sanem as controlling authority. The circuit court concluded that the district both owed and breached a duty to Andrew and his parents, but the court did not identify that duty. The circuit court distinguished this case from Bogust on the basis that Bogust found no duty on the defendant. Finally, the circuit court concluded that based on the undisputed material facts: (1) Andrew's death was too wholly out of proportion to the district's culpability; (2) in retrospect, it appeared too highly extraordinary that the district's negligence should have brought about the harm; and (3) allowing recovery would enter a field with no sensible or just stopping point. See Coffey v. Milwaukee, 74 Wis. 2d 526, 541, 247 N.W.2d 132, 140 (1976)

. The circuit court dismissed the McMahons' complaint with costs.

After the McMahons filed their notice of appeal, they filed a motion to set aside the judgment under §§ 806.07(1)(a), (h) and 808.07(2)(am), STATS., attaching to it, for the first time, Stocker's affidavit. The basis of the McMahons' motion to set aside the judgment was that when they filed their brief opposing the district's motion for summary judgment, they were unaware of Stocker's account of the day's events as reflected in her affidavit. The affidavit states that on January 26, Stocker told a school counselor that Andrew "was planning to skip school that day," that he was probably at her house, and that someone should check on him or contact his parents. Stocker further indicated that Andrew "seemed to be bothered by something because he seemed depressed and preoccupied" and that he had said something to the effect that he was "sick and tired of this life." Stocker's affidavit also indicates that she left school without permission that afternoon to check on Andrew at her home and found him dead. The district disputes these facts, but states that they are immaterial to the public policy issue here. We agree with the district that such facts, even if considered by the circuit court, would not change the result.³

II. ANALYSIS

[1,2]

Whether the circuit court properly granted the district's motion for summary judgment is a question of law we review without deference to the circuit court. See Gaertner v. Holcka, 219 Wis. 2d 436, 445-46, 580 N.W.2d 271, 275 (1998)

. In determining if the circuit court properly granted summary judgment, we apply the same methodology as the circuit court. M&I First Nat'l Bank v. Episcopal Homes Mgmt., 195 Wis. 2d 485, 496-97, 536 N.W.2d 175, 182 (Ct. App. 1995). Under § 802.08(2), STATS., summary judgment is appropriate when the court is satisfied that the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, demonstrate that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Further, summary judgment is a drastic remedy and is usually inappropriate to resolve negligence issues. State Bank of La Crosse v. Elsen, 128 Wis. 2d 508, 517, 383 N.W.2d 916, 920 (Ct. App. 1986).

The McMahons contend that contrary to Wisconsin tort law, the circuit court erroneously "created a bright line test which establishes that under no conceivable circumstances, no matter how egregious a school district[']s negligence, can a school ever be found liable" for a minor student's suicide. They contend that the district breached its duty to call them and to follow up after a school counselor learned that Andrew was despondent and absent from school. Additionally, they argue that Coffey's public policy concerns, as reiterated in Sanem, are inapplicable here because once duty and breach are established, the school is liable for all harm flowing from that breach. Thus, they argue, the "proportionality of the injury to the negligence" should not control. Finally, the McMahons insist that Toeller v. Mutual Serv. Cas. Ins. Co., 115 Wis. 2d 631, 340 N.W.2d 923 (Ct. App. 1983), is directly on point and holds that schools do not have absolute immunity for a minor student's suicide.

Under Bogust, the district responds, suicide is an intervening cause that breaks the chain of causation, thus making a public policy analysis unnecessary. Alternatively, the district insists that even if the causal chain is unbroken, the court correctly held that three public policy grounds preclude liability. First, it asserts that the injury is too remote from the negligence because Andrew's suicide occurred off school grounds and because it is unreasonable to require the district to "search for absent students off campus . . . to prevent suicide." Second, the district maintains that Andrew's death is too wholly out of proportion to its failure to report truancy and to the alleged failure of its counselor to follow up on Stocker's report that Andrew was despondent.⁴ Third, the district alleges that allowing recovery would create liability with no sensible or just stopping point. To allow recovery here, it contends, would require school districts to respond to every report of truancy or a report of a student's despondency "as an imminent suicide," perhaps further requiring that they institute commitment proceedings. Finally, the district argues that Toeller, the case on which the McMahons heavily rely, is distinguishable on its facts.

Both parties' arguments reflect confusion about the law governing a circuit court's ability to preclude liability on public policy grounds. Nevertheless, we agree with the district that Toeller is distinguishable on its facts and that Bogust controls. We conclude that under the law set out in Bogust and applied to this case's undisputed facts, Andrew's suicide constitutes an intervening and superseding cause that breaks the chain of causation.

[3]

We begin by observing that to establish a negligence claim, the plaintiff must prove that: (1) the defendant had a duty of care; (2) the defendant breached that duty; (3) a causal connection exists between the conduct and the injury; and (4) damage resulted from the injury. See Robinson v. Mount Sinai Med. Ctr., 137 Wis. 2d 1, 15, 402 N.W.2d 711, 717 (1987)

. A defendant is negligent when he or she commits an act when some harm to someone is foreseeable; once negligence is established, the defendant is liable for unforeseeable and foreseeable consequences. See A.E. Inv. Corp. v. Link Builders, 62 Wis. 2d 479, 484, 214 N.W.2d 764, 766 (1974).

[4]

In negligence cases, legal cause consists of two parts: cause-in-fact and "proximate cause." See Sanem, 119 Wis. 2d at 537,

350 N.W.2d at 92. The test for cause-in-fact, which is a jury question, is whether the negligence was a substantial factor in causing the harm. See Morgan v. Pennsylvania Gen. Ins. Co., 87 Wis. 2d 723, 735, 275 N.W.2d 660, 666 (1979). Generally, it is better procedure for a court to submit negligence and cause-in-fact issues to the jury before addressing public policy issues or legal cause. Bowen v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 183 Wis. 2d 627, 654, 517 N.W.2d 432, 443 (1994). This general rule notwithstanding, the circuit court may grant summary judgment on public policy grounds before trial when the pleadings present a public policy question Id.⁵ [5-7]

Wisconsin follows the general rule that "suicide constitutes an intervening force which breaks the line of causation from the wrongful act to the death and therefore the wrongful act...