POWELL v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 92-CV-423

• Decision Date: 29 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-CV-423,92-CV-423
• Citation: 634 A.2d 403
• Parties: Aubrey POWELL, A Minor, By and Through His Mother, Shirley RICKS, Appellant, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

634 A.2d 403

Aubrey POWELL, A Minor, By and Through His Mother, Shirley RICKS,Appellant, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellee.

No. 92-CV-423.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued October 1, 1993.

Decided November 29, 1993.

APPEAL FROM THE SUPERIOR COURT, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, JOHN A. SUDA, J.

THIS PAGE CONTAINED HEADNOTES AND HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.

Timothy Junkin, with whom Lauren Clingan, Washington, DC, was on the brief, for appellant.

Edward E. Schwab, Asst. Corp. Counsel, with whom John Payton, Corp. Counsel, Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, and Lutz Alexander Prager, Asst. Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, DC, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before ROGERS, Chief Judge, and SCHWELB and KING, Associate Judges.

SCHWELB, Associate Judge:

Aubrey Powell, a minor, appeals from the Superior Court's dismissal of his complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Through his mother and next friend, Shirley Ricks, Aubrey filed a three-count complaint against the District of Columbia, alleging that injuries which he sustained in a traffic accident were proximately caused by the District's common law negligence and by its negligence in failing to comply with certain federal and local statutes. The complaint also alleged that the District denied Aubrey liberty and property interests protected by the Fifth Amendment. The essence of all three counts is that by placing Aubrey in a homeless shelter at a busy intersection, six miles from his elementary school, and by failing to provide him with transportation to and from school, the District was legally responsible for injuries which Aubrey suffered when he was struck by an automobile while he was crossing the street on his way home from school. We affirm the judgment below.

I. THE FACTS

The complaint alleges that prior to September 1990, Aubrey and his younger brother Jacques had been living with their mother in an apartment in the Anacostia section of the District. Both brothers attended the Friendship School, a public school located across the street from their residence. In March 1990, Ms. Ricks lost her job as a nursing assistant. Six months later, Ms. Ricks had exhausted her savings and had fallen several months behind in her rent.

On September 17, 1990, according to the complaint, the family was evicted from the Anacostia apartment. After sleeping for two days in the hallway outside their former unit, Ms. Ricks and her sons obtained emergency shelter through the District's Department of Human Services (DHS). The agency placed the family in the Budget Motor Inn, which is located at 1615 New York Avenue, N.E., six miles from their former home in Anacostia. Aubrey, then aged thirteen, and Jacques, then aged nine, continued to attend the Friendship School.¹

The complaint alleges that Aubrey and Jacques had to cross Bladensburg Road at New York Avenue each day in order to take public transportation to and from Friendship School. It is alleged that the intersection which they were required to cross was a heavily travelled and very dangerous one, and that the District had frequently been apprised of the danger and had promised to provide a school bus. On December 4, 1990, according to Aubrey's counsel, the boys were returning home from school when Jacques suddenly darted out into Bladensburg Road, about fifteen feet from the intersection. Aubrey raced into the street in order to save his brother, and was struck by an oncoming automobile.² Aubreysustained contusions, lacerations, and a fractured left femur. His injuries required surgery, and he was placed in a body cast. No claim is made that the driver, who is not a party to this suit, failed to exercise due care.

Ms. Ricks filed a timely complaint on Aubrey's behalf against the District in the Superior Court. The District filed a motion to dismiss the complaint or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. The trial court dismissed the action on the District's motion, without written elaboration and without any oral statement of reasons. This appeal followed.

II. LEGAL DISCUSSION

A complaint may be dismissed for failure to state a claim only when it "appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Vicki Bagley Realty, Inc. v. Laufer, 482 A.2d 359, 364 (D.C. 1984); Super.Ct.Civ.R. 12(b)(6). In reviewing the dismissal, we accept as true the facts alleged in the complaint and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Wanzer v. District of Columbia, 580 A.2d 127, 129 (D.C. 1990); Laufer, 482 A.2d at 364. The legal sufficiency of the complaint is a question of law, and our review of the trial court's decision is therefore de novo. Vaughn v. United States, 579 A.2d 170, 172 (D.C. 1990).

A fair reading of the complaint discloses that relief is sought under three separate, although somewhat interconnected theories, namely (1) common law negligence, (2) negligence based on alleged statutory violations, and (3) denial of federally protected constitutional and statutory rights. We address each of these theories in turn.

A. Common Law Negligence.

The elements of a common law action for negligence are (1) a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, (2) a breach of that duty by the defendant, and (3) damage to the plaintiff, proximately caused by the breach of duty. District of Columbia v. Cooper, 483 A.2d 317, 321 (D.C. 1984); W. PAGE KEETON, PROSSER AND KEETON ON TORTS, § 30, at 164-65 (5th ed. 1984). The District has no legal obligation to avoid all risks of injury which may result from its acts or omissions; rather, it is required only to act with reasonable caution and to avoid those risks that can reasonably be foreseen. Cf. Munson v. Otis, 396 A.2d 994, 996 (D.C. 1979) (per curiam). The District contends that the complaint was properly dismissed, because the District had no legal duty to protect Aubrey while he was crossing the street, see Cooper, supra, 483 A.2d at 321-22, and because the connection between any breach of duty and the accident was too attenuated to permit an impartial trier of fact to find proximate cause, cf. District of Columbia v. Sterling, 578 A.2d 1163, 1166 (D.C. 1990). We agree.

Aubrey was a pedestrian who was struck by a car while crossing the street. It is not alleged that the District owned the vehicle that struck Aubrey, or that any representative of the District was driving it or had any other direct connection with the accident. The sole basis presented by Aubrey for holding the District liable is that the District failed to prevent the accident from happening. Stated another way, Aubrey claims that the District had a legal duty to protect him from the accident and that his injuries were proximately caused by the breach of that duty.

The District has no generalized obligation to protect citizens from traffic accidents. See e.g., Stoddard v. District of Columbia, 623 A.2d 1152, 1152-53 (D.C. 1993). Ordinarily, the District's only duties vis-a-vis pedestrians are to maintain walkways and crosswalks which are reasonably safe for pedestrian traffic, and to maintain traffic signals and signs, so that vehicular traffic is controlled and pedestrians know where they can walk safely. McKethean v. WMATA, 588 A.2d 708, 715-16 (D.C. 1991); District of Columbia v. Pace, 498 A.2d 226, 229, 230-31 (D.C. 1985); Wagshal v. District of Columbia,216 A.2d 172, 173-74 (D.C. 1966). The complaint does not allege a violation of any of these duties.

The complaint does allege that the homeless shelter was located near an especially hazardous intersection and that the District was on notice of this condition, both from representatives of the homeless and as a result of articles in the media. Taking these allegations, as we must, to be true, it does not follow that the District became a guarantor of the safety of every pedestrian who attempted to cross the street in the vicinity of this intersection. See, e.g., Forsman v. District of Columbia, 580 A.2d 1314, 1316-17 (D.C. 1990), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 173, 116 L.Ed.2d 136 (1991). In order to recover against the District, Aubrey must "allege and prove that the District owed [him] a special duty . . ., greater than or different from any duty which it owed to the general public." Id. (quoting Klahr v. District of Columbia, 576 A.2d 718, 719 (D.C. 1990)).

Aubrey's situation is said to be different from that of a member of the general public because, according to his counsel, "the District of Columbia took Aubrey Powell, a helpless child, into its custody and assumed the responsibility for meeting his most basic need, housing." Indeed, Aubrey's submission continues, "the District simultaneously placed the plaintiff in a helpless state and required him to overcome that helplessness in order to attend school as required by D.C. law." See D.C.Code § 31-402 (1993) (compulsory school attendance). We are unable to agree that the District's provision of rent-free housing to a homeless family (which counsel for plaintiff infelicitously characterize as a restraint on personal liberty comparable to incarceration or institutionalization) placed the District in loco parentis or required it to supplant Ms. Ricks and to supervise Aubrey's activities in crossing the street. Indeed, Aubrey continued to live with his mother, and a homeless parent who resides with her children in a shelter does not thereby surrender to the government her right and responsibility to raise and supervise them.

The complaint alleges that, following, inter alia, a May 1989 accident in which a six-year-old boy was struck by a truck as he crossed New York Avenue, the Superintendent of Schools

promis[ed] on October 16, 1990, that school bus transportation would be provided to homeless...