Schroeder v. St. Louis County, No. A04-97.
| Decision Date | 26 January 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. A04-97. |
| Parties | Michael SCHROEDER and Kimarie Schroeder, for the heirs and next of kin of Joshua Schroeder, decedent, Appellants, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Patrick M. Spott, Jeremy M. Hurd, Orman Nord & Spott Law Office, Duluth, MN, for appellants.
Dale O. Harris, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney, Duluth, MN, for respondents.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
This case presents the issue of whether St. Louis County and its road grader operator are immune from liability in a claim for the wrongful death of Joshua Schroeder. Schroeder, the son of appellants Michael and Kimarie Schroeder, was killed when the car he was driving collided head-on with a road grader driven by Stephen Ario, a St. Louis County grader operator. The Schroeders filed a wrongful death action against the county and Ario. The district court granted summary judgment to Ario and the county on the basis of statutory immunity, official immunity, and vicarious official immunity. The court of appeals upheld the grant of summary judgment. We affirm on the basis of statutory immunity, but reverse, in part, the grant of summary judgment on official immunity and vicarious official immunity.
Ario started work on November 9, 2000, at 8 a.m. Ario's supervisor instructed him to grade all of his assigned roads that day, even if it required working overtime. One of the roads on Ario's work list was a two-mile stretch of County State-Aid Highway 29 (CSAH 29). CSAH 29 was under construction at the time and the road surface consisted of milled asphalt and gravel. Although Ario usually ended his day around 3 p.m., he knew from experience that CSAH 29 would be warmer and easier to grade later in the afternoon, so he planned to begin to grade CSAH 29 around 3 p.m.
According to Ario, St. Louis County grader operators employ two methods for grading gravel roads. The first method is to "cut both sides of the roadway to the center and then use a squared moldboard blade * * * to feather the windrow from the center back across the roadway." This method requires three passes: two passes to move the road material to the center of the road, and one pass to "feather" or spread the material back over the road. The second method is to cut material from one side of the roadway and move it all the way across the roadway. This method requires a second pass to move the material back across the roadway and often results in effective grading with only two passes.
When Ario arrived at the southern end of the two-mile stretch of CSAH 29, he considered the two methods of grading and decided to use the second grading method because of the nature of the road material and the condition of the road. He made his first pass with the grader while traveling northbound in the east traffic lane. He made a second pass while traveling southbound in the west traffic lane. As he was making the southbound pass he determined that two additional passes would be necessary to effectively grade the road.
He then made a third pass beginning in the west lane of traffic rather than the east lane. He asserts that the third pass had to be in the west lane because he had already cut and moved material from the east side of the roadway to the west side. If he again started in the east lane, it would result in an uneven road with the west side being higher than the east side. However, rather than driving the grader to the north end of the roadway to begin grading the west lane (deadheading), he decided to grade the west lane by grading against traffic. In other words, he graded the wrong way in the west traffic lane.
Ario testified at his deposition that grading against the direction of traffic was an acceptable practice in St. Louis County. If the road graders did not grade against traffic, they would need to deadhead. Deadheading means that rather than grade against traffic, the grader operator would pick up the blade and run back to the other end of the road to start the next pass. Ario testified that he was never instructed to grade against traffic, but he was aware that grader operators were permitted to do so to avoid having to deadhead.
After completing the northbound pass, Ario proceeded to grade the east lane, again grading against traffic, traveling southbound. He saw the Schroeder car with its headlights on heading toward him in the east lane of traffic. When Ario first saw the car, it was approximately one-half mile away. He became concerned when the car continued northbound in the east lane without slowing down. He began considering his options to avoid a collision and ultimately concluded that the safest thing to do was to stop the grader in the east lane of traffic and allow the car to go around it. Ario expected the car to move out of the lane to avoid hitting his grader. Instead, the car collided head-on with Ario's grader and Schroeder was killed.
The parties dispute the exact time of the accident and whether the grader's lights were operating. Sunset was at 4:44 p.m. Law enforcement received a call reporting the accident at 5:07 p.m. The Schroeders assert that the accident happened as late as 5:15 p.m. Ario testified that he turned on his headlights and work lights approximately 20 minutes prior to the accident because the sun was beginning to set. Ario further testified that CSAH 29 was mostly tree-lined and it was cloudy while he was grading the road. Ario also stated that the grader's strobe light had been on since he left the garage at the beginning of his workday.
The Schroeders submitted evidence that Ario's headlights were not on just prior to the accident. Aaron Vandeveer was driving southbound on CSAH 29 in the west lane of traffic at approximately 5 p.m. According to Vandeveer's affidavit, he passed Ario's grader while it traveled southbound in the east lane of traffic. According to Vandeveer, he could not see any operating lights on the grader and had Vandeveer been traveling in the wrong lane of traffic, he would have collided with the grader because he could not see it. After Vandeveer proceeded past the grader, he continued further down CSAH 29 and passed Schroeder's car just minutes before it collided with Ario's grader.
The county and Ario submitted evidence to the district court that the county had made a planning level decision to permit road grader operators to grade against traffic, thus entitling them to statutory immunity for that decision. The court reviewed a November 13, 1985, memorandum sent from Joe Varda, one of the county maintenance engineers, to the road and bridge maintenance employees. The memorandum provided in part:
Some of you have expressed concern about operation of equipment in which the vehicle crossed over the centerline; ie, snowplowing, ice control, and grading.
* * * *
This memo is sent to alleviate some of the fears you may have about operating your equipment.
Minnesota Traffic Regulations Statutes Chapter 169 contains the specific restrictions for use of the roadways. Subdivision 6 of Chapter 169.03, emergency vehicles, exempts motor vehicles and other equipment actually engaged in work upon the highway. If you are operating your equipment with routine care and the normally accepted safety precautions are taken (beacon, working lights, flags, etc.), you may operate on any part of the roadway. Naturally, if there are cases where sight distance is short either vertically or horizontally, either an attempt to improve the condition should be made or special precautions should be taken. Under normal conditions you should not worry about being ticketed for snowplowing, ice control, or blading across the centerline.
Before the memorandum was distributed to employees, including road grader operators, the head of the department and the county engineer reviewed and authorized its contents.
According to David Skelton, the county's deputy public works director, the county has had a standing practice
for a number of years wherein we allow our grader operators to grade against traffic on gravel roads. * * * If [the road graders] did not grade against traffic, [they] would need to deadhead. * * * Deadheading means that rather than grade against traffic we would pick up the blade and run back to the other end of the road to start over when warranted.
On July 13, 1998, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Michael Dean sent a letter to Richard Hansen, the St. Louis County highway engineer, expressing his concern over the grading process used in the county. Dean wrote:
We continue to receive reports of a substantial amount of grader activity occurring the wrong way of roadway center on our county roads. Do you have a written policy with respect to this issue? We are very concerned about these practices and particularly our concern [sic] with whether they are sanctioned by Public Works administration. * * * In my opinion, these practices are life threatening and in clear violation of Minnesota law. I am also enclosing a copy of Minn.Stat. § 169.18(5) for your review.
David Skelton discussed Dean's concerns about grading during a meeting with the six district road superintendents. The superintendents participate in all aspects of operations including employment issues, budget, day-to-day project decisions, allocation of resources, and oversight of all activity within the district. The superintendents also provide input into all policy discussions, decisions, and directives. According to Skelton, they discussed the existing practice of permitting grading against traffic, the cost of using pilot vehicles in front of and behind graders, and deadheading. Ultimately the superintendents came to the conclusion that deadheading would increase the time of grading by 20-33 percent.
Skelton then met with Hansen and they reviewed a videotape and a pamphlet from the Federal...
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