Smith v. State

• Decision Date: 29 September 1982
• Docket Number: No. 66119,66119
• Citation: 324 N.W.2d 299
• Parties: Nile James SMITH and Norman Jean Smith, Appellees, v. The STATE of Iowa, John Barlow, Duane Barton, Dennis Chapman, Jerry Corbett, Terry Hoil, Terry Johnson, Paul Newby, Andrew Newquist, Tom Randolph, Ron Mower, Al Stenbeck, Marlin Wimmer, and Terry Pullman, Appellants.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 299

324 N.W.2d 299

Nile James SMITH and Norman Jean Smith, Appellees, v. The STATE of Iowa, John Barlow, Duane Barton, Dennis Chapman, Jerry Corbett, Terry Hoil, Terry Johnson, Paul Newby, Andrew Newquist, Tom Randolph, Ron Mower, Al Stenbeck, Marlin Wimmer, and Terry Pullman, Appellants.

No. 66119.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 29, 1982.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Mark E. Schantz, Sol. Gen., and John Hendricks, Law Student Intern for all appellants except John Barlow and Paul Newby.

Francis Fitzgibbons, Estherville, for appellants John Barlow and Paul Newby.

Joseph L. Hanson, Emmetsburg, for appellees.

Considered en banc.

LeGRAND, Justice.

This interlocutory appeal presents identical issues involved in four separate suits which were consolidated for hearing in the trial court and for this appeal. Our opinion relates to all four cases, but for convenience we discuss them as though they were but a single controversy.

This matter had its genesis in a double murder committed on October 23, 1976. An investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (D.C.I.) resulted in an information charging plaintiffs with murder contrary to Iowa Code section 609.1. A jury trial resulted in the acquittal of both plaintiffs on July 9, 1977.

After the State Appeal Board rejected plaintiffs' claim asserted under the provision of Iowa Code chapter 25A, plaintiffs started this action based upon negligent investigation by the D.C.I. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss, which was overruled (except as to several of the grounds of negligence asserted by plaintiffs), and defendants now appeal that ruling.

The action was brought under Iowa Code chapter 25A (Iowa Tort Claims Act). Plaintiffs ask a total of approximately $4,000,000 in damages. The action is based exclusively on allegations of negligent investigation. There is no charge that the criminal action was without probable cause or that it was brought maliciously.

Defendants' motion to dismiss can be sustained only if the petition fails to state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted under any circumstances. Cole v. Taylor, 301 N.W.2d 766, 767 (Iowa 1981); Weber v. Madison, 251 N.W.2d 523, 525 (Iowa 1977). The result depends upon our construction of section 25A.2(5)(a) and (b). Subsection (a) defines claims against the State. Subsection (b) defines claims against employees of the State.

A claim under the Iowa Tort Claims Act in section 25A.2(5)(a) and (b) in relevant part is as follows:

5. "Claim" means a. Any claim against the state of Iowa for money only, on account of damage to or loss of property or on account of personal injury or death, caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the state while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the state, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant for such damages, loss, injury, or death.

b. Any claim against an employee of the state for money only, on account of damage to or loss of property or on account of personal injury or death, caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission, except an act of malfeasance in office or willful and wanton conduct, of any employee of the state while acting within the scope of his office or employment.

In order to prevail, plaintiffs' petition must state a cause of action under the Iowa Tort Claims Act. This presents the determinative issue: Does a claim for damages resulting from negligent investigation of a crime by D.C.I. agents assert a tort under our law? Defendants argue there is no tort of negligent investigation of a crime. We agree, and we therefore reverse the trial court and remand the case for entry of judgment accordingly.

Plaintiffs have cited no authority, nor have we found any, which recognizes an independent tort for negligent investigation of crime by law enforcement officers. Even an opinion strongly relied on by plaintiffs, recognizing a claim for negligent record keeping by a governmental agency, was careful to reserve the question of liability for negligent investigation of crime. Zerbe v. Alaska, 578 P.2d 597, 601, n. 7 (Alaska 1978). Plaintiffs' other principal authority, Quinones v. United States, 492 F.2d 1269, 1276 (3rd Cir. 1974) (negligent keeping of employment records recognized as independent tort under Pennsylvania law), does not reach the present question.

Although some courts, including our own, have reached a different result under similar, but not identical circumstances, e.g., Neustadt v. United States, 366 U.S. 696, 706-07, 81 S.Ct. 1294, 1300, 6 L.Ed.2d 614, 621-22 (1961); Hoesl v. United States, 451 F.Supp. 1170, 1175 (N.D.Cal.1978), aff'd 629 F.2d 586, 587 (9th Cir. 1980) (per curiam); Hubbard v. State, 163 N.W.2d 904, 911-12 (Iowa 1969), we need not attempt to distinguish these cases because we deal here with a different question--negligent investigation of a crime by law enforcement officers.

Cases from other jurisdictions which deny recovery for negligence in investigating or prosecuting crime include Bromund v. Holt, 24 Wis.2d 336, 129 N.W.2d 149, 153-54 (1964); Montgomery Ward Co. v. Pherson, 129 Colo. 502, 508, 272 P.2d 643, 646 (1954); Wilson v. O'Neal, 118 So.2d 101, 105 (Fla.App.1960); Johnson v. City of Pacifica, 4 Cal.App.3d 82, 86-87, 84 Cal.Rptr. 246, 249 (1970).

In Bromund a pathologist employed by the coroner rendered a negligent autopsy report which was a substantial factor in the prosecution of Bromund for manslaughter, a charge that was later non-suited. Bromund sued the pathologist on several grounds, one of which was negligence. In discussing the negligence claim, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied the claim, holding that the interest in freedom from unjustifiable criminal prosecution is not protected from unintentional tort. 129 N.W.2d at 155.

The Colorado Supreme Court reached the same result in Montgomery Ward Co., where this appears:

It is for the best interests of society that those who offend against the laws of the state shall be promptly punished, and that any citizen who has reasonable grounds to believe that the law has been violated shall have the right to cause the arrest of the person whom he honestly and in good faith believes to be the offender. For the purpose of protecting him in so doing, it is the generally established rule that if he has reasonable grounds for his belief, and acts thereon in good faith in causing the arrest, he shall not be subjected to damages merely because the accused is not convicted. The rule is focused on the grounds of public policy in order to encourage the exposure of crime.

129 Colo. at 508, 272 P.2d at 646.

We find a similar statement in Wilson v. O'Neal:

The public policy aspects of our holding on this appeal are easily apparent. On the one hand, surely citizens should be given some protection against the...