Tedesco v. Connors

• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WILLIAMS, Chief Justice.
• Citation: Tedesco v. Connors, 871 A.2d 920 (R.I. 2005)
• Decision Date: 27 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2003-469-Appeal.,2003-469-Appeal.
• Parties: Dawn TEDESCO et al. v. Richard F. CONNORS, in his capacity as finance director and purchasing agent of the Town of Johnston et al.

871 A.2d 920

Dawn TEDESCO et al. v. Richard F. CONNORS,¹ in his capacity as finance director and purchasing agent of the Town of Johnston et al.

No. 2003-469-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

April 27, 2005.

Thomas M. Petronio, Greenville, for Plaintiff.

Anne M. Turilli, Providence, for Defendant.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

WILLIAMS, Chief Justice.

The plaintiff, Dawn Tedesco (plaintiff), and her husband Frank Tedesco, appeal from a judgment as a matter of law in favor of the defendant, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (DOT or defendant), dismissing her negligence cause of action. The trial justice ruled: (1) the public duty doctrine barred the plaintiff's suit; and (2) the egregious conduct exception was inapplicable. This case came before the Supreme Court for oral argument on September 29, 2004, pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not summarily be decided. After hearing the arguments of counsel and examining the memoranda filed by the parties, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown, and proceed to decide the appeal at this time. For the reasons explained in this opinion, we reverse the judgment of the Superior Court.

I Facts and Travel

In the early morning of June 30, 1997, while plaintiff rode her bicycle outfitted with thin racing tires along Atwood Avenue in Johnston, Rhode Island (town), her tire slipped into a sewer grate that had bars running parallel to the road (parallel-bar sewer grate). She suffered various injuries, including damage to her mouth and teeth, and subsequently brought suit against Leo Fox, in his capacity as finance director of Johnston, and William Ankner, in his capacity as the director of DOT. After settling with the town, plaintiff proceeded to trial, arguing that claiming DOT negligently failed to make Atwood Avenue safe for a bicycle to traverse by failing to install bicycle-safe sewer grates, such as a "waffle" sewer grate, which has bars running both parallel with and perpendicular to the road.

The crux of plaintiff's case centers on a DOT design-policy memorandum dated June 21, 1982, outlining defendant's plan to replace parallel-bar sewer grates on Rhode Island highways. The impetus for this memorandum was "reports indicat [ing] that the parallel bar grates, although excellent in terms of operational efficiency, present hazards to bicycles." In accord with this memorandum, DOT replaced parallel-bar sewer grates with bicycle-safe sewer grates as it reconstructed state roadways. Prior to June 30, 1997, DOT had not yet reconstructed the section of road near the corner of Atwood Avenue and Central Avenue.

At the close of plaintiff's case, DOT moved for judgment as a matter of law on two grounds: first, that the public duty doctrine barred plaintiff's suit and, second, that DOT has no legal duty to make its roadways safe for bicycles. The trial justice granted DOT's motion because he determined the public duty doctrine was applicable and that neither the special duty² nor the egregious conduct exceptions applied to this case. Thus, the public duty doctrine rendered DOT immune from plaintiff's suit. The trial justice did not address defendant's argument that the local municipalities, rather than the state, owe a duty to make roadways safe for bicycles pursuant to G.L.1956 § 24-5-1. The plaintiff appeals, asserting that the trial justice erred in his holding that the egregious conduct exception did not salvage this case from the public duty doctrine.

II

Egregious Conduct Exception to the Public Duty Doctrine

A The Law on Egregious Conduct

Before proceeding to the precise issue presented on appeal, we first outline the general law governing the public duty doctrine and the egregious conduct exception.

A public duty doctrine analysis is a two-step inquiry. First, a court must determine whether the public duty doctrine applies to the facts of the case. The doctrine shields a governmental entity from liability only when that entity engages in activity that an individual ordinarily would not perform. Martinelli v. Hopkins, 787 A.2d 1158, 1167 (R.I.2001). The plaintiff does not challenge the trial justice's determination that the placement of sewer grates is an activity not normally undertaken by individuals or that it is a discretionary governmental function. Id.

The second step in this inquiry requires the court to focus on the applicability of the two exceptions to the public duty doctrine: "(1) when the governmental entity owes a `special duty' to the plaintiff, (2) when the alleged act or omission on the part of the governmental entity [is] egregious." Id. (quoting Schultz v. Foster-Glocester Regional School District, 755 A.2d 153, 155 (R.I.2000)). The doctrine, with its exceptions, "encourages `the effective administration of governmental operations by removing the threat of potential litigation'" while remaining mindful of the need to foster a safe environment within the state. Verity v. Danti, 585 A.2d 65, 66 (R.I.1991) (quoting Catone v. Medberry, 555 A.2d 328, 333 (R.I.1989)).

The plaintiff alleges that the egregious conduct exception saves her claim from being barred by the public duty doctrine. When a governmental entity's conduct rises to a level of egregiousness, a plaintiff may pierce the "protective shell" afforded to that entity. Catri v. Hopkins, 609 A.2d 966, 968 (R.I.1992). To determine whether the governmental entity's conduct is egregious, a court will consider: (1) whether that entity created or allowed for the persistence of "circumstances that forced a reasonably prudent person into a position of extreme peril;" (2) whether that entity had "actual or constructive knowledge of the perilous circumstances;" and (3) whether that entity "having been afforded a reasonable amount of time to eliminate the dangerous condition, failed to do so." Haley v. Town of Lincoln, 611 A.2d 845, 849 (R.I.1992). Only after a plaintiff satisfies all these elements will a claim of governmental negligence survive dismissal under this exception. Id.

B Question of Fact or Question of Law

This Court adheres to the basic legal axiom, translated from Latin, that "judges do not answer a question of fact; juries do not answer a question of law." Kuzniar v. Keach, 709 A.2d 1050, 1055 & n. 6 (R.I.1998) (citing 3 Coke, Institutes, * 460 (Thomas ed. 1826)). The issue presented, therefore, is whether the determination of the applicability of the egregious conduct exception to the public duty doctrine is a question of law to be decided by a judge or a question of fact to be decided by a jury. We hold that such a determination is a mixed question of law and fact in which the trial justice determines whether a governmental entity's conduct rises to a level of egregiousness based on predicate findings of fact by the jury.

We have never expressly answered this precise issue of who makes a determination of egregious conduct. Some egregious conduct cases can be read to suggest that the determination is a question of fact, while others imply that it is a question of law. Compare Houle v. Galloway School Lines, Inc., 643 A.2d 822, 827 (R.I.1994) (stating evidence offered by the plaintiff "present[ed] a question of fact" about whether North Smithfield owed a duty to the plaintiff) with Catri, 609 A.2d at 967-69 (affirming the motion justice's grant of summary judgment dismissing a plaintiff's suit asserting that the Town of South Kingstown and the state acted egregiously in removing stop signs from an intersection without installing a traffic signal despite evidence of numerous public requests to improve the safety of the intersection).

But this Court did confront an analogous issue when it analyzed the special duty exception to the public duty doctrine in Kuzniar. The issue presented there was whether a trial justice erred in submitting to the jury the question of whether the City of Warwick owed a duty to the plaintiff under the special duty exception. Kuzniar, 709 A.2d at 1054. First, we noted that "[t]he existence of a legal duty is purely a question of law, and the court alone is required to make this determination." Id. at 1055. In analyzing the nature of the special duty exception, however, we concluded that the determination of the legal duty owed to the plaintiff was based on certain "duty-triggering" facts. Id. at 1056. We fashioned the following rule of law to govern this mixed question of law and fact:

"[T]he trial justice should determine whether the law imposes a legal duty upon the defendant in the particular factual circumstances presented in any given case. In so doing, however, the trial justice may require assistance from the trier of fact if the duty-triggering facts are disputed and the evidence shows that a reasonable jury could reach different conclusions on this issue." Id. at 1055. (Emphasis added.)

We expressly warned against a trial court "arrogat[ing] to itself the function of determining such [duty-triggering] facts under the guise of deciding what legal duty (if any) is owed to the plaintiff." Id. at 1056. Thus, when a plaintiff brings suit against a governmental entity based on the special duty exception, deciding that issue as a matter of law is only appropriate when no genuine issue of fact exists concerning each element of the special duty exception. Id.

Our previous characterization of the egregious conduct exception renders it indistinguishable from the special duty exception and our holding in Kuzniar. In determining that a suit based on the egregious conduct exception was not readily susceptible to dismissal on the merits before trial, we labeled both exceptions as "fact-intensive" inquiries. Haley, 611 A.2d at 850. The egregious conduct exception is a fact-intensive inquiry simply because it requires a determination of factual issues on which reasonable minds could differ....