Walther v. KPKA Meadowlands Ltd. Partnership, s. 20204

Citation1998 SD 78,581 N.W.2d 527
Decision Date15 July 1998
Docket NumberNos. 20204,20222,20227 and 20229,s. 20204
PartiesMelissa WALTHER, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. KPKA MEADOWLANDS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, a District of Columbia limited partnership; KP Realty Holdings, Inc., a New York corporation; Lloyd's Component, Inc., a Minnesota corporation; Norman Altman, general partner in KPKA Meadowlands Limited Partnership; Dimension Management, Inc., a South Dakota corporation; City Of Sioux Falls, S.D., a municipality; Frank Arnett, individually and in his official capacity; John and Jane Does in their individual and official capacity, Defendants and Appellees.
CourtSupreme Court of South Dakota

Robert L. Morris and Michael C. Loos of Quinn, Eiseland, Day & Barker, Belle Fourche, and Jeanne Kelly, Sioux Falls, for plaintiff and appellant.

Richard J. Helsper of Helsper and Rasmussen, Brookings, for appellees KPKA Meadowlands, KP Realty Holdings, Lloyd's Component and Altman.

Gary J. Pashby and Lisa Hansen Marso of Boyce, Murphy, McDowell & Greenfield, Sioux Falls, for appellee Dimension Management.

Gary P. Thimsen and Melanie L. Carpenter of Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith, Sioux Falls, for appellee Frank Arnett.

R. Shawn Tornow, Chief Assistant City Attorney, Sioux Falls, for appellees City of Sioux Falls and John and Jane Does.

MILLER, Chief Justice.

¶1 Melissa Walther was viciously raped and stabbed by her former boyfriend Ricky Sieler, who is currently serving a lengthy prison term for rape and attempted murder. She subsequently filed a lawsuit against the City of Sioux Falls and Police Officer Frank Arnett, alleging negligence and violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. She also alleged negligence and breach of the implied warranty of habitability against the owners and managers of her apartment building. The trial court granted summary judgment to the owners and managers of the apartment building. It granted summary judgment to City and Officer Arnett on some of Walther's claims, but denied them summary judgment on her claim that they were negligent in not seeking immediate medical treatment for her. All the parties appeal and we affirm.

FACTS

¶2 Walther began a relationship with Sieler in October, 1988. The couple parented a child who was born in February of 1992. Although never married, they lived together for about a year prior to June, 1993. Sieler was abusive to Walther on various occasions and the Sioux Falls Police Department was called to respond to some of these assaults.

¶3 On June 23, 1994, Walther was at work when she received a phone call from Sieler. The two argued. When she was finished with work, she returned home (at approximately 3:15 a.m., on June 24). Sieler had followed her and, after she had parked her car (but remained seated therein), he confronted her and grabbed her car keys from her. He pulled her out of the car, but she was able to run to a nearby convenience store. As she tried to call for help, he ripped the phone out of her hands. She then ran back towards the apartment complex. Finally, a neighbor who had seen Sieler chasing her, was able to wrestle Sieler to the ground and retrieve Walther's car keys. Walther then drove away.

¶4 The police eventually arrived on the scene and were informed that Walther and Sieler had argued and Sieler had left driving a black pickup. The police later observed the pickup traveling at a high rate of speed, almost colliding with a parked vehicle, so they pulled it over. Sieler failed some field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest for DUI. A subsequent intoxilyzer test indicated he had a blood alcohol level of 0.134 percent. He was then charged with a first-offense DUI.

¶5 Meanwhile, one of the officers had remained at the scene of the arrest waiting for a tow truck to pick up Sieler's vehicle. Walther stopped to talk to the officer. When he asked Walther if Sieler had assaulted her, she responded "no." Walther then went home and went to bed with several windows left open in her apartment.

¶6 Sieler posted bond to get out of jail and was given some of his keys upon release. 1 He went home, got his motorcycle and drove to Walther's apartment. This was about 5:00 a.m., less than two hours after he first attacked Walther in the parking lot. Sieler knocked on Walther's apartment door and rang the doorbell. When she did not answer, he went outside, climbed up on a guard rail, and proceeded to enter the apartment through an open window.

¶7 Walther, upon hearing a commotion in her living room, went to investigate and saw Sieler standing there. The two argued. Walther then went back to bed. A short time later, Sieler went into the bedroom and raped her. Walther then proceeded to the living room where Sieler joined her a short time later and again argued with her. He then went back into the bedroom and called her to return, where he viciously cut her throat and stabbed her several times. He then also cut himself.

¶8 Later in the morning, one of Walther's neighbors noticed blood in the hallway and called the police. Officer Frank Arnett was sent to investigate. The neighbor told Arnett that the blood may be Walther's. Arnett attempted to phone Walther, and when no one answered, he obtained a pass key to the apartment and opened the door.

¶9 Upon stepping into the doorway he saw Walther lying on the floor. He then shut the door to secure the crime scene and phoned for backup, reporting the incident as a homicide. When asked if he wanted medical personnel from the fire department dispatched while he waited, he responded "no." After the backup officers arrived they entered the apartment, found both Walther and Sieler and determined they were still alive. Officer Arnett then called for medical assistance. This was approximately eighteen minutes after he had first discovered Walther. Both parties survived their wounds and Sieler is currently serving 120 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary for the kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder of Walther.

¶10 On June 27, 1995, Walther filed suit against KPKA Meadowlands L.P., which owns the apartment complex, and Dimension Management, Inc., which is responsible for its management. She alleged negligence and breach of the implied warranty of habitability. She also filed suit against City and Officer Arnett, alleging negligence and violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 2

¶11 All defendants moved for summary judgment. Summary judgment was granted to KPKA and Dimension. Partial summary judgment was also granted to City and Officer Arnett on Walther's claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and on her allegation that City was negligent in failing to arrest Sieler for domestic abuse. However, summary judgment was denied on the claim that City and Officer Arnett were negligent in not providing immediate medical care to Walther.

¶12 On appeal, Walther argues:

1. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment to City.

2. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of KPKA and Dimension.

¶13 City and Officer Arnett assert:

3. The trial court erred in not granting summary judgment in their favor. 3

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶14 Our standard of review for summary judgment is well established:

"In reviewing a grant or a denial of summary judgment under SDCL 15-6-56(c), we must determine whether the moving party demonstrated the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and showed entitlement to judgment on the merits as a matter of law. The evidence must be viewed most favorably to the nonmoving party and reasonable doubts should be resolved against the moving party. The nonmoving party, however, must present specific facts showing that a genuine, material issue for trial exists. Our task on appeal is to determine only whether a genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the law was correctly applied. If there exists any basis which supports the ruling of the trial court, affirmance of a summary judgment is proper."

Specialty Mills, Inc. v. Citizens State Bank, 1997 SD 7, p 7, 558 N.W.2d 617, 620 (citing Lamp v. First Nat'l Bank of Garretson, 496 N.W.2d 581, 583 (S.D.1993)).

DECISION

¶15 1. The trial court did not err in granting summary judgment to City.

¶16 Walther claims the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to City on her allegation of negligent failure to arrest Sieler for domestic abuse. Specifically, she claims that had Sieler been arrested for domestic abuse he would not have been able to immediately bond out of jail. The trial court concluded the police department owed no duty to Walther because probable cause did not exist to arrest Sieler for domestic abuse. We agree.

¶17 Generally, the law imposes no duty to prevent the misconduct of a third person. Gleason v. Peters, 1997 SD 102, p 8, 568 N.W.2d 482, 484; Tipton v. Town of Tabor, 1997 SD 96, p 12, 567 N.W.2d 351, 357 (Tipton II ). Thus, police officers are generally protected from liability through what is termed the public-duty rule. The rule provides that the police owe a duty to the public at large and not to an individual or smaller class of individuals. This rule has received much recent attention from this Court. See Gleason; Tipton II; Tipton v. Town of Tabor, 538 N.W.2d 783 (S.D.1995) (Tipton I ).

¶18 In the cases cited above, we have also recognized the special-duty exception to the public-duty rule. That exception recognizes that there may be some situations where it is found a duty is owed to a particular class of persons separate from that owed to the general public. In Tipton I, we adopted a four-part test to analyze whether a case is taken out of the realm of the public-duty rule based on the existence of a special duty. The four factors to be examined are:

1. [T]he state's actual knowledge of the dangerous condition;

2. reasonable reliance by persons on the state's representations and conduct;

3. an ordinance or statute that sets forth mandatory acts clearly for the protection of a particular class...

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