IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 104 / 05-1103 / 05-1110
Filed March 30, 2007
MYRON J. RAAS,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF IOWA,
Appellee.
MARK TRUNECEK,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF IOWA,
Appellee.
On review from the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Thomas M.
Horan, Judge.
Plaintiffs in separate suits against State appeal from district court
orders sustaining State’s motions to dismiss. DECISION OF COURT OF
APPEALS VACATED; JUDGMENT OF DISTRICT COURT REVERSED AND
REMANDED AS TO PLAINTIFF RAAS AND AFFIRMED AS TO PLAINTIFF
TRUNECEK.
Hugh G. Albrecht of Tom Riley Law Firm, P.L.C., Cedar Rapids, for
appellants.
2
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and William A. Hill, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
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LARSON, Justice.
This appeal involves separate suits against the State by Myron J.
Raas and Mark Trunecek arising out of the escape of two inmates from the
state prison system. The State moved to dismiss the petitions under Iowa
Rule of Civil Procedure 1.421(1)(a) and (f) on the grounds the court lacked
jurisdiction and the plaintiffs failed to establish a duty of care. The district
court sustained the motions to dismiss. Plaintiffs appealed separately, and
we consolidated the cases. The court of appeals reversed, and we granted
further review. We now vacate the decision of the court of appeals, affirm
the judgment of the district court as to Trunecek, and reverse and remand
the judgment of the district court as to Raas.
I. Facts and Prior Proceedings.
Because the cases were resolved under motions to dismiss, the only
facts to be considered are those appearing on the face of the plaintiffs’
petitions. Mark Trunecek and Myron Raas were injured by two inmates
who escaped from the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale,
Iowa. Raas was attacked while in the parking lot of the Oakdale facility,
where he had gone to visit a family member. Trunecek was attacked by the
prisoners as he was fishing in the Iowa River near Swan Lake Road in
Johnson County. The plaintiffs alleged that the prisoners’ escape occurred
as a result of the State’s negligence in failing to properly supervise the
inmates and failing to properly maintain and secure the facility. For
purposes of reviewing the order dismissing the case under rule 1.421(1), we
assume the facts alleged in the petitions are true.
II. Standard of Review.
We review orders sustaining motions to dismiss for correction of
errors at law. Pennsylvania Life Ins. Co. v. Simoni, 641 N.W.2d 807, 810
(Iowa 2002). An order granting a motion to dismiss will be upheld only if
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the petition, on its face, fails to state a cause of action upon which relief
could be granted under any circumstances. Fitzpatrick v. State, 439 N.W.2d
663, 665 (Iowa 1989) (affirming order dismissing plaintiff’s suit for damages
based on injury caused by parolee from Iowa penitentiary). On a motion to
dismiss, the petition should be construed in the light most favorable to the
plaintiff, with all doubt resolved in the plaintiff’s favor. Id.
III. Discussion.
To establish the plaintiffs’ claims of negligence, they must prove that
(1) the State owed them a duty of care, (2) the State breached or violated
that duty of care, (3) its breach or violation was a proximate cause of their
injuries, and (4) damages. Kolbe v. State, 625 N.W.2d 721, 725 (Iowa 2001).
The issue in this case is whether the first requirement—a duty to the
plaintiffs—was satisfied.
A. The statutory-duty argument. The plaintiffs argue that the State’s
statutorily imposed responsibility for the care of prisoners necessarily
includes a duty to prevent their escape. Under Iowa Code section
904.102(4) (2003),
[t]he Iowa department of corrections is established to be
responsible for the control, treatment, and rehabilitation of
offenders committed under law to the following institutions:
....
4. Iowa medical and classification center.
Obviously, this statute does not expressly provide a cause of action
for a breach of the State’s duty. We, therefore, must decide if a cause of
action is implied. In Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d 721, we stated that, when a private
cause of action is not expressly granted by statutes or administrative rules,
[w]e . . . must employ the following four-factor test to determine
whether a private cause of action against the State may be
implied from the statute:
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(1) Is the plaintiff a member of the class for whose
benefit the statute was enacted? (2) Is there any
indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, to
either create or deny such a remedy? (3) Would
allowing such a cause of action be consistent with the
underlying purpose of the legislation? (4) Would the
private cause of action intrude into an area over which
the federal government or a state administrative agency
holds exclusive jurisdiction?
Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 726–27 (quoting Marcus v. Young, 538 N.W.2d 285,
288 (Iowa 1995)).
The “most relevant inquiry” is whether there is any indication of
legislative intent to create a private cause of action. Id. at 727; accord
Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 442 U.S. 560, 575, 99 S. Ct. 2479, 2489,
61 L. Ed. 2d 82, 96 (1979). The plaintiffs have not argued any of the Kolbe
factors that would support a private cause of action under the statute.
Most significantly, they have failed to point to any statutory language or
administrative rule concerning responsibility for prisoners that suggests the
legislature intended to create a private cause of action when it enacted
section 904.102(4). Furthermore, we have held that the State Tort Claims
Act, Iowa Code chapter 669, does not create any new causes of action, but
only allows suits against the state that are allowed at common law against
private individuals. Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 725; Engstrom v. State, 461
N.W.2d 309, 314 (Iowa 1990). The State Tort Claims Act merely
gives recognition to and a remedy for a cause of action already
existing by reason of a wrong done but for which redress could
not previously be had because of the common law doctrine of
governmental immunity.
Graham v. Worthington, 259 Iowa 845, 861, 146 N.W.2d 626, 637 (1966);
accord Sanford v. Manternach, 601 N.W.2d 360, 370 (Iowa 1999). We reject
the plaintiffs’ argument that they have a statutory basis for a cause of
action against the State.
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B. The common-law duty argument. The plaintiffs argue that the
State owes them a common-law duty of care on which a cause of action
may be based. In determining whether a defendant owes a legal duty to a
plaintiff, three factors usually control: (1) the relationship between the
parties, (2) reasonable foreseeability of harm to the person who is injured,
and (3) public policy considerations. Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 728.
The State argues that the public-duty doctrine precludes liability
because any duty owed by the State is to the public at large, not to
individuals such as these plaintiffs. Under the public-duty doctrine, “ ‘if a
duty is owed to the public generally, there is no liability to an individual
member of that group.’ ” Id. at 729 (quoting Wilson v. Nepstad, 282 N.W.2d
664, 667 (Iowa 1979)).
We have routinely held that a breach of duty owed to the public
at large is not actionable unless the plaintiff can establish,
based on the unique or particular facts of the case, a special
relationship between the State and the injured plaintiff
consistent with the rules of Restatement (Second) of Torts
section 315.
Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 729.
C. Status of the public-duty doctrine. We must first decide whether
the public-duty doctrine is still viable in Iowa in view of our adoption of the
State Tort Claims Act, Iowa Code chapter 669. Section 669.4 provides that,
[t]he state shall be liable in respect to such claims to the
same claimants, in the same manner, and to the same extent
as a private individual under like circumstances, except that
the state shall not be liable for interest prior to judgment or for
punitive damages.
Exceptions to state liability are listed in section 669.14. However, the list of
exceptions does not include claims subject to the public-duty doctrine. The
plaintiffs argue the absence of a public-duty doctrine exception to state
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liability indicates that the legislature did not intend for the State Tort
Claims Act and the public-duty doctrine to coexist. Their claim is that
[t]he “Public Duty Doctrine” is inconsistent and incompatible
with the waiver of sovereign immunity [under] the State Tort
Claims Act. Courts should no longer judicially impose this
doctrine to prohibit [plaintiffs] . . . from seeking redress against
the State for the wrongful actions of its employees.
In making this argument, the plaintiffs equate sovereign immunity with the
lack of a duty under the public-duty doctrine. However, the principles
involved are not the same.
The public duty rule provides that where a municipality
has a duty to the general public, as opposed to a particular
individual, breach of that duty does not result in tort liability.
The rule protects municipalities from liability for failure to
adequately enforce general laws and regulations, which were
intended to benefit the community as a whole. The public duty
rule is not technically grounded in government immunity,
though it achieves much the same results. Unlike immunity,
which protects a municipality from liability for breach of an
otherwise enforceable duty to the plaintiff, the public duty rule
asks whether there was any enforceable duty to the plaintiff in
the first place.
18 Eugene McQuillin, McQuillin on Municipal Corporations § 53.04.25 (3d ed.
2006).
Our cases decided after the adoption of the State Tort Claims Act
continue to recognize the public-duty doctrine, and with the exception of
the Wilson and Adam cases discussed below, they have clearly upheld the
continued validity of the doctrine. See, e.g., Summy v. City of Des Moines,
708 N.W.2d 333, 344 (Iowa 2006); Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 729; Sankey v.
Richenberger, 456 N.W.2d 206, 209 (Iowa 1990); Bockelman v. State, 366
N.W.2d 550, 554 (Iowa 1985); Cubit ex rel. Cubit v. Mahaska County, 670
N.W.2d 430, 2003 WL 21920399, at *2 (Iowa Ct. App. 2003); Donahue v.
Washington County, 641 N.W.2d 848, 851 (Iowa Ct. App. 2002); Allen v.
Anderson, 490 N.W.2d 848, 856 (Iowa Ct. App. 1992).
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The plaintiffs contend that our prior cases of Wilson, 282 N.W.2d 664,
and Adam v. State, 380 N.W.2d 716 (Iowa 1986), cast doubt on the
continued validity of the public-duty doctrine. However, in Kolbe we
distinguished Wilson and Adam on the basis that the statutes involved in
those cases were not aimed at the protection of the public in general (as
required by the public-duty doctrine), but to narrow groups of persons,
thereby establishing special relationships and making the public-duty
doctrine inapplicable. Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 729. Contrary to the plaintiffs’
argument, Wilson and Adam did not eliminate the public-duty doctrine.
In Kolbe we recognized that the public-duty doctrine is still viable
despite enactment of the State Tort Claims Act: “Because we conclude there
was no . . . duty [under the public-duty doctrine], we need not address the
immunity issue.” Kolbe, 625 N.W.2d at 725. Although, as the plaintiffs
point out, other jurisdictions have held their tort claims statutes to have
abrogated the public-duty doctrine in those jurisdictions, we conclude that
both doctrines are alive and well in Iowa.
D. Claimed basis of common-law liability. The plaintiffs acknowledge
that generally a person has no duty to control the conduct of others.
However, they argue that there are “special relationships” between
themselves and the State that make the general rule inapplicable. They
also contend that special relationships make the public-duty doctrine
inapplicable. See id. at 729. In support of these arguments, the plaintiffs
rely principally on two provisions of the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
Under section 315,
[t]here is no duty so to control the conduct of a third person as
to prevent him from causing physical harm to another unless
(a) a special relation exists between the actor [State] and
the third person [prisoner] which imposes a duty upon the
actor to control the third person’s [prisoner’s] conduct, or
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(b) a special relation exists between the actor [State] and
the other [victim] which gives to the other [victim] a right to
protection.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 315 (1965) [hereinafter Restatement].
Additionally, section 319 provides:
One [State] who takes charge of a third person [prisoner] whom
he knows or should know to be likely to cause bodily harm to
others [victims] if not controlled is under a duty to exercise
reasonable care to control the third person [prisoner] to prevent
him from doing such harm.
We have considered Restatement section 319 in tandem with section
315 in several cases, including Leonard v. State, 491 N.W.2d 508, 510-11
(Iowa 1992); Sankey, 456 N.W.2d at 209; and Fitzpatrick, 439 N.W.2d at
666-67. In Leonard a mental health patient, Parrish, was released by the
state. The patient assaulted Leonard, a member of the public, who sued the
state hospital, claiming a breach of duty under Restatement sections 315
and 319. We said:
There can be little doubt that a special relationship
existed between Parrish [the patient] and his treating physician
at MHI [the state hospital]. His continuing involuntary
commitment only serves to reinforce that bond. Therefore MHI
had a duty to control Parrish’s conduct, or at least not
negligently release him from custody. But the Restatement rules
cited above [sections 315 and 319] do not answer the precise
question before us: Does the duty to refrain from negligently
releasing dangerous persons from custody run from the
custodian to the public at large or only to the reasonably
foreseeable victims of the patient’s dangerous tendencies?
Leonard, 491 N.W.2d at 511 (emphasis added). We answered the question
this way:
In analogous cases in Iowa, this court has viewed the
duties described in Restatement sections 315 and 319 quite
narrowly, guided by the principle that the scope of the duty
turns on the foreseeability of harm to the injured person. See,
e.g., Sankey, 456 N.W.2d at 209-10 (neither city ordinance nor
common law imposed duty upon police chief to protect city
officials from shooting spree in city council chambers);
Fitzpatrick v. State, 439 N.W.2d 663, 667-68 (Iowa 1989) (parole
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officer had no legal duty to police officer injured by parolee)
....
The foregoing cases also reflect strong public policy
concerns about the potential for limitless liability when an
individual’s decision might affect the general public.
Id. at 511-12. Under the Leonard line of cases, the State’s duty to protect
victims from injury inflicted by escaped patients or prisoners extends only
to those persons who are reasonably foreseeable as victims.
IV. Disposition.
The plaintiff, Raas, alleged he
was lawfully in the parking lot of the Oakdale Facility having
gone to the facility that day during the regularly scheduled
visiting hours to visit a family member incarcerated at the
facility.
Assuming this allegation to be true, and viewing it in the light most
favorable to Raas, as we are required to do, we believe it is sufficient to
allege his status as an invitee and, as such, a person who was reasonably
foreseeable as a victim. Under Leonard he has therefore stated a sufficient
cause of action by establishing a special relationship. We therefore reverse
the district court’s order dismissing his case.
In contrast, according to Trunecek’s petition, he was not on the
premises of the facility, but was fishing in the Iowa River. We conclude
that, even giving his petition the most favorable interpretation, he has not
alleged the status of a foreseeable victim, but only a member of the public at
large. As such, he may not claim a special relationship sufficient to
establish a cause of action. We therefore affirm the district court’s
dismissal of his case.
DECISION OF COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; JUDGMENT OF
DISTRICT COURT REVERSED AND REMANDED AS TO PLAINTIFF RAAS
AND AFFIRMED AS TO PLAINTIFF TRUNECEK.
All justices concur except Hecht and Appel, JJ., who take no part.