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Estate Of Ashley Jones v. State12/26/2000
ainst Island County was improper.
Liability of State of Washington and Second Chance
The Estate claims the State incorrectly evaluated Dodge for placement so that he was improperly granted community placement. The Estate also claims that both the State and Second Chance were negligent in the supervision of Dodge while he was in community placement. Second Chance was an agent of the State when it operated the group home to which the State assigned Dodge and the State remains liable for any negligent supervision by Second Chance via respondeat superior.
Questions of fact exist as to whether the State was negligent when it placed Dodge at Larch Way Lodge. The Estate claims the JRA failed to follow required procedures when it investigated Dodge's background for his initial security classification and that as a result Dodge was scored too low. In support of this claim the Estate produced portions of the instruction manual for scoring security classifications and testimony from Kristine Morse, the JRA officer who scored Dodge.
The diagnostic manual directed the person scoring the offender to request a number of documents. Morse could not verify whether she requested these documents and her testimony indicated that if she did it was only in a general way. The manual also contained the following provision:
Item A: Prior Assaultive Behavior. Score a 3 if there is evidence a youth has assaulted others in the past. An assault is an attempt to physically injurs {sic} another person. This is not a criminal history item; the assaultive behavior does not have to have resulted in an arrest or conviction.
Morse stated she interpreted assaultive behavior to refer to an ongoing pattern occurring over at least a couple of months. If believed, this evidence could permit a jury to find that when Morse scored Dodge she did not comply with proper procedure and that the State was negligent.
There was also evidence which, if believed, would permit a jury to conclude Dodge was not properly supervised at Larch Way Lodge. Apparent drug contraband was found in Dodge's room after which Dodge indicated to one counselor that he was mad about having to take a urinalysis and probably wouldn't pass it. A Second Chance counselor later stated she believed there was a problem with drug use by residents at the time Dodge was at Larch Way Lodge and Dodge later testified he had smoked marijuana while there.
In the log at Larch Way Lodge, there was a note from a counselor the evening before Dodge escaped that a close check should be kept on Dodge because he felt Dodge might try to escape. Dodge testified that counselor Kenneth Troy was aware of his plan to escape and allowed him to get a head start by not properly checking on him at appropriate times. If this evidence were believed, a jury could find that the supervision of Dodge at Larch Way Lodge was negligent.
The State is also not covered by discretionary immunity. The trial court dismissed the claims against the State of Washington and the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration on the basis that they had discretionary immunity. Under discretionary immunity, courts refuse to pass judgment on policy decisions of coordinate branches of government. Discretionary governmental acts are immune from liability, but operational or ministerial acts are not. Further, discretionary immunity is narrow and applies only to basic policy decisions made by a high level executive.
Because discretionary immunity only pertains to the exercise of discretionary acts at a basic policy level, it does not cover the State's supervision of Dodge as alleged by the Estate. Indeed, discretionary immuni
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