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Natrona County12/31/2003
HILL, Justice, delivered the opinion of the Court; GOLDEN, Justice, filed a dissenting opinion, in which LEHMAN, Justice, joins.
Petitioners, who we will refer to collectively as Natrona County, challenge the district court's order denying their motion to dismiss the wrongful death action filed by Respondent, Jeffery A. Blake (Blake), who is the personal representative of the estate of Daniel O'Brien (O'Brien). On or about September 12, 1999, O'Brien was murdered in Denver, Colorado, by an inmate, Samuel Graumann (Graumann), who escaped from the Natrona County Detention Center (NCDC) on September 10, 1999. Natrona County asserted that it owed no duty to O'Brien and, hence, it was entitled to a ruling that the complaint be dismissed. The district court denied that motion by order entered on September 11, 2002. Natrona County filed a Petition for Writ of Review seeking this Court's consideration of that order.
Finding the question to be of significant consequence to the expeditious and economical resolution of this matter, we issued the writ on October 15, 2002, in order that the question be brought before us at an early stage of the proceedings. W.R.A.P. 13.02. Argument was heard on this matter, and it was taken under advisement on April 15, 2003. We will affirm the district court's order denying the motion to dismiss.
ISSUES
Natrona County articulates the issue in this fashion:
Samuel Graumann escaped from the Natrona County Detention Center (NCDC) on September 10, 1999. Approximately two (2) days later. Graumann murdered Daniel O'Brien in Denver, Colorado, approximately 280 miles away from the NCDC. Under these circumstances, did the County Defendants owe a legal duty to Daniel O'Brien to protect him from the intentional criminal acts of Samuel Graumann?
Blake rephrases that issue in these terms:
Did petitioners owe a duty to Daniel O'Brien, an innocent citizen killed by a poorly supervised jail inmate petitioners allowed to escape because they, among other failings, ignored a report that a jailbreak was in progress?
STANDARD OF REVIEW
Natrona County sought dismissal of Blake's claims under W.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) and (c):
Rule 12. Defenses and objections; when and how presented; by pleading or motion; motion for judgment on pleadings.....
(b) How Presented. -- Every defense, in law or fact, to a claim for relief in any pleading, whether a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, shall be asserted in the responsive pleading thereto if one is required, except that the following defenses may at the option of the pleader be made by motion
(1) lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter; (2) lack of jurisdiction over the person; (3) improper venue; (4) insufficiency of process; (5) insufficiency of service of process; (6) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; (7) failure to join a party under Rule 19. A motion making any of these defenses shall be made before pleading if a further pleading is permitted. No defense or objection is waived by being joined with one or more other defenses or objections in a responsive pleading or motion. If a pleading sets forth a claim for relief to which the adverse party is not required to serve a responsive pleading, the adverse party may assert at the trial any defense in law or fact to that claim for relief. If, on a motion asserting the defense numbered (6) to dismiss for failure of the pleading to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment a
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