 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
MILLER v. CITY OF CAMDEN12/29/1997
th the majority's rejection of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 324A, which expands liability to third parties for one who undertakes to render a service. I respectfully dissent from the portion of the majority opinion that concludes there was evidence that Kendall volunteered to assume responsibility for monitoring threats to the Kendall Lake Dam. With the greatest respect for my brothers in the majority, I believe the trial court's grant of summary judgment to Kendall should be affirmed. I would reverse the Court of Appeals.
The majority opinion contains an excellent outline of the facts and legal claims presented. It quite appropriately concludes that Kendall has absolutely no liability for injury and death claims arising out of the ownership, maintenance and operation of Kendall Lake and Dam. The City is the owner and operator of this property. Kendall has not even had a key to this property since the early 1980's. Kendall's liability is
The land and dam at issue here are owned and controlled by the City of Camden. Kendall conveyed this property to Camden in 1961. This property is subject to regulation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pursuant to federal legislation and regulations known as the National Dam Safety Program. The property is also subject to regulation by the South Carolina Department of Land Resources pursuant to the S.C. Dams and Reservoirs Safety Act.
The specific facts upon which the majority concludes that there is a jury issue as to whether or not Kendall is a volunteer are the following. In June of 1979, the Army Corps of Engineers issued an inspection report which criticized the safety of the dam at Kendall Lake. In August of 1979, State Land Resources Director of Dam Safety sent a letter to Camden and Kendall Mills suggesting a meeting at his office to discuss the inspection report on the Kendall Lake Dam. On September 6, 1979, a meeting was held with Land Resources officials attended by City of Camden and Kendall representatives. The only evidence relied on by the majority to find this "volunteer" status is the attendance by a Kendall employee at this meeting in which an emergency notification plan was formulated, as well as the placement of that representative's name on an "Emergency Alert Notification" form used by the South Carolina Department of Land Resources. Far from showing Kendall volunteered to monitor Kendall Lake Dam or the water level at Kendall Lake, the emergency notification forms merely constituted a recognition that Kendall was usually the first party to experience flooding from high water levels in the lake. City's public works director clearly stated that his own department and City's police department were responsible for monitoring the lake and the dam.
Kendall attended the 1979 meeting at the written request of State Land Resources. The emergency notification forms on which Kendall employees are listed are required by the Dams and Reservoirs Safety Act, S.C. Code Ann. §§ 49-11-110 to -260 (Supp. 1995). The Dams and Reservoirs Safety Act does not create a private cause of action in third parties. It simply
We live in an age in which governmental regulation increasingly intrudes into almost every aspect of business and private life. Much of this regulation is the necessary price we pay for order and safety in our society. Nevertheless, the Orwellian "Big Brother is watching you" power of late 20th century bureaucrats makes any meeting between the regulator and the regulated inherently coercive. It simply does not square with common sense experience to characterize a business response to a governmental inquiry as voluntary.
This was not a situation where a business unilaterally decided to render assistance to
Page 1 2 3 4 5 South Carolina Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|