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Stafford v. Baker6/2/1998
C. App. 515, 519, 459 S.E.2d 71, 74, disc. review denied, 342 N.C. 194, 463 S.E.2d 242 (1995)).
In the present case, Mrs. Stafford relies on this Court's recent decision in Hedrick v. Rains, supra, to support her argument that Section 319 of the Restatement should be adopted as a new exception to the public duty doctrine.
The plaintiffs in Hedrick alleged that the Sheriff of Columbus County unlawfully released an inmate from custody, enabling that inmate to come into contact and eventually murder two women. Id. at 466, 466 S.E.2d at 281. Relying on Section 319, the plaintiffs in Hedrick argued that a special relationship existed between the sheriff and the inmate which imposed a duty on the sheriff to control the inmate so as to prevent him from harming the two women. Id. at 468, 466 S.E.2d at 283. In addressing this argument, this Court concluded that because plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate that the sheriff knew or should have known of the inmate's propensity for violence, liability could not be imposed upon the sheriff under Section 319. Id. After discussing the inapplicability of Section 319, we went on to discuss the public duty doctrine and its two recognized exceptions. Id. Based upon those two exceptions, we held that plaintiffs' claim of negligence against the sheriff failed because "they [did not] allege any facts which, taken as true, would impose liability under either exception." Id. at 470, 466 S.E.2d at 284.
Although Mrs. Stafford concedes that this Court did not formally adopt Section 319 as an exception to the public duty doctrine in Hedrick, she does argue that this Court, in discussing the argument regarding the applicability of Section 319, "recognized" the special relationship envisioned by that section and that therefore, we should not be reluctant to now formally adopt that section as a new exception to the public duty doctrine. In response to this argument, defendants argue that any recognition this Court may have given to Section 319 was summarily rejected by our Supreme Court in its per curiam affirmance of our holding in Hedrick. See 344 N.C. 729, 477 S.E.2d 171 (1996). In that decision, the Supreme Court issued the following one paragraph opinion:
The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed, but we note with disapproval the citation of the Restatement (Second) of Torts as authority. Except as specifically adopted in this jurisdiction, the Restatement should not be viewed as determinative of North Carolina law.
Id.
Unlike defendants, we do not read the Supreme Court's per curiam decision as a specific rejection of the "special relationship" envisioned in ยง 319 of the Restatement; rather, we believe the Supreme Court was merely cautioning this Court not to cite to the Restatement (Second) of Torts as authority without first holding that the subject section of the Restatement was being adopted as the law of this State. However, that understanding aside, we still decline to adopt Section 319 as a new exception to the public duty doctrine. In our opinion, to decide otherwise would only serve to circumvent the holdings of our courts both prior to and after our decision in Hedrick.
For example, in Humphries v. N.C. Dept. of Correction, 124 N.C. App. 545, 479 S.E.2d 27 (1996), rev. granted, 345 N.C. 342, 483 S.E.2d 168 (1997), and rev. improv. granted, 346 N.C. 269, 485 S.E.2d 293 (1997), a case decided after Hedrick, the plaintiff asserted an argument similar to that of Mrs. Stafford, yet we declined to carve out a new exception to the public duty doctrine. In Humphries, plaintiff alleged that a probation officer, as an agent of the Department of Corrections, breached his duty of care to plaintiff'
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