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Hunter v. State9/13/2002
ther." Turpen v. Granieri, 133 Idaho 244, 248, 985 P.2d 669, 673 (1999). In Alegria v. Payonk, 101 Idaho 617, 619, 619 P.2d 135, 137 (1980), this Court held that "one owes the duty to every person in our society to use reasonable care to avoid injury to the other person in any situation in which it would be reasonably anticipated or foreseen that a failure to use such care might result in such injury" (emphasis added). This is the common law duty rule.
Alegria involved a suit against bartenders who served an obviously intoxicated minor liquor. The minor then killed a woman in an automobile accident. The theory of the case was that the bartenders had acted affirmatively; they served the minor before he got in his automobile.
Doe v. Garcia, 131 Idaho 388, 987 P.2d 300 (1999), had within its issues a claim of negligent supervision. The plaintiffs asserted that St. Alphonsus Hospital negligently allowed Garcia to form a relationship with Doe which later led to a case of sexual abuse. Had the Hospital inquired into Garcia's work history, the plaintiffs argued, the Hospital would have known that Garcia posed a risk to the patients. The affirmative act complained of was the hiring of Garcia, which proximately caused the plaintiff's injury . The decision in Doe v. Garcia, was on a motion for summary judgment, determining that there was a material fact in dispute which precluded summary judgment. In this case the facts were fully developed at trial.
Submitting the case to the jury was consistent with Doe v. Garcia, but that case and this case extend the duty of an employer too far for consequences outside employment over which the employer has no realistic control. Hood would not have completed the retained jurisdiction at the North Idaho Correctional Institution if the staff at the institution could have foreseen that he would murder. The judge who placed Hood on probation did not see a probability that Hood would murder. The probation officer who supervised him did not foresee such a consequence. Imposing a duty on Mr. Wash to anticipate what bad consequences might result from placing Hood where he would have contact with a minor girl reaches too far.
The verdict in this case exemplifies the results that may occur when employers are called upon to foresee the conduct of their employees off the job . Mr. Wash was found to have half as much responsibility for Hunter's death as Hood who actually killed her. That defies common sense. The man who actually killed Hunter had virtually all, if not all the responsibility for her death. Finding otherwise illustrates the hazards of putting an emotionally charged issue to an understandably sympathetic jury.
Mr. Wash had no duty that extended to this tragic event.
VII.
OBJECTIONS TO EVIDENCE CONTAINED IN POLICE REPORTS WAS NOT PRESERVED FOR APPEAL
The district court ruled that the police report could not be admitted into evidence. However, the Hunters were allowed to describe contents of the police report when questioning Spevak about whether she regarded Hood as a "forcible rapist." According to the State, the use of the term "forcible rapist," when Hood had only been convicted of statutory rape, prejudiced the jury.
The district court held that the State did not object to the introduction of any evidence from the police report, and therefore the argument was waived. The State did not present evidence of its objections at the district court level. This issue was not preserved for appeal.
VIII.
THE CLAIM OF A RIGHT TO A NEW TRIAL BASED ON JURY MISCONDUCT IS MOOT
A juror wrote a letter to a newspaper during the trial that was
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