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Farmer v. B & G Food Enterprises6/6/2002
an expression of public policy because it prohibits a firefighter from 'complaining about the negligence that creates the very need for his or her employment.'" Pinter v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 613 N.W.2d 110, 117 (Wis. 2000).
D. Public Policy Considerations.
. While certain policy considerations and societal expectations supporting the firefighter's rule turn on the fact that "the public hires, trains, and compensates . . . police officers to deal with dangerous, but inevitable situations," Kreski, 415 N.W.2d at 187, the rule is also justified in matching costs and benefits. "The benefit of the performance of the [firefighter's] duty is shared by all citizens of the community, likewise the burden of loss caused by injury should be shared by all citizens of the community through taxes." Carpenter v. O'Day, 562 A.2d 596, 601 (Del. Super. Ct. 1988) (citations omitted), aff'd mem., 553 A.2d 638 (Del. 1988). New Jersey retains the firefighter's rule to prevent taxpayers from the possibility of paying double recoveries:
Both [firefighters and police officers] are paid to confront crises and allay dangers created by an uncircumspect citizenry, a circumstance that serves to distinguish firefighters and police from most other public employees. Citizens summon police and firefighters to confront danger. Governmental entities maintain police and fire departments in anticipation of those inevitable physical perils that burden the human condition, whereas most public employment posts are created not to confront dangers that will arise but to perform some other public function that may incidentally involve risk.
This fundamental concept rests on the assumption that governmental entities employ firefighters and police officers, at least in part, to deal with the hazards that may result from the taxpayer's own future acts of negligence.
he taxpayer who pays the fire and police departments to confront the risks occasioned by his own future acts of negligence does not expect to pay again when the officer is injured while exposed to those risks. Otherwise, individual citizens would compensate police officers twice: once for risking injury , once for sustaining it. Kiernan v. Miller, 612 A.2d 1344, 1346 (N.J. Super. Law Div. 1992).
. The Michigan Supreme Court in Kreski noted, "worker's compensation benefits are available to police officers . . . in the course of their employment. This fairly spreads the cost of these injuries to the public as a whole rather than individual property owners." 415 N.W.2d at 188.
. Based on these public policy considerations and societal expectations, we are persuaded that the Wisconsin version of the firefighter's rule is the best expression of this legal principle, and we adopt it. We hold that an action brought by a firefighter or a police officer for an injury sustained as the result of a negligent act by another party and sustained in the course of his employment is barred only when the sole negligent act is the same negligent act that necessitated rescue and therefore brought the firefighter or police officer to the scene of the emergency. If, however, the cause of action is based on any other negligent act (such as negligent failure to warn, negligent violation of an ordinance designed to protect the injured party, or negligent manufacture of a dangerous product), public policy does not bar recovery. See, e.g., Pinter, 613 N.W.2d at 115.
. The licensee/invitee distinction does not come into play when the injured party is a person (such as a firefighter or a police officer) who has been specially trained and who is paid by a governmental entity to enter into dangerous situations and
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