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Sanders v. Leavitt8/31/2001
Third District, Salt Lake The Honorable Homer F. Wilkinson
Plaintiff appeals the dismissal of sixteen of the eighteen defendants named in plaintiff's complaint. We affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiff Ricky Lee Sanders seeks damages for himself and on behalf of his nine-month-old daughter Breanna Marie Loveless, who died tragically from pneumonia. Plaintiff asserts that Bobbie Dawn Widdison, Breanna's mother, and Travis Widdison contributed to Breanna's death because they physically abused her and failed to provide her with adequate medical care. Plaintiff further contends that several state government officials, state government entities, and attorneys involved in the class action lawsuit of David C. v. Michael O. Leavitt, No. 93-C- 206W (D. Utah filed Feb. 25, 1993), of which he contends Breanna was a member, are somehow responsible for, at least in part, Breanna's death.
Plaintiff's complaint lists several causes of action against eighteen defendants. Plaintiff named eight "state defendants." Of these eight state defendants, plaintiff first named six state officials: Michael O. Leavitt, in his capacity as Governor of the State of Utah; Kerry D. Steadman, in his capacity as Executive Director of the Department of Human Services of the State of Utah; Mary T. Noonan, in her capacity as Director of the Division of Child and Family Services of the State of Utah; Jan Graham, in her capacity as Attorney General of the State of Utah; Carol Clawson, in her capacity as Solicitor General of the State of Utah; and Linda Luinstra, in her capacity as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Utah. He then named two State agencies: The Utah State Department of Human Services and the Division of Family Services. Plaintiff further named four "attorney defendants": two individual attorneys, William Lee Grimm and Michael Patrick O'Brien, and two organizations that provide legal services, the National Center for Youth Law, and the law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook, and McDonough, all of whom represented the plaintiffs' class in David C. Plaintiff also named as defendants the monitoring panel created pursuant to the settlement agreement in David C.; including Pamela Atkinson, in her capacity as Chair of the monitoring panel, and Sherianne Cotterell and Larry Lunt, both members of the monitoring panel (collectively the "monitoring panel defendants").
Plaintiff alleged several legal theories against these eighteen defendants. Against the eight state defendants, he alleged wrongful death, breach of contract, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Against the four monitoring panel defendants, he alleged negligence. Against the four attorney defendants he alleged breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and negligence. Against Bobbie Dawn and Travis Widdison he alleged wrongful death.
The gravamen of plaintiff's argument is that defendants somehow failed to meet their duty of care to Breanna. Plaintiff professes that the state defendants, attorney defendants, and monitoring panel defendants assumed some sort of duty to care for Breanna when they entered into the settlement agreement in the case of David C., that they breached this assumed duty by allowing the Widdisons to physically abuse and fail to adequately care for Breanna, and that the breach of this duty caused or contributed to, at least in part, Breanna's death.
All of the defendants except Bobbie Dawn and Travis Widdison filed motions to dismiss. The eight state defendants and the four monitoring panel defendants, all represented by the Utah Attorney General's Office, filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction
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