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Duggan v. District of Columbia10/14/2005
Argued en banc September 19, 2002
Before WASHINGTON, Chief Judge, TERRY, SCHWELB, FARRELL, WAGNER, RUIZ, REID, and GLICKMAN, Associate Judges, and BELSON and STEADMAN, Senior Judges.
Opinion by Senior Judge STEADMAN, with whom Associate Judge SCHWELB joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part at page 7.
Appellants Ellen Duggan and Francis Duggan, individually and as parents and natural guardians of Patricia Duggan, a minor, sued the District of Columbia (the District) for damages for personal injuries their daughter sustained when a youthful driver (Allen Butler) struck her car while being chased by a vehicle driven by a the District of Columbia police officer. The case was tried by a jury, which deadlocked. The trial court then granted the District's renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, concluding that no reasonable juror could find that the police officer was grossly negligent, the standard required for the imposition of liability upon the District under the circumstances.
A division of this court reversed, holding that the trial court had erred in granting judgment for the District as a matter of law. The court concluded, in part, that "a rational juror could reasonably have found the police officer grossly negligent in conducting the chase" that led to Patricia Duggan's injuries. Duggan v. District of Columbia, 783 A.2d 563, 570 (D.C. 2001). The court subsequently granted rehearing en banc. Duggan v. District of Columbia, 797 A.2d 1233 (D.C. 2002). Upon reconsideration, we reinstate the conclusion of the division stated above, and incorporate herein parts I and II of the division's opinion, published at 783 A.2d 565-70. However, in place of part III of the division opinion (783 A.2d at 570-72), we provide the following analysis in which we reject appellants' threshold argument that a jury question existed as to whether the police officer was on an "emergency run" - hence whether the gross negligence standard governed his conduct - when the injury occurred. On the evidence presented, we hold that any reasonable juror would have to find that the officer's pursuit of Butler, in the course of which Patricia Duggan was injured, was an emergency run within the meaning of D.C. Code § 2-411 (4) (2001). See, e.g., Brown v. National Acad. of Sciences, 844 A.2d 1113, 1118 (D.C. 2004) (quoting Super. Ct. Civ. R. 50 (a)) (judgment may be granted as a matter of law if, "when the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the opposing party, there is 'no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find' for the non-moving party."). Consequently, upon retrial of the case, the issue of the District's liability will be determined by application of the gross negligence standard.
D.C. Code § 2-412 (formerly § 1-1212 (1992)) constitutes a waiver of governmental immunity by the District of Columbia for claims of personal injury or death resulting from the negligent or wrongful operation of a District vehicle by a District employee acting within the scope of his employment. The statute, however, expressly limits the waiver by prescribing that "in the case of a claim arising out of the operation of an emergency vehicle on an emergency run the District shall be liable only for gross negligence." Interpreting this limitation, we have explained that "'generally . . . waivers of immunity are to be read narrowly,'" District of Columbia v. Walker, 689 A.2d 40, 42 (D.C. 1997) (quoting Abney v. District of Columbia, 580 A.2d 1036, 1041 (D.C. 1990)), and that " he necessary corollary to this rule is that limitations on waivers of immunity, such as the gross negligence provision in [§ 2-412], are to be read broadly." Id.
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