Case Title: Silver v. City of Minneapolis

Citation: 170 N.W.2d 206

Docket Number: 

State: minnesota

Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Date: 1969-08-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
170 N.W.2d 206 (1969) Irving and Ethel SILVER, individually and dba Silver's Food Market, Appellants, v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, Respondent. No. 41654. Supreme Court of Minnesota. August 1, 1969. Robins, Davis & Lyons and Stephen A. Krupp, Minneapolis, for appellants. Keith M. Stidd, City Atty., George V. Johnson, Asst. City Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent. KNUTSON, Chief Justice. This is an appeal from an order of the district court granting defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissing plaintiffs' complaint on the merits. *207 The facts are not seriously in dispute. The action arises out of a disturbance which occurred in the Plymouth Avenue North area of Minneapolis on July 19, 20, and 21, 1967. Plaintiffs, Irving and Ethel Silver, are the owners of certain real estate located at 1709-1711 Plymouth Avenue North. On July 19, 1967, a riot occurred in that area during which windows were broken in plaintiffs' store by rioters. This was investigated by the Minneapolis Police Department. According to plaintiffs, they received indications that their building and store were being threatened by further damage in riots that might follow. During the July 19 riot, looting occurred and a number of business and commercial properties along Plymouth Avenue were damaged or destroyed. According to plaintiffs, after they had received indications that their building and store were being threatened by further damage they boarded up the windows and doors and contacted the police concerning the threats. In his deposition, plaintiff Irving Silver indicated the police responded as follows: Following this conversation with the police, Silver went home about 7 p. m. According to his deposition he informed the police of his intention to leave at that hour and told them that he had boarded up his doors and windows. During the night of July 20-21, plaintiffs' building and store were burned by rioters throwing "Molotov cocktails" against the building. They now seek recovery from the city for the damage to the building and store. Their complaint is based on allegations that the city of Minneapolis was negligent in failing to provide police and fire protection to their building after it had been requested by plaintiffs, or to take reasonable measures to prevent the riot. The district court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissal of plaintiffs' complaint on the merits. The appeal raises essentially two questions: (1) Do plaintiffs have a cause of action against the city under Minn.St. 466.02 for negligence on the part of the city in protecting plaintiffs' property from riot damage? (2) Do plaintiffs have an action at common law against the city for riot damage where they advised the city of the danger to their property and requested police protection? As we read plaintiffs' brief, it would seem that they concede that in the absence of Minn.St. c. 466, Minnesota municipalities are immune from tort liability for the activities of their police and fire departments acting within the scope of their duties. The issue, then, is whether a cause of action exists under § 466.02, or whether it is excluded by § 466.03. Chapter 466 abolishes sovereign immunity as to tort claims against municipalities, with certain listed exceptions. Section 466.02 reads: Section 466.03, so far as here material, reads: It is the contention of the city that the proper deployment of its police and fire departments for the protection of all the people of the city requires the exercise of discretion and therefore comes within § 466.03, subd. 6. Both parties adopt the definition of "discretion" found in Romsdahl v. Town of Long Lake, 175 Minn. 34, 36, 220 N.W. 166, 167, where we said: It is quite apparent that § 466.03, subd. 6, is modeled largely on § 2680(a) of the Federal Tort Claims Act, 62 Stat. 982, 28 U.S.C.A. § 2680(a), which contains exceptions similar to subd. 6 of our statute. Section 2680(a) provides in part that it shall not apply to In the case of Dalehite v. United States, 346 U.S. 15, 35, 73 S. Ct. 956, 968, 97 L. Ed. 1427, 1440, the Supreme Court of the United States said: It is not necessary to discuss in detail the many cases involving the exception contained in the Federal act that excludes the right to recover. Reference to a few should suffice. The case of United States v. Faneca (5 Cir.) 332 F.2d 872, involved the right to recover for the alleged tortious conduct of Federal officials in connection with the Government's efforts to enroll one Meredith, a Negro, as a student in the University of Mississippi. The defendants were the United States, the deputy attorney general of the United States, and the chief of the executive officers of the United States marshals. In holding there was no liability due to the exception from the Tort Claims Act, the court said (332 F. 2d 874): The case of Smith v. United States (5 Cir.) 375 F.2d 243, involved the right to recover under the Federal Tort Claims Act for failure of the Government to protect plaintiff, who had served as a juror in a case involving civil rights, from picketing *209 which destroyed his business. In denying liability, the court said (375 F.2d 245): We think it is enough to say that here, in the light of rumored impending riots, the city had the right to decide how most effectively to deploy its police and fire manpower so as to control such riots to the best of its ability if they did break out, and to furnish protection to as many citizens as its manpower would permit. Plaintiffs were not entitled to more protection than others. Choice of the use of police and fire manpower involves the use of discretion and falls squarely within the statutory exception from liability expressed in subd. 6 of § 466.03. To hold that those who have called the police, advising that there may be riots, can recover and those who have not called the police may not recover would establish an unconscionable rule. Either everyone who suffered damage by riot should recover or none should be permitted to do so. If it is to be the law that only those who call the police and ask for protection from impending riots are entitled to recover, it is almost certain that every property owner in areas where rioting is likely to occur in the future will call the police department and demand protection as a foundation for a future lawsuit to recover damages against the city if, perchance, their property is damaged or destroyed. To impose liability upon the city for all damage done by rioters would, we think, impose a burden it is incapable of carrying. In the case of Riss v. City of New York, 22 N.Y.2d 579, 581, 293 N.Y.S.2d 897, 898, 240 N.E.2d 860, the New York Court of Appeals in a situation involving a similar issue said: We are satisfied that under the facts of the present case the city was exercising discretion in determining how to best cope with impending trouble by deploying its police and fire manpower so as to protect the property of as many people as was possible within its limited resources. That being true, the case falls squarely within the exception provided by § 466.03, subd. 6, and the court correctly ruled that the complaint did not state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted. Absent constitutional restrictions, the legislature may decide the extent to which the state and its subdivisions should be subject to liability for the torts of its *210 officers and agents. At common law there was no liability for injury by acts of mobs or rioters. Chapter 466 is an extension of liability for torts, but the liability is limited by the statute and the exceptions contained within it. See, Peterson, Governmental Responsibility for Torts In Minnesota, 26 Minn.L.Rev. 700, 727. We do not believe that the legislature in lifting the bar of sovereign immunity intended to permit recovery in a case such as this. Had it intended to do so it could easily have said so, as it has, for example, in the case of lynching. Section 373.28 provides that the county in which a lynching occurs shall be liable in damages to the dependents of the person lynched in a sum not exceeding $7,500, to be recovered in a civil action. The case of National Board of Young Men's Christian Assn's v. United States, 395 U.S. 85, 89 S. Ct. 1511, 23 L. Ed. 2d 117, did not involve an action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, but it did involve the right of plaintiffs to recover in the Court of Claims for damages sustained when the United States troops, during riots in Panama, entered plaintiffs' building. The rationale involved in the plaintiffs' claim is analogous to that involved here. Mr. Justice Harlan, in a concurring opinion, said (395 U.S. 95, 89 S. Ct. 1517, 23 L.Ed.2d 126): Affirmed.