Title: Calogrides v. City of Mobile

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

475 So. 2d 560 (1985)
John M. CALOGRIDES
v.
CITY OF MOBILE.
84-417.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
August 23, 1985.
*561 Bob Sherling of Drinkard & Sherling, Mobile, for appellant.
James B. Rossler of Stout & Roebuck, Mobile, for appellee.
SHORES, Justice.
The appellant attended a fireworks display sponsored in part by the City of Mobile at Ladd Memorial Stadium on July 3, 1982. After he arrived and as he was walking up the stadium ramp to find a seat, he was assaulted by a group of five or six teenage males. He was stabbed a number of times. Eighty-two police officers were assigned to Ladd Stadium for the fireworks display.
The appellant brought suit against the City of Mobile, alleging that the City:
The trial court granted the City's motion for summary judgment, and this appeal followed. We affirm.
In Rich v. City of Mobile, 410 So. 2d 385, 387 (Ala.1982), the Court held that public policy considerations prevent the imposition of a duty on a city, the breach of which would impose tort liability to a person "in those narrow areas of governmental activities essential to the well-being of the governed, where the imposition of liability can be reasonably calculated to materially thwart the City's legitimate efforts to provide such public services." The opinion acknowledged the lack of clarity of the rule there expressed, reserving for a later day the development of the rule, characterized as the substantive immunity rule. Whatever its perimeters, the rule recognizes that a city's obligation to provide for the public health, safety, and general welfare of its citizens is paramount and that the imposition of liability to particular individuals in certain circumstances would necessarily threaten the benefits of certain services to the public at large. We hold that this is such a case.
Other jurisdictions have held that a municipality is not liable for this failure to provide police protection. See: Wuethrich v. Delia, 155 N.J.Super. 324, 326, 382 A.2d 929, 930 (1978), holding that "a public entity such as a municipality is not liable in tort for its failure to protect against the criminal propensity of third persons"; Motyka v. City of Amsterdam, 15 N.Y.2d 134, 138, 256 N.Y.S.2d 595, 596, 204 N.E.2d 635, 636 (1965), stating, "The rule is that, independent of sovereign immunity, a municipality is not liable for failure to supply general police ... protection [to the public]." See also 18 McQuillin The Law of Municipal Corporations § 53.51 (3d ed. 1984), stating, "[T]he failure to provide, or the inadequacy of, police protection usually does not give rise to a cause of action in tort against a city."
*562 The thrust of the appellant's claim is that the City was negligent in making its decision to deploy only eighty-two police officers to Ladd Stadium on the occasion of his injury. Liability cannot be predicated on this basis. Riss v. City of New York, 22 N.Y.2d 579, 293 N.Y.S.2d 897, 240 N.E.2d 860 (1968), dealt with a claim of negligence in refusing to furnish police protection to the plaintiff upon request. The court affirmed the dismissal of her complaint, saying:
22 N.Y.2d  at 582-83, 293 N.Y.S.2d 897-898, 240 N.E.2d  at 860-61.
As we noted in Berdeaux v. City National Bank of Birmingham, 424 So. 2d 594, 595 (Ala.1982):
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX, JONES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.