Case Name: JOHN DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROBERT GOFF et al., Defendants-Appellees
Court: Illinois Appellate Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1999-08-19
Citations: 306 Ill. App. 3d 1131
Docket Number: No. 3-98-0826
Parties: JOHN DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROBERT GOFF et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Judges: SLATER, J., concurs.
Reporter: Illinois Appellate Court Reports, Third Series
Volume: 306
Pages: 1131–1139

Head Matter:
JOHN DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROBERT GOFF et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Third District
No. 3—98—0826
Opinion filed August 19, 1999.
Rehearing denied September 17, 1999.
Paul Perona (argued), of Perona Law Offices, of Peru, for appellant.
Dana C. Crowley (argued), of Dana Crowley & Associates, and Robert Marc Chemers and Scott L. Howie (argued), both of Pretzel & Stouffer, Chartered, both of Chicago, for appellees.

Opinion:
JUSTICE HOMER
delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiff filed a complaint against Robert Goff, the Boy Scouts of America (Boy Scouts), and the Rainbow Council Boy Scouts of America (Rainbow Council), after he was allegedly molested by Goff while at a Boy Scouts' camp. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Boy Scouts and the Rainbow Council, and the plaintiff appealed. Following our careful review, we affirm.
FACTS
In 1987 and 1988, the plaintiff was a member of the Rainbow Council of the Boy Scouts in Joliet, Illinois. In January 1995, the plaintiff filed a complaint against the Rainbow Council, the Boy Scouts, and Robert Goff, a Boy Scout volunteer, for damages that he incurred as a result of an alleged molestation by Goff at a Boy Scouts camping trip in the summer of either 1987 or 1988. He contended that the Boy Scouts and Rainbow Council (the appellees) negligently failed to investigate the moral fitness of Goff and allowed Goff to participate in scouting activities knowing that he was a pedophile who sexually abused some of the scouts. The plaintiff also alleged that the appellees failed to implement adequate child protection programs.
The appellees filed a motion for summary judgment alleging that they did not owe the plaintiff a duty because they did not voluntarily undertake to investigate any adult volunteers and were unaware that Goff molested any boys until 1992. The trial court granted the appellees' motion for summary judgment. However, the court also granted the plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint so that he could add allegations regarding the appellees' failure to properly educate the plaintiff about abuse.
The plaintiffs amended complaint alleged that the appellees failed to implement adequate child protection and education programs and failed to adequately warn the plaintiff about sexual abuse.
The appellees filed a motion for summary judgment on the amended complaint, alleging that they had no duty to implement additional child protection programs or otherwise educate or warn the plaintiff about abuse. The plaintiff argued that the appellees did owe him a duty because they (1) had a special relationship with the scouts so as to create the existence of a duty; and (2) voluntarily undertook to implement child protection programs.
The trial court granted the appellees' motion for summary judg ment, again finding that the appellees did not owe a duty to the plaintiff. The plaintiff appeals this second order granting summary judgment in favor of the appellees.
ANALYSIS
A motion for summary judgment is a drastic remedy that should be granted only when the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Gilbert v. Sycamore Municipal Hospital, 156 Ill. 2d 511, 517-518, 622 N.E.2d 788, 792 (1993). The standard of review of a trial court's decision on a motion for summary judgment is de novo. Andrews v. Cramer, 256 Ill. App. 3d 766, 769, 629 N.E.2d 133, 135 (1993).
The plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the appellees, because he set forth facts sufficient to establish a prima facie case of negligence. In order to prevail in a negligence action, a plaintiffs complaint must set forth facts establishing the existence of a duty owed by defendant to plaintiff, a breach of that duty and an injury proximately caused by the breach. Auguste v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 257 Ill. App. 3d 865, 868, 629 N.E.2d 535, 537 (1993). The determination of a duty, or whether the plaintiff and defendant stood in such a relationship to one another that the law imposes an obligation of reasonable conduct upon the defendant for the benefit of the plaintiff, is a question of law. Estate of Johnson v. Condell Memorial Hospital, 119 Ill. 2d 496, 503, 520 N.E.2d 37, 40 (1988).
Generally, Illinois law does not impose a duty to protect another from a criminal attack by a third person. Hernandez v. Rapid Bus Co., 267 Ill. App. 3d 519, 524, 641 N.E.2d 886, 890 (1994). However, a duty to protect another can exist if the attack was reasonably foreseeable and the parties stand in one of the following "special relationships": (1) common carrier and passenger; (2) innkeeper and guest; (3) business invitor and invitee; and (4) voluntary custodian and protectee. Hernandez, 267 Ill. App. 3d at 524, 641 N.E.2d at 890.
The plaintiff contends that the appellees owed him a duty to prevent the molestation because they stood in a special relationship with him as his voluntary custodians. We find this argument unpersuasive because it ignores the additional requirement that the wrong be foreseeable.
As the plaintiffs voluntary custodian, the appellees had a duty to protect him from foreseeable harm. However, the plaintiff has not shown that his molestation was reasonably foreseeable in this instance. Therefore, the appellees cannot be found liable under this exception. See Estate of Johnson, 119 Ill. 2d at 503, 520 N.E.2d at 40 (holding that a duty is imposed where there is a special relationship and the attack was reasonably foreseeable).
A criminal attack by a third person is reasonably foreseeable when the circumstances are such as to put a reasonably prudent person on notice of the probability of an attack. Shortall v. Hawkeye's Bar & Grill, 283 Ill. App. 3d 439, 443, 670 N.E.2d 768, 770 (1996). Generalized allegations of crime will not suffice to establish that future criminal attacks are foreseeable. Popp v. Cash Station, Inc., 244 Ill. App. 3d 87, 93, 613 N.E.2d 1150, 1153 (1992). Foreseeability is something that is objectively reasonable to expect, not merely what might conceivably occur. Benner v. Bell, 236 Ill. App. 3d 761, 766, 602 N.E.2d 896, 899 (1992). It must be judged by what was apparent to the defendant at the time of the attack and not by what may appear through hindsight. Lewis v. Razzberries, Inc., 222 Ill. App. 3d 843, 851, 584 N.E.2d 437, 442 (1991).
At the time of the alleged attack by Goff, neither the Boy Scouts nor the Rainbow Council could be found to have reasonably foreseen that the plaintiff would be molested. They had no reason to believe that Goff, or anyone at the camp, was predisposed to commit sexual abuse. Goff was a pediatrician who had no criminal record and no known propensity to be a child molester. Further, there was no evidence to suggest that anyone at the camp committed abuse in the past, had any type of criminal record, or was predisposed to commit abuse.
Nevertheless, the plaintiff argues that public policy mandates that a duty be imposed on the Boy Scouts and its local councils to protect scouts from sexual assault. He points out that other boy scouts have been sexually abused in the past by adult volunteers.
According to the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, 104 adult volunteers were placed in an ineligible volunteer file in 1988 because of reported incidents of sexual abuse. Ninety-five volunteers were placed in that file in 1987. However, according to an article that was attached to the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, more than 1 million adults serve as scout volunteers each year. Therefore, dividing the number of ineligible volunteers by the total number of volunteers, it appears as if less than .011% of adult volunteers were suspected of committing abuse in 1988, and less than .0096% of adult volunteers were suspected of committing abuse in 1987.
Based upon the plaintiffs statistics, we conclude that the overwhelming majority of Boy Scout volunteers serve in that capacity in order to teach young boys the virtues of patriotism, courage and self-reliance and are not sexual predators. Because the alleged act of molestation by Goff was not foreseeable, the plaintiff has not established the "special relationship" exception to the general rule of nonliability for the criminal acts of another.
The plaintiff next contends that the appellees are subject to liability under the "voluntary undertaking" exception, which is a second exception to the general rule that one does not owe a duty to protect another from a criminal attack. Section 324A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 324A, at 142 (1965)), states:
"One who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration, to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of a third person or his things, is subject to liability to the third person for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to protect his undertaking, if
(a) his failure to exercise reasonable care increases the risk of such harm, or
(b) he has undertaken to perform a duty owed by the other to the third person, or
(c) the harm is suffered because of reliance of the other or the third person upon the undertaking."
In the instant action, the plaintiff argues that the appellees undertook to implement programs to educate the scouts and parents about abuse and to protect the scouts from abuse. They published brochures and videos on abuse and created rules aimed at preventing abuse. The plaintiff contends that these actions amounted to voluntary undertakings and thereby created the existence of a duty. Therefore, the plaintiff argues that summary judgment was inappropriate.
We do not believe that the appellees' actions amounted to a voluntary undertaking that could render them hable for the plaintiffs molestation. There is no evidence in the record that the appellees in the instant action undertook to implement a detailed program to eliminate abuse. Instead, they made available videos and publications in which they warned about the danger of abuse and explained various methods to recognize and prevent abuse. Those general measures are insufficient to create the existence of a duty as alleged in the plaintiffs complaint under the voluntary undertaking exception. See Frye v. Medicare-Glaser Corp., 153 Ill. 2d 26, 605 N.E.2d 557 (1992) (holding that the defendant pharmacy had no duty to warn of a drug's potential dangerousness when combined with alcohol even though it did warn of the drug's propensity to cause drowsiness).
The plaintiff points to Decker v. Domino's Pizza, Inc., 268 Ill. App. 3d 521, 644 N.E.2d 515 (1994), and Martin v. McDonald's Corp., 213 Ill. App. 3d 487, 572 N.E.2d 1073 (1991), as support for his argument that the appellees' actions amounted to a voluntary undertaking. However, neither of these cases is analogous to the instant case.
The plaintiffs' claims in Martin arose out of a robbery of employees that occurred at a McDonald's restaurant after closing hours. The plaintiffs claimed that McDonald's Corporation owed them a duty of care because it voluntarily assumed such a duty. In finding that McDonald's had assumed such a duty, the court relied on the fact that McDonald's created a branch of its corporation to deal with security measures, prepared a manual for security operations, checked for specific security problems through a regional security manager, and followed up to ensure that security recommendations were being followed. Martin, 213 Ill. App. 3d at 491-92, 572 N.E.2d at 1077.
Similarly, the court in Decker found that Domino's Pizza voluntarily assumed a duty to protect its employee against an attempted robbery where Domino's established a department to handle security-related matters, generated material on safety, developed a hotline for security-related matters, and established follow-up procedures. Decker, 268 Ill. App. 3d 521, 644 N.E.2d 515.
In the instant action, the appellees did not implement the detailed security procedures that were established in Martin and Decker. They did not create a separate branch of their organization to deal with security; they did not establish detailed security rules and follow-up procedures; and they did not develop a hotline to handle security matters. Thus, the extent of the undertaking in the instant action falls far short of that in Decker and Martin, and the voluntary undertaking exception fails.
Therefore, we find that the trial court correctly granted summary judgment in favor of the appellees.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of La Salle County is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
SLATER, J., concurs.