Title: Massengill v. Yuma County
Citation: 104 Ariz. 518, 456 P.2d 376
Docket Number: 9627-PR
State: Arizona
Issuer: Arizona Supreme Court
Date: July 1, 1969

104 Ariz. 518 (1969) 456 P.2d 376 Homer A. MASSENGILL and Ruby Massengill, Administrators of the Estate of George B. Platt II, deceased; Homer A. Massengill and Ruby Massengill, Administrators of the Estate of Billie M. Platt, deceased, Appellants, v. YUMA COUNTY, Travis Yancey, Sheriff of Yuma County, and Earl W. Keenum, Appellees. No. 9627-PR. Supreme Court of Arizona. In Banc. July 1, 1969. Rehearing Denied July 15, 1969. *519 Moore, Romley, Kaplan, Robbins &amp; Green, by Philip A. Robbins and Craig R. Kepner, Phoenix, for appellants. Browder, Gillenwater &amp; Daughton, by Robert W. Browder, Phoenix, for appellees. McFARLAND, Justice: County of Yuma, State of Arizona; Travis Yancey, Sheriff of Yuma County; and Earl W. Keenum, petitioners in this case hereinafter referred to as defendants petitioned for and have been granted a review from a decision of the Court of Appeals, Division One, which reversed an order and judgment of the Yuma County Superior Court granting the defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that it failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. 9 Ariz. App. 281, 451 P.2d 639. The decision of the Court of Appeals is vacated. This being a motion to dismiss we take the facts pleaded in the complaint as true, and set them forth here basically as stated in the brief on appeal. On August 9, 1964, a head-on automobile collision occurred near Parker in Yuma County, Arizona, which resulted in the tragic deaths of five persons and a sixth totally disabled for life. The appellants brought the present wrongful death and personal injury actions against a number of defendants including Yuma County, Sheriff Travis Yancey and Deputy Sheriff Earl W. Keenum. Travis Yancey was the duly-elected, qualified and acting sheriff of Yuma County, Arizona, and Earl W. Keenum was his duly-appointed, qualified and acting deputy sheriff, acting within the course and scope of his employment. During the late evening of August 8, 1964, and early morning of August 9, 1964, Earl W. Keenum was on duty in the parking lot used by patrons of the establishments known as Paradise Harbor and Sports Valley [who are also defendants in the court below but are not involved in this appeal]. Homer A. and Ruby Massengill, Administrators of the Estates of George B. Platt, II, deceased, and Billie M. Platt, deceased hereinafter referred to as plaintiffs contend that Keenum knew or *520 should have known that the foregoing establishments served alcoholic beverages, were frequented by minors, served alcoholic beverages to minors, and were located along a stretch of dangerous highway which was mountainous, winding and narrow, containing sharp curves and steep hills and was heavily traveled. Keenum was occupying his marked patrol car owned by Yuma County, which was equipped with an overhead flashing red light operated by a switch inside the car, which light when turned on, he knew or should have known from prior experience, would probably cause any driver being pursued to stop. Keenum's duty at that time included and required the apprehension and arrest of both parties to each sale of intoxicating beverages to minors and also included and required the apprehension and arrest of persons violating traffic laws and driving in an unsafe manner. John Whaley and David Wood, each using his own car, drove out of the parking lot in a reckless manner at a high rate of speed. They proceeded down the highway side by side, and while driving in this manner passed the patrol car of Keenum which was parked near the highway. Keenum drove onto the highway, and followed behind them until the time of the accident, but made no effort whatsoever to apprehend them. As alleged by plaintiffs in their complaint, the vehicles were being operated in violation of the laws of the State of Arizona in one or more or all of the following respects: The defendants argue that there was no duty owed to the plaintiffs upon which liability can be based, and that, if there was a duty, the breach of it was not the proximate cause of the injuries to the plaintiffs. The latter issue is one for the triers of the facts, but we need not discuss it here because of our disposition of this matter on the first question. There has been much discussion, by the plaintiffs, of the doctrine of sovereign immunity, and the impact thereon of our decisions in Stone v. Arizona Highway Commission, 93 Ariz. 384, 381 P.2d 107; Veach v. City of Phoenix, 102 Ariz. 195, 427 P.2d 335; and Patterson v. City of Phoenix, 103 Ariz. 64, 436 P.2d 613. But nowhere in the record can we find any attempt by the defendants to envelop themselves *521 in the cloak of immunity. Nor can they do so since this Court in the most unquestionable terms relegated that archaic doctrine to the dustheap of history. Veach v. City of Phoenix, supra, and Patterson v. City of Phoenix, supra, re-affirmed that decision. But we did not, by those decisions, change the basic elements of actionable negligence the components of which are a duty owed to the plaintiff, a breach thereof and injury proximately caused by such breach. Morris v. Ortiz, 103 Ariz. 119, 437 P.2d 652. It is the first of these elements that concerns us here. The general rule pertaining to governmental agencies and public officers is that Cooley, Torts, § 300, p. 385 (4th ed.). See also, Annala v. McLeod, 122 Mont. 498, 206 P.2d 811; Jacobson v. McMillan, 64 Idaho 351, 132 P.2d 773; Tomlinson v. Pierce, 178 Cal. App. 2d 112, 2 Cal. Rptr. 700; Libertella v. Maenza, 21 Misc.2d 317, 191 N.Y.S.2d 191, aff'd., 16 A.D.2d 831, 229 N.Y.S.2d 299; Scott v. City of New York, 2 A.D.2d 854, 155 N.Y.S.2d 787, aff'd., 9 N.Y.2d 764, 215 N.Y.S.2d 72, 174 N.E.2d 745; Leger v. Kelley, 19 Conn.Sup. 167, 110 A.2d 635, aff'd., 142 Conn. 585, 116 A.2d 429; Mechem, Public Officers §§ 598-600; 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 4(8). In Leger v. Kelley, supra, after discussing sovereign immunity of the defendant as commissioner of motor vehicles, the court resolved, in the defendant's favor, the question of his individual responsibility for alleged negligence of his duties as follows: Perhaps this rule can best be clarified by its exception. In Schuster v. City of New York, 5 N.Y.2d 75, 180 N.Y.S.2d 265, 154 N.E.2d 534, the plaintiff's intestate, Arnold Schuster, responded to widely-published notices calling upon all private citizens to report to the public authorities the whereabouts of one Willie Sutton, a nationally-sought criminal. As a result of Schuster's well-publicized assistance Sutton was apprehended, *522 and also as a result Schuster was shot to death some three weeks later after having received threats on his life. These threats had been communicated to the authorities who made light of them and refused protection which Schuster had demanded. The court said: Simply stated, there are situations where a government, or agency thereof, can by its conduct, narrow an obligation owing to the general public into a special duty to an individual, for the breach of which it is responsive in damages. In fact, this Court has applied the same exception to the general rule in Veach v. City of Phoenix, supra, upon which the plaintiffs relied heavily. We there held that the City had a duty to furnish water for fire-protection purposes to the individual plaintiff who had requested it. As stated in this decision, the defendant owned a municipal water-distribution system in the City of Phoenix, and a municipality in the operation of a water system is a public-service corporation. It therefore had the same liabilities as a public-service corporation. The duty arose because of the relationship that existed between the City and the individual members of the general public. We stated, in Veach v. City of Phoenix, supra: What the plaintiffs urge here is a doctrine that the obligations of public officers are duties owned personally to each and every individual member of the public. The extent of potential liability to which such a doctrine could lead is staggering. By our decisions in Stone, supra, Veach, supra, and Patterson, supra, we stripped the shackles of sovereign immunity from persons seeking redress for negligent injuries caused by public officers, but we did not relieve claimants of the responsibility of establishing all the elements of actionable negligence. The duty of the defendants here is patently one owed to the general public, not to the individual plaintiffs, and no facts are pleaded which would bring this case into the realm of the exceptions to the rule. The decision of the Court of Appeals is vacated, and the judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed. UDALL, C.J., LOCKWOOD, V.C.J., and STRUCKMEYER, and HAYS, JJ., concur.