Opinion ID: 1738770
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Did the City of Jackson or Doris Spiller fail to exercise due care?

Text: ¶ 19. Stewart contends that even if the City of Jackson and Spiller can survive the public policy function test as adopted by this Court in Jones, at the very least, a factual dispute exists as to whether the City of Jackson and Spiller used due care in the exercise of their discretion or if they failed to take reasonable steps to minimize the risk of personal injury, as required by the this Court in Givens. ¶ 20. As this Court has stated, even if the act or omission is deemed discretionary, [w]here the state actor fails to use ordinary care there is no shield of immunity. Givens, 754 So.2d at 1227. The issue of ordinary care is a fact question. L.W., 754 So.2d at 1142. The question of whether ordinary care was, in fact, exercised is for the trial court, sitting without a jury, to decide. Lang, 764 So.2d at 1240. We recently clarified this duty of ordinary care referred to in L.W. where we said: This Court held that public schools have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for students; therefore ordinary care and reasonable steps must be taken to minimize risk to students. In other words, ordinary care must have been used before a school can use the statutory shield of immunity. The issue of ordinary care is a fact question that should be decided in the trial court ... We do not find that the duty turns upon the issue of whether the function was discretionary or ministerial. Instead, L.W. stands for the proposition that the school district has a duty of ordinary care with respect to providing a safe environment for its patrons. Pearl Pub. Sch. Dist. v. Groner, 784 So.2d 911, 915 (Miss.2001) (citations omitted). In Groner, this Court remanded the case to the trial court for a factual determination on ordinary care because the trial judge made no reference to ordinary care in his findings of fact and conclusions of law. Id. at 916. ¶ 21. We agree with Stewart, that even if the City of Jackson and Spiller had passed the public policy function test, the fact that the trial court did not address the issue of ordinary care would be in itself grounds for reversal. ¶ 22. We hold that Stewart's first assignment of error is well taken.