Opinion ID: 6348671
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Bryce David Dion worked for Langley Productions, Inc. (Langley), as a sound technician on the filming crew for the “COPS” television program. In the summer of 2014, Dion - 526 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 was part of a two-person crew that, pursuant to an agreement between Langley and the City of Omaha (City), rode with and filmed the activities of two Omaha Police Department (OPD) officers. On August 26, 2014, while at the scene of a robbery in progress at a fast-food restaurant, Dion was hit by a bullet fired by OPD officers as they aimed and shot at the suspect after the suspect had threatened the officers by pointing what appeared to be a firearm at them. It was later determined that the handgun the suspect brandished was not, in fact, an actual firearm. 1. Agreement Under the agreement signed by the City’s mayor and the producer of COPS (Agreement), the City granted Langley access to OPD and its personnel. It allowed video and audio to be recorded during production “in all circumstances and locations” and gave the COPS crew “reasonable access to officers and situations such officers encounter.” All film activity was “subject to and under [the] control of the [OPD] officer in charge,” and Langley agreed to “comply with all instructions and restrictions as directed by [OPD].” Paragraph 5 of the Agreement provided for a duty to defend and indemnify as follows: [Langley] agrees that it shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless, the City, its officers, agents, employees and administrators from and against any and all claims for damage and liability for injury to or death of persons; and for damage to or destruction of property occurring during and arising out of the acts or omission of [Langley], its employees and/or agents with regard to [Langley’s] filming; and shall pay the reasonable cost of defending lawsuits resulting therefrom, including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys fees, court costs and any judgment awarded to a third party as the result of such suit. In accordance with the foregoing, [Langley] also agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the City from - 527 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 and against all claims related to intellectual property claims arising out of [Langley’s] filming activities. Another portion of paragraph 5 stated that the City shall be named an additional insured on Langley’s comprehensive general liability insurance policy. 2. Complaint for Wrongful Death Dion’s estate (Estate) filed a wrongful death action against the City, alleging that OPD owed Dion a special duty of care and protection and that its police officers negligently shot Dion while acting within the scope of their employment. The Estate alleged, summarized, that OPD did not provide adequate protection of the filming crew through various alleged deficiencies of general training and instruction of OPD personnel and the crew. It also alleged that on August 26, 2014, OPD failed to adequately monitor and communicate to other officers the filming crew’s whereabouts, give the filming crew adequate instructions for its safety, or carry out OPD duties in a manner that accounted for the presence of the filming crew at the scene. Finally, the Estate alleged that the OPD officers at the scene failed to identify the proper target before discharging their firearms, used excessive force, and acted unreasonably in light of the presence of innocent bystanders. Prior to filing its action, the Estate had timely filed a notice of its claim in accordance with the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act (PSTCA). The claim was not acted upon by the City and was withdrawn more than 6 months after it was filed. The City filed an answer affirmatively alleging sovereign immunity as a defense, on the grounds that the Estate’s claim arose out of an intentional tort of battery. Alternatively, the City alleged that the use of force was objectively reasonable and privileged. Further, the City alleged that Dion assumed the risk associated with filming law enforcement personnel while on duty and that Dion voluntarily and without notifying the officers had placed himself within an active armedrobbery situation. - 528 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 3. Third-Party Complaint Against Langley The City filed a third-party complaint against Langley for breach of contract. It also brought a claim against Langley for promissory estoppel, which is not at issue in this appeal. The City had sent a letter to Langley requesting that it forward the wrongful death complaint to its insurance carrier for defense against the Estate’s claims. Langley’s insurance carrier thereafter notified the City it was denying the City’s request for defense and indemnification under the commercial general liability policy issued to Langley. The City alleged in its third-party complaint that Langley was contractually required to indemnify the City against any claim for damages and liability for injury to or death of persons, defend the City against any claim for injury to or death of persons, name the City as an additional insured in Langley’s general liability insurance policy, and abide by a duty of fair dealing. 4. Motions For Summary Judgment The City moved for summary judgment against the Estate on the grounds that it was immune from the wrongful death suit, which arose out of a battery, as set forth in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-910(7) (Reissue 2012), which provides in relevant part that the PSTCA shall not apply to “[a]ny claim arising out of assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, misrepresentation, deceit, or interference with contract rights.” Langley moved for summary judgment against the City on the third-party claims against it. The City filed a cross-motion for summary judgment against Langley. (a) Wrongful Death The district court denied summary judgment in favor of the City on the Estate’s wrongful death action. At the hearing on the motion, the City had argued that the historical facts were undisputed and that a battery occurred by virtue of the officers’ intentional act of firing at the - 529 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 suspect. The City relied on a standard from the Restatement (Second) of Torts, 1 quoted in Britton v. City of Crawford, 2 that an actor is subject to liability to another for battery if (1) he or she acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and (2) a harmful contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results. The City argued that it was undisputed that the City intended to cause harmful contact to the suspect, a third person, which indirectly caused harmful contact to Dion. The Estate argued, among other things, that the actions of the officers lawfully using their firearms in the course of duty would not constitute an intentional tort. It was also discussed that the officers were exonerated by a grand jury of any criminal activity in connection with placing the filming crew in harm’s way. In denying summary judgment against the Estate, the court reasoned that our opinion in Phillips v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. 3 stands for the proposition that actions for injuries to bystanders by law enforcement in the course of pursuing a suspect are not immune under § 13-910(7). And the court found there was a genuine issue as to whether OPD acted reasonably in relation to the events leading to Dion’s death. (b) Breach of Contract The court granted Langley’s motion for summary judgment as to the City’s claim against Langley for breach of contract, which was based on paragraph 5 of the Agreement. The court reasoned that the contract did not affirmatively and unambiguously protect the City from its own negligence and that the duty to be named an additional insured was immaterial because Langley’s policy included only operations performed by Langley or on Langley’s behalf and excluded 1 Restatement (Second) of Torts § 13 (1965). 2 Britton v. City of Crawford, 282 Neb. 374, 803 N.W.2d 508 (2011). 3 Phillips v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 293 Neb. 123, 876 N.W.2d 361 (2016). - 530 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 bodily injury arising out of operations performed for the state or municipality. (c) Promissory Estoppel The court denied Langley’s motion for summary judgment on the City’s claim for promissory estoppel. It generally denied the City’s cross-motion for summary judgment against Langley. 5. Wrongful Death Verdict The court bifurcated for separate bench trials the Estate’s wrongful death action against the City and the City’s thirdparty action against Langley for promissory estoppel. The trials were held before a different judge than the judge who presided over the summary judgment hearing. The court ultimately issued a verdict in favor of the City on the Estate’s wrongful death claim, first, on the grounds of sovereign immunity and, alternatively, on the failure to prove negligence. (a) Findings of Fact In its order following the trial on the Estate’s wrongful death claim, the court summarized the relevant evidence and made findings of historical facts. The court found that the only explicit restriction OPD and the City placed upon the filming crew was that it was not to exit the patrol car during large crowd disturbances involving more than 10 people. Otherwise, OPD and the City generally expected that the crew would follow and observe the officers’ orders. On the day in question, Dion and Mike Lee, the cameraman for the two-person filming crew, were riding with OPD officers Brooks Riley and Jason Wilhelm. The court found that Dion had ridden with Riley and Wilhelm several times previously over the course of the preceding 8 weeks and had developed a cooperative and professional relationship with them. The officers were aware that the filming crew always exited the patrol car and followed them everywhere they - 531 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 went while on duty. Dion had advised the officers they should act like the crew was not there, although the officers testified the crew would take direction from officers and follow officers’ commands or directives. On the night in question, OPD detective Darren Cunningham radioed that a robbery suspect had entered a fast-food restaurant. Cunningham waited for responding officers to arrive in order to set up a perimeter around the restaurant. Riley and Wilhelm, who were only a few blocks away, proceeded directly to the scene. When Riley and Wilhelm arrived, they exited their patrol car. A civilian in the parking lot yelled to Wilhelm and Riley, “Help, help, they need help inside.” Riley and Wilhelm did not give any instructions to Dion and Lee. As Riley and Wilhelm approached Cunningham, they did not identify Dion and Lee to Cunningham, who assumed they were law enforcement, because they were wearing dark clothing and were with Riley and Wilhelm. Cunningham did not observe the video camera, boom microphone, and audio equipment carried by Dion and Lee. Dion and Lee did not wear any clothing identifying themselves as media. Cunningham and Riley entered the restaurant on the east side of the building through the south vestibule door, followed by Lee. Wilhelm circled around the building to enter through the western entrance. There was a customer at the service counter and an employee standing behind the service counter handing money from the cash register to the suspect, who was behind the counter. Riley testified he saw neither the customer nor the employee. Cunningham and Wilhelm saw the employee. When Cunningham and Riley entered the area behind the counter and confronted the suspect, the suspect drew what appeared to be a black handgun, pointed it at Cunningham and Riley, and pulled the trigger. Although the suspect’s weapon was later determined to be a pellet gun, the court found that the officers reasonably believed it was a real firearm. - 532 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 Cunningham discharged his firearm once and retreated into the hallway in order to avoid endangering the employee, who was in his line of fire. The suspect also exited into the hallway, where he again pointed his firearm at Cunningham. Cunningham attempted to discharge his firearm at the suspect, but it briefly malfunctioned. The suspect fled toward the east vestibule doors, pointing his firearm at Riley, who, in turn, discharged his firearm at the suspect. Wilhelm, seeing the suspect attempting what he believed to be deadly force against Cunningham and Riley, also discharged his firearm at the suspect. The three officers discharged their firearms at the suspect as he exited the restaurant through the east vestibule doors and ran through the parking lot. The suspect was no longer firing what was believed to be a deadly weapon at that time, but the officers believed the suspect continued to pose a threat to their lives and the lives of others, including other officers who could be responding to assist and the members of the public at large. The court noted that all three officers testified that they were aiming and shooting directly at the suspect while he fled. The officers testified that they did not accidentally pull the trigger of their guns or drop their firearms, but instead intended to use deadly force against the suspect. The court found that the officers’ shots were fired in a directed manner and not in a haphazard manner. The court found that none of the officers saw Dion at any point after entering the scene and that they were not aware of where Dion might be. The three officers were not even aware Dion had entered the restaurant until after they had all ceased discharging their weapons. All three officers testified that had they seen Dion within their line of fire, they would not have discharged their firearms and would instead have changed their position so as to obtain a clear line of fire toward the suspect. The court specifically found the officers’ testimony to be credible and supported by the evidence. - 533 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 The court found that although the suspect was initially in the vicinity of an employee and a customer, he moved away from both in his attempt to escape. The court found that although there were civilians present in the northeast corner of the restaurant’s parking lot, civilians were not congregating around the east entrance when the suspect fled, and there was no evidence the suspect was near any civilians outside. The officers discharged their weapons a combined total of 36 times. The majority of the bullets, 24, were fired as the suspect exited through the east vestibule. It could not be determined which officer fired the single bullet that killed Dion. Dion was later found slumped on the floor in the middle of the east vestibule. However, the court found there was no evidence as to Dion’s precise location or body positioning when he sustained the bullet wound. Nor, found the court, did the evidence rule out the possibility that Dion was struck by a bullet that had ricocheted or initially struck the suspect. (b) Sovereign Immunity The court concluded, as a threshold matter, that the Estate’s action was barred by sovereign immunity. The court did not agree with the prior judge’s reading of Phillips as it pertained to § 13-910(7). 4 The court concluded that the elements of battery had been met because the officers intended to cause harmful contact with the suspect, which resulted in harmful contact with Dion. The court relied on the definition of battery from Britton as an infliction of unconsented contact with another, 5 as well as case law from other jurisdictions holding that under a theory of transferred intent, an actor may still be found liable for battery when the harmful contact occurs to a third person 4 See Phillips v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., supra note 3. 5 Britton v. City of Crawford, supra note 2. - 534 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 who was not the intended target of the contact. 6 The court also relied upon the Restatement (Second) of Torts’ statement that an actor is liable for battery if the actor intended to cause harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person, or imminent apprehension of such contact, and a harmful contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results. 7 In this analysis, the court did not consider whether the officers could have committed a battery if their acts of shooting at the suspect were privileged. The court reasoned that to fall under § 13-910(7), the underlying action need not be an action “for” one of the listed intentional torts, but need only be any claim “arising out of” one of those intentional torts. Even if the complaint alleged acts of negligence, concluded the court, the wrongful death action was inextricably linked to a battery and thus was barred by sovereign immunity. (c) Negligence Alternatively, the court concluded that the Estate had failed to prove negligence. The court found no special relationship between Dion and the City creating a heightened duty of care. Rather, it found that OPD owed Dion an ordinary duty of reasonable care under the circumstances. The court reasoned that Dion was neither a party nor a third-party beneficiary to the Agreement and that case law did not generally support a special duty to protect a bystander from the intentional conduct of an employee of the defendant. The court utilized negligence propositions from Phillips describing the balancing of the duty of law enforcement to apprehend violators against the duty of care to the general 6 See, Hensley on behalf of North Carolina v. Price, 876 F.3d 573 (4th Cir. 2017); Hensley v. Suttles, 167 F. Supp. 3d 753 (W.D.N.C. 2016); Alteiri v. Colasso, 168 Conn. 329, 362 A.2d 798 (1975). 7 See Restatement, supra note 1. - 535 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 public, as well as the privilege to use reasonable force in effecting a lawful arrest, which extends to harm caused to innocent bystanders unless the officers’ actions were unreasonable under the circumstances. 8 The court found under these propositions that the officers acted reasonably. Therefore, the officers did not breach the applicable duty of care. The court rejected the Estate’s argument that the officers should have refrained from engaging the suspect until they affirmatively ascertained Dion’s whereabouts. The court stated: It is unreasonable to expect an officer, when faced with a suspect who is within close proximity to the officer and pulling the trigger on what appears to be a real firearm, to simply stand there or try to take cover merely because a third-person, who the officer does not observe, but who could possibly be somewhere in the vicinity, may be present. The court also rejected the Estate’s contention that the suspect had fled through a “crowded thoroughfare,” given the lack of evidence that civilians were in the parts of the parking lot affected by the line of fire. In any event, the court weighed the surrounding circumstances for determining whether the act of shooting into a crowded thoroughfare is privileged, including the nature of the crime, the harm that may ensue if the officer does not act, and the officer’s skill in the use of the weapon. The court found these factors weighed heavily in favor of the City. The suspect was engaging in violence, including what the officers reasonably believed to be attempted homicide; it was reasonable to conclude that such a suspect might also shoot at other responding officers or innocent civilians; and all three officers specifically aimed at the suspect and not merely in his general vicinity. The court also found that the Estate had failed to prove proximate causation. The court explained that there was no 8 See Phillips v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., supra note 3. - 536 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 311 Nebraska Reports DION v. CITY OF OMAHA Cite as 311 Neb. 522 evidence for it to come to a conclusion, absent speculation or conjecture, that Dion’s death was caused by any failure of the City or OPD to advise him to remain outside the restaurant or to wear any clothing that identified him as media. 6. Verdict on Promissory Estoppel The court found that in light of its verdict against the Estate on its wrongful death action, there was no actual case or controversy with respect to a claim under promissory estoppel for indemnification. As for the duty to defend, the court found that promissory estoppel, which was based on oral statements made before the written contract, was not a viable theory of recovery because the written contract covered the same subject matter. The court alternatively found that the alleged statements on Langley’s behalf were too vague and indefinite to support a claim for promissory estoppel. Finally, the court found that it was not reasonable for the City to rely upon statements made on Langley’s behalf during negotiations of a contract.