Opinion ID: 1839936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Application of the Public-Duty Doctrine

Text: With the public-duty doctrine and its special-relationship exception defined, we must now decide whether summary disposition was appropriate in the case before us. We conclude that it was. We employ a two-part analysis to reach this conclusion. First, we conclude that the public-duty doctrine shields the officer from liability for the charged conduct. Plaintiff's complaint alleges a failure to provide police protection. Therefore, unless the facts of this case fit the special-relationship exception, the public-duty doctrine instructs that the officer did not owe a duty in tort to any individual, including decedent. Second, we find that the facts in this case do not establish a special relationship between the officer and decedent. Employing the newly adopted special-relationship test, we conclude plaintiff has failed to allege at least two of the elements necessary to the establishment of a special relationship. First, plaintiff did not allege facts sufficient to suggest that there was direct contact between the police officer and decedent. There is no allegation of direct contact before the attack, and during the attack decedent only succeeded in contacting her neighbors___not the police. Second, plaintiff failed to suggest that decedent justifiably relied on any affirmative action taken by the police department. Because decedent never directly contacted the police, she had no knowledge of a promise on which she could rely. Further, any argument that she relied on the police officer because she knew that it was the officer's duty to aid victims of crime runs contrary to our rationale for adopting the public-duty doctrine itself. Such an argument is tantamount to arguing that a tort duty can be established solely on the basis of defendant's job title. Because we adopted the public-duty doctrine in part to protect government employees from liability based solely on their job title, we refuse to allow the exception to contradict the rule. Therefore, plaintiff has failed to allege facts sufficient to satisfy the special-relationship exception. Under the public-duty doctrine, the police officer did not owe a duty in tort to decedent, an individual. As a result, plaintiff has failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted. Accordingly, we would reverse the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the trial court for entry of an order granting defendant's motion for summary judgment.