Opinion ID: 1983925
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Private Analog

Text: Nevertheless, SRS argues, and the superior court agreed, that the Department cannot be held liable for its failure to perform a uniquely governmental function. Citing our acknowledgement in LaShay that only the government can remove children from their homes, 160 Vt. at 69, 625 A.2d at 229, SRS contends that there can be no private analog for this type of action. [3] The Department and the superior court construe plaintiffs' complaint too narrowly. As noted, plaintiffs alleged that SRS failed to take any steps to remove [them] from the home of Laplant, or to have Laplant removed from the home, and/or to formulate any plan to ensure [their] safety. (Emphasis supplied.) SRS is correct that § 4915 does not require the Department in all instances to remove abused or neglected children from their home, but it does require the Department to thoroughly investigate charges of abuse and to cause assistance to be provided pursuant to a written plan of treatment when an investigation produces evidence of abuse or neglect. Although it is true that, in all but exceptional circumstances, separation of the children from the perpetrator will be necessary in cases of sexual abuse, it is conceivable that intervention short of removal could have prevented further harm to plaintiffs. In any event, plaintiffs' actual complaint is that SRS failed to provide any assistance whatsoever, despite its statutory duty to do so. Thus, a broader question is more appropriate: Does a private analog exist for an action based on SRS's failure to perform its statutory duty to assist children seeking protection from reported and substantiated abuse? We conclude that a private analog does exist under the facts and circumstances of this case. Before proceeding with our analysis, we emphasize that we need not determine that plaintiffs would prevail in their suit if SRS were a private entity. See Peters v. State, 161 Vt. 582, 583, 636 A.2d 340, 341 (1993) (same circumstances language of Tort Claims Act does not require showing that private person would have been liable under precisely same situation as state); Leone v. United States, 690 F.Supp. 1182, 1189 (E.D.N.Y.1988) (Second Circuit has not required exactly the same private sector activity as a predicate for finding liability); cf. Yamuni, 529 So.2d at 260 (rejecting notion that private analog language of tort claims act exempts all governmental activities, including social workers' handling of child abuse complaints, from waiver of sovereign immunity; so construed, language would emasculate waiver and defeat its salutary purpose). Rather, we need find only that the cause of action is comparable to actions recognized against private persons. LaShay, 160 Vt. at 68-69, 625 A.2d at 229 (citing analogous situations in addition to direct analog). The purpose of the private-analog provision is not to bar, without exception, suits claiming injuries based on the breach of duties performed by government employees performing government services, but rather to place constraints on how creative courts can be in finding duties where none had previously existed. Denis, 159 Vt. at 486, 622 A.2d at 498 (effect of private-analog language is to prevent government from being visited with novel and unprecedented liabilities); see Indian Towing Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 61, 64, 76 S.Ct. 122, 124, 100 L.Ed. 48 (1955) (rejecting interpretation of private-analog language that would automatically preclude liability for performance of acts that could not be performed by private parties). We recognize that there is no apparent direct analog in this case, as there was in LaShay. But see Yamuni, 529 So.2d at 261 n. 2 ([I]t is by no means clear that private persons do not, or could not, perform services such as accepting and investigating reports of child abuse and initiating such court action as necessary to protect the child from further abuse.). There are, however, analogous situations under common-law tort principles. Indeed, under facts similar to this case, the United States Supreme Court recognized as much while refusing to find a constitutional duty enforceable under the Fourteenth Amendment. DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dep't of Social Servs., 489 U.S. 189, 201-02, 109 S.Ct. 998, 1006-07, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989). According to the Court, by voluntarily undertaking to protect an abused child from a danger it played no part in creating, the social services agency may well have acquired a duty under state tort law to provide him with adequate protection against that danger. Id.; see Brodie, 554 N.E.2d at 1305 (declining to give social services agency absolute immunity under similar facts, noting that DeShaney and other cases were inapposite because causes of action in those cases were not based on negligence). The DeShaney Court cited Restatement (Second) of Torts § 323 (1965), which states that a person who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration, to render to another services that the person should recognize as necessary to protect the other, is subject to liability for physical harm resulting from negligent performance of the undertaking if (1) the negligence increases the risk of harm, or (2) the harm results from the other's reliance upon the undertaking. See Smyth v. Twin State Improvement Corp., 116 Vt. 569, 570-71, 80 A.2d 664, 665 (1951) (citing § 323 for principle that law imposes obligation upon everyone who attempts to do anything for another, even gratuitously, to exercise some degree of care and skill, and that action lies for nonperformance of duty). This section applies whether the harm results from the defendant's negligent performance of the undertaking, or from the defendant's failure to exercise reasonable care to complete the undertaking or to protect the other person when the undertaking is discontinued. Restatement § 323, cmt. a. Further, the undertaking may not be discontinued when the danger of harm to the other person increased as a result of the undertaking, or because the other person, in reliance upon the undertaking, was induced to forego other opportunities of obtaining assistance. Id. § 323 cmt. c. A sticking point in this rule is determining what conduct amounts to an undertaking. While taking no position on whether a gratuitous promise suffices, the Restatement notes that courts generally require very little action on the part of defendants to find an undertaking. Id. § 323 caveat and comment d; W. Keeton, supra, § 56, at 379) (very little extra beyond mere gratuitous promise is required for assumption of duty); cf. O'Brien v. Island Corp., 157 Vt. 135, 137, 596 A.2d 1295, 1296 (1991) (defendant did not undertake to assume plaintiff's duty, as required by § 324A of Restatement (Second) of Torts, because it did not contract or promise to inspect the premises). The present case is analogous to circumstances that would create liability under § 323. SRS met with at least one of the plaintiffs and was aware, based on repeated credible reports, that Laplant was sexually abusing both girls. Following her meeting with Toni Patterson, an SRS employee promised that something would be done within days. Plaintiffs allege that they relied on these assurances, which may have prevented them from seeking help from other sources. Certainly, it may be inferred that sexually abused teenagers would be disheartened from renewing efforts to seek help when their efforts to that point had been ignored by the agency responsible for preventing the harm they suffered. Nor is there any doubt that the continued abuse following SRS's failure to act posed an increased risk of harm by sending the message to the perpetrator that he could act with impunity. Cf. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 324 cmt. c (further injury or increase in injury may be aggravation of original harm). Even if SRS did not undertake to help plaintiffs, 12 V.S.A. § 519 provides a private analog for the present action. Under § 519(a): A person who knows that another is exposed to grave physical harm shall, to the extent that the same can be rendered without danger or peril to himself or without interference with important duties owed to others, give reasonable assistance to the exposed person unless that assistance or care is being provided by others. Persons providing reasonable assistance under this statute are liable for damages in a civil suit if their acts are grossly negligent or they expect to receive remuneration for their services. Id. § 519(b). Here, SRS workers had a statutory duty within the scope of their employment to provide assistance in response to plaintiffs' credible reports of abuse; therefore, a cause of action based on their inaction is analogous to liability for civil damages under § 519. [4] This case may also be analogized to circumstances that would create liability under § 324, a variant of § 323. Section 324 imposes a duty of care upon those who take charge of helpless persons, even when they are not required to do so. See W. Keeton, supra, § 56, at 373-74 (trend in past century toward allowing liability for nonfeasance is most pronounced in situations where plaintiff is particularly vulnerable and dependent on defendant). Here, of course, SRS had a duty to protect plaintiffs, but failed to do so; as a result, plaintiffs suffered further injury. Given its statutory duty, SRS could hardly claim exemption from liability because it did not take charge of plaintiffs or because its failure to act left plaintiffs in no worse position than they would have been had plaintiffs never sought its help. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 324, caveat (Restatement expresses no opinion on whether person may be liable for harm resulting from discontinuance of aid to helpless person when helpless person was left in no worse position than he or she would have been had no aid been rendered). Section 315(b) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts presents another analogous situation. It states that there is no duty to control the conduct of a third person so as to prevent that person from causing harm to another unless . . . a special relation exists between the actor and the other which gives rise to the other a right to protection. Restatement § 315(b); see Peck v. Counseling Serv. of Addison County, Inc., 146 Vt. 61, 65, 499 A.2d 422, 425 (1985) (applying § 315 in finding that mental health professional has duty, under certain circumstances, to exercise reasonable care to protect third parties from patient) (opinion of Hill, J.). While in most cases the special relationship requires that the actor have custody of the other, as in a prison or school setting, see Restatement § 314A(4) (special relation created when person is required by law to take custody of another under circumstances that deprive other of normal opportunities for protection), courts have not always required a custodial relationship under facts similar to this case. See Estate of Bailey by Oare v. County of York, 768 F.2d 503, 509 (3d Cir.1985) (citing Jensen v. Conrad, 747 F.2d 185, 194 (4th Cir.1984), for proposition that abused child's right to protection can exist absent custodial relationship between child and agency required to protect child) [5] ; Turner, 532 A.2d at 667, 673 (report of child abuse created special relationship between specifically identified child and agency statutorily required to protect abused children). The relationship established between a specifically identified abused child and the agency that is required by statute to protect abused children is a very special one. Yamuni, 529 So.2d at 261 (in jurisdiction with tort claims act containing privateanalog provision, court found special relationship that created agency's duty to protect abused children). When a special relationship such as this is created, social policy considerations warrant the imposition of liability on the party charged with the duty to protect those who depend on that protection, not only to provide compensation to the abused children but to encourage the protective agency to perform its duty diligently in the future. [6]