Opinion ID: 1995711
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Discretionary Function Immunity Under Iowa Code Section 670.4(3)

Text: We are called upon to determine whether the actions of the city in removing the barricade to allow frontage road access was a decision entitled to immunity. Our review of this issue is for correction of errors at law. Pinkerton v. Jeld-Wen, Inc., 588 N.W.2d 679, 680 (Iowa 1998). We recently addressed the discretionary function immunity in Doe v. Cedar Rapids Community School District, 652 N.W.2d 439 (Iowa 2002). We articulated the appropriate test for determining whether a governmental action is immune from liability. First, we determine whether the challenged conduct was a matter of choice for the acting government employee. Id. at 443 (citing Goodman v. City of LeClaire, 587 N.W.2d 232, 237-38 (Iowa 1998)). Then, if we conclude the challenged conduct was the product of judgment, we must determine whether the judgment is of the kind the legislature intended to shield from liability when it enacted Iowa Code section 670.4(3). In applying this two-step test, the district court found the discretionary function immunity does not apply because Pottebaum's decision to remove the barricades was not the product of choice. We now turn to the first prong of this test. The first factor to examine is whether an element of judgment or discretion was involved in the city's decision to remove the barricade. Though Messerschmidts contend there was no choice involved, we disagree. Just as we recently found choice existed at the heart of a school district's decision to hire, retain, and supervise a particular teacher, here we find the city exercised choice in its decision to take the barricade down. Doe, 652 N.W.2d at 444. Messerschmidts argue the city is liable because, when it removed the barricade, it failed to comply with a previously adopted policy. There is no evidence to suggest the city had a policy stating the barricade was to be removed only when all people were gone from the premises. At best, there was evidence of a consensus of the Big Parade workers that the barricades would stay in place until all of the festival activities had ended. In years past, the barricades were not removed until the very end of the event when no people were left. Evidence of this custom and usage alone does not constitute a policy on the issue. When the parade worker decided it was time to take the barricade down, he exercised choice based on judgment. The first prong of the test is satisfied. We now must determine whether the particular challenged choice is of the type the legislature intended to insulate from liability. If the city's action involved a high degree of discretion and judgment... in weighing alternatives and making choices with respect to public policy and planning, the city should be immune from liability. Id. (citing Hacking v. Town of Belmont, 143 N.H. 546, 736 A.2d 1229, 1232 (1999)). We consider whether the challenged action involved policy-making decisions and significant judgment or merely the performance of routine duties. The city has not met its burden to prove considerations based on social, economic, or political policy were involved in its decision to take the barricade down. We do not question or test the wisdom of the city's action, but rather the nature of the decision itself and the process used to reach it. See State v. Livengood by Livengood, 688 N.E.2d 189, 196 (Ind.Ct.App. 1997). Only those decisions based on political, social, or economic policy considerations which cannot be assessed by customary tort standards are immune. Doe, 652 N.W.2d at 443. The city's action in removing this particular barricade did not involve legislative or administrative decisions. The decision to block a particular road was made in the interests of the safety of the people at the Big Parade. This is not comparable to a government decision to open a new road or highway. When a city decides whether to build a road, open a new street, or install highway guardrails, it may consider various social, economic, and political policies. For instance, the city may weigh competing needs of pedestrian safety, engineering concerns, commerce, traffic flow, and limited financial resources. See, e.g., Guerrero v. Alaska Hous. Fin. Corp., 6 P.3d 250, 261 (Alaska 2000) (decision whether to install highway guardrails is immune); Dep't of Transp. v. Brown, 267 Ga. 6, 471 S.E.2d 849, 851 (1996) (decision whether to build a road is immune, whereas decision to open an intersection and whether to open it without traffic lights is not immune); Metier v. Cooper Transp. Co., 378 N.W.2d 907, 910 (Iowa 1985) (decision to keep highway open during construction was immune, but once decision was made, negligence in carrying out the decision was not protected from liability); Butler v. State, 336 N.W.2d 416, 419-20 (Iowa 1983) (decisions as to when and where to construct a new freeway are immune); Baker v. Seal, 694 S.W.2d 948, 950 (Tenn.Ct.App.1984) (decision whether to construct a road is immune from liability). Similarly, the city's removal of this particular barricade is not analogous to a city's decision to adopt highway safety standards that involved a deliberate assessment of the state's priorities. See Livengood by Livengood, 688 N.E.2d at 196 (adoption of highway safety standards implicates the type of policy-oriented deliberation process discretionary function immunity is designed to protect). The city does not assert any such policies were at the heart of its decision to take the barricade down. There is no evidence that anyone of authority weighed any social, economic, or political policies before lifting the barricade. The record indicates Pottebaum's decision was nothing more than an ad hoc decision, tailored only for the particular facts as presented the night of the Big Parade. Matters such as when to lift a temporary road barricade do not require evaluation of policies but instead involved implementation of everyday decisions routinely made by the city. The city undertook to provide safe conditions for the festival-goers. In doing so, the city had a duty to use due care in providing safety and crowd control. Resolution of questions such as whether or not the city properly removed the barricade when there were still over 1,500 people in the area relates to its duty of care to the Big Parade visitors. Such an a matter presents issues of fact that courts are equipped to evaluate under traditional principles of negligence. Because the city has not articulated any economic, political, or social policy concerns central to its actions, it has not met its burden to show the discretionary function immunity applies. We find the district court correctly found the city is not immune from liability for its actions in this case. We affirm.