Opinion ID: 1612107
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Educational Malpractice.

Text: We begin by considering the nature of Sain's claim. We have refused to recognize a cause of action in Iowa for educational malpractice. Moore v. Vanderloo, 386 N.W.2d 108, 113-15 (Iowa 1986). Consequently, the district court properly dismissed the action under Moore if Sain's theory of recovery in this case falls within the parameters of educational negligence. In Moore, we recognized three categories of educational malpractice. Id. at 113. The first category involves basic academic instruction or misrepresentation of the level of academic performance. Id. The second category deals with placing or failing to place a student in a specific educational setting. Id. The third category concerns supervision of student performance. Id. We identified five policy reasons for our refusal to make these categories actionable. These reasons include the absence of an adequate standard of care, uncertainty in determining damages, the burden placed on schools by the potential flood of litigation that would probably result, the deference given to the educational system to carry out its internal operations, and the general reluctance of courts to interfere in an area regulated by legislative standards. Id. at 114-15. The school district argues Sain's action falls within the placement and supervision categories of educational malpractice. It asserts the action involves the supervision of a student by a guidance counselor and the placement of a student in a particular class. Although there is no established definition of educational malpractice, our three recognized categories reveal the action centers on complaints about the reasonableness of the conduct engaged in by educational institutions in providing their basic functions of teaching, supervising, placing, and testing students in relationship to the level of academic performance and competency of the student. See Dan B. Dobbs, The Law of Torts § 259, at 690-91 (2000) [hereinafter Dobbs]; Timothy Davis, Examining Educational Malpractice Jurisprudence: Should a Cause of Action Be Created for Student-Athletes?, 69 Denv. U.L.Rev. 57, 61 (1992) [hereinafter Davis]. The theory alleges professional misconduct analogous to medical and legal malpractice, and seeks to impose a duty on schools to provide a level of education appropriate for the student. Davis, 69 Denv. U.L.Rev. at 61. Educational malpractice is almost universally rejected as a cause of action because the issues framed by the claim must necessarily be answered in the context of those principles of duty and reasonableness of care associated with the tort law of negligence. CenCor, Inc. v. Tolman, 868 P.2d 396, 399 (Colo.1994). As we recognized in Moore, these tort principles can be extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible, to apply to an academic setting for a variety of reasons. See Moore, 386 N.W.2d at 114-15; see also Gupta v. New Britain Gen. Hosp., 239 Conn. 574, 687 A.2d 111, 119 (1996). This, and the other policy considerations discussed in Moore, support the rejection of a duty of care within an academic environment. Although the claim in this case generally relates to the educational functions of supervision and placement, it is unrelated to most of the policy concerns identified in Moore. Unlike the categories of malpractice described in Moore, the claim of misrepresentation in this case does not challenge classroom methodology or theories of education. It is also unrelated to academic performance or the lack of expected skills. It does not intervene into the internal operations, curriculum or academic decisions of an educational institution, or any assigned function of a school under state law. Finally, it does not interfere with the legislative standards and policies of competency. Instead, the thrust of the action asserts a specific act of providing specific information requested by a student under circumstances in which the school knew or should have known the student was relying upon the information to qualify for future educational athletic opportunities. In this context, the resolution of the claim does not require courts to interfere in the daily operation of the school or challenge the policies of education. See Dobbs § 259, at 690. Furthermore, there is little fear that an appropriate standard of care cannot be articulated. See id. The claim is more compatible with other claims for misrepresentation against professionals by clients who have sought out their expertise. In this case, under the state of the facts we must accept, Sain looked to advice from Bowen, who was in a position to provide the requested advice. Thus, the same difficulties of applying negligence standards to claims of educational malpractice do not exist in this case. We must be careful not to reject all claims that arise out of a school environment under the umbrella of educational malpractice. Id. at 692. Instead, the specific facts of each case must be considered in light of the relevant policy concerns that drive the rejection of educational malpractice actions. See id. In light of those policy considerations, we conclude this case is distinguishable from Moore by its facts. Our failure to recognize claims for educational malpractice actually represents a determination that the duty of care of a school does not extend to the circumstances which we recognize fall within the categories of educational malpractice. We, of course, recognize a school has a duty of care to a student under different circumstances. Thus, schools or schoolteachers can be subject to liability for negligence in failing to exercise reasonable care in supervising students or maintaining dangerous conditions. See Anderson v. Webster City Cmty. Sch. Dist., 620 N.W.2d 263, 266 (Iowa 2000); City of Cedar Falls v. Cedar Falls Cmty. Sch. Dist., 617 N.W.2d 11, 17-18 (Iowa 2000). A school clearly owes a duty of reasonable care to a student. The question we face in this case is whether the duty to exercise reasonable care extends to either providing information to a student under the circumstances alleged in this case or submitting courses to the NCAA.