Opinion ID: 2308726
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negligence Based on Alleged Statutory Violations.

Text: Aubrey also contends that the District failed to carry out its duties to him pursuant to two statutes which govern the rights of homeless families with children, that these statutory violations proximately caused his injuries, and that the complaint therefore states a claim under these statutes upon which relief may be granted. We conclude, as a matter of law, that there is no sufficient nexus between any noncompliance by the District with these enactments and the injury of which Aubrey complains. The first of the statutes on which Aubrey relies is the Crawford Act, D.C.Code § 3-206.3(g) (1988). That Act provides in pertinent part that the Mayor shall not place a homeless family with minor children in a hotel or motel for more than fifteen days in the absence of unforeseen circumstances which leave no acceptable alternative. The Council of the District of Columbia has more recently declared that this legislation was never intended to create any legal entitlement to overnight shelter or support services. See D.C.Code § 3-206.9(a) (1991); Fountain v. Kelly, 630 A.2d 684, 686-87 (D.C.1993). Even if the Crawford Act had created enforceable rights, rather than aspirational goals, it would be of little help to Aubrey. By its terms, the Act was designed to provide homeless families with suitable units containing cooking and other facilities, instead of with hotel rooms. Id. at 686. Its purpose was wholly unrelated to ensuring pedestrian safety. Indeed, the District would have fully complied with the Act if it had housed Ms. Ricks and her sons in an apartment-type unit on the grounds of the Budget Inn, and such an assignment would not have affected, in any way, the probability of a traffic accident. Nothing in the statute suggests that the District must provide housing for homeless families in remote locations away from busy streets. Counsel for Aubrey also argue that the District breached duties created by the McKinney Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11432(e), which requires the District, as a recipient of federal financial assistance, to consider whether it would be in the best interests of a child who has become homeless to assign that child to a new school. 42 U.S.C. § 11432(e)(3)(A). States which receive federal funds pursuant to the Act are also required to provide school transportation services to homeless children equal to those provided other students. 42 U.S.C. § 11432(e)(5). It is discernable from the face of the statute that Congress enacted these provisions in order to ensure that homeless children, like other children, can attend the most convenient and appropriate schools. The McKinney Act was not intended to promote pedestrian safety, or to ensure that children do not have to cross the street on their way to and from school. Indeed, students are as likely to have to cross a street near their home in order to attend a neighborhood school as they are when they ride public transportation or a school bus to a school outside the neighborhood. Similarly, even if a school but is provided, they may well have to cross a street in order to catch that bus. Moreover, many District children use public transportation when they travel to and from school by bus or subway. See D.C.Code §§ 44-217 to 44-219 (1990) (providing for subsidized fares for students). Users of public transportation, whether subsidized or not, often must cross the street in order to reach the right bus stop or to complete the journey after their bus ride is over. Assuming, without deciding, that the District violated the Crawford Act, the McKinney Act, or both, we conclude as a matter of law that any breach of statutes so unrelated to pedestrian safety could not be the proximate cause of injuries incurred by Aubrey in a traffic accident. The lack of a legal link between the District's negligence and these alleged injuries renders them uncompensable. Cooper, supra, 483 A.2d at 322. The accident was not a foreseeable consequence of a breach of statutory duty, because the statutes invoked on Aubrey's behalf were not designed to promote pedestrian safety, and because they lacked any rational connection with that worthy but unrelated goal.