Opinion ID: 1911139
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Negligent Failure to Protect

Text: In Jahnke v. City of Des Moines, 191 N.W.2d 780, 788 (Iowa 1971), we affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against the city that claimed liability based on a theory that the city negligently failed to protect the plaintiff from the riotous conduct of an unlawful assemblage of citizens. We held the plaintiff had failed to state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted. Id. at 788. Our court of appeals considered and rejected a claim against a professional referee based on a theory that the officiating was below the accepted standard of competence. Bain v. Gillispie, 357 N.W.2d 47, 49-50 (Iowa Ct.App.1984). The court found that an independent tort of referee malpractice was not recognized and did not exist. Id. at 49. In Wagner v. Smith, 340 N.W.2d 255, 256 (Iowa 1983), we discussed the liability of a parent for injuries sustained by a child caused by the parent in negligently supervising the child. The lawsuit was framed as one of ordinary negligence. Id. at 256. In answer to certified question number seven, Iowa does not recognize a distinct cause of action denominated failure to protect separate and apart from a negligence cause of action. However, allegations of parental failures to protect their children from sexual abuse may be asserted based on ordinary tort principles. See Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535, 45 S.Ct. 571, 573, 69 L.Ed. 1070, 1078 (1925); Turner v. Turner, 304 N.W.2d 786, 789 (Iowa 1981); Stubbs v. Hammond, 257 Iowa 1071, 1075, 135 N.W.2d 540, 543 (1965).