Opinion ID: 2746083
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Passive Fraudulent Concealment

Text: Passive fraudulent concealment requires (1) a relationship between the parties such that the defendant has a duty to disclose the alleged wrongful act to the plaintiff and (2) a breach of that duty. Guy v. Schuldt, 236 Ind. 101, 109, 138 N.E.2d 891, 895 (1956). The existence of a legal duty “is a question of law for the court.” Benton v. City of Oakland City, 721 N.E.2d 224, 232 (Ind. 1999). The Lyonses allege the defendants’ duty to them arises from three sources: the common-law doctrine of in loco parentis, the Federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act, and a general public policy favoring disclosure of student information to parents. As to the first of these, the Lyonses cite no statute or case law, and we find none, recognizing the doctrine of in loco parentis in Indiana (or indeed anywhere else) to confer a duty upon a school to disclose information to a student’s parents. Similarly, the Lyonses cite no statute or case law, and we find none, deriving such a duty from FERPA. Finally, although we are sympathetic to the Lyonses’ public policy arguments, we must decline their invitation to establish a completely new legal duty here. But we encourage our General Assembly, charged with making policy for our state, to consider this issue carefully. It may be that, in this age of near-universal and compulsory education, when our schools provide myriad counselling, physical therapy, 9 recreation, and special needs assistance for our children, they should be required to disclose vital information about a student to the persons most intimately concerned—the student’s parents. The Lyonses’ State Law Claims Are Not Ripe For Summary Judgment. The Lyonses also argue the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the defendants on their state law claims for negligence and wrongful death. In their motion for summary judgment, the defendants did not attack those claims directly; rather, they asserted that even if the Lyonses could prove their claims, they still could not recover because they were contributorily negligent as a matter of law by failing to inform the School of Megan’s special dining needs. We note that “summary judgment is generally inappropriate in negligence cases because issues of contributory negligence, causation, and reasonable care are more appropriately left for the trier of fact.” Estate of Mintz v. Conn. Gen. Life Ins. Co., 905 N.E.2d 994, 999 (Ind. 2009) (emphasis added) (quoting Coffman v. PSI Energy, Inc., 815 N.E.2d 522, 527 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004)). And we agree that the defendants have not shown the Lyonses’ alleged negligence was so “clear and palpable that no verdict could make it otherwise,” Lyons, 990 N.E.2d at 484 (quoting N. Ind. Pub. Serv. Co. v. E. Chi. Sanitary Dist., 590 N.E.2d 1067, 1075 (Ind. Ct. App. 1992)), and therefore are not entitled to summary judgment on this issue. Accordingly, we summarily affirm that portion of the opinion below holding that summary judgment on the Lyonses’ state law claims was inappropriate. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A)(2). The Court of Appeals Correctly Rejected the Lyonses’ Remaining Appellate Arguments. The Lyonses also challenge the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants as to the federal claims, its grant of Indiana Insurance’s motion to quash the third-party discovery requests, and its denial of the motion for leave to amend the complaint to add Indiana Insurance as a defendant. We believe the Court of Appeals correctly analyzed these issues. Lyons, 990 10 N.E.2d at 484–86. Thus, we summarily affirm those portions of the opinion below affirming the trial court’s rulings on these matters. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A)(2).