Opinion ID: 1612107
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Negligent MisrepresentationFailure to Submit Class.

Text: The second prong of Sain's negligence claim is based upon the failure of the school district to include the Technical Communications course on the list of courses submitted to the NCAA. Like the first claim, Sain asserts the school district had a duty of care to submit the course and breached the duty when it failed to do so. Sain asserts the internal policies of the school to submit all courses for approval by the NCAA Clearinghouse supports such a duty. We begin by recognizing that the tort of negligent misrepresentation does not apply to the failure to provide information, but to the disclosure of information. See Outlook Windows P'ship v. York Int'l Corp., 112 F.Supp.2d 877, 896-97 (D.Neb.2000). Thus, the imposition of a duty to support a claim of providing false information does not support the imposition of a duty for not disclosing information. A claim for negligence can be based on both actions and inactions. However, liability for the failure to act to protect another from harm is largely restricted to those situations where there is a special relationship between the parties. See Garofalo v. Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, 616 N.W.2d 647, 652 (Iowa 2000); Bohan v. Hogan, 567 N.W.2d 234, 236 (Iowa 1997); Fiala v. Rains, 519 N.W.2d 386, 389 (Iowa 1994). It is essentially based upon a relationship of dependence and an expectation of protection. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 314A cmt. b (1965). Nevertheless, a duty of care is imposed to protect against the foreseeable risk of harm. The failure of a school district to submit a course for approval by the NCAA Clearinghouse would not increase the hazard of a student taking an unapproved course. If a school fails to submit a course, the course would not be included on the approved list. The absence of the course from the list would not induce reliance, and would not make it foreseeable that harm would result to a student by taking an unapproved course under the belief that the course was in fact approved. Thus, there is no duty to students for a school district or a high school counselor to submit courses to the NCAA Clearinghouse. See Garofalo, 616 N.W.2d at 654 (failure to follow policy of fraternity does not give rise to an actionable tort); Smith v. City of Dubuque, 376 N.W.2d 602, 605 (Iowa 1985) (breach of internal procedures does not give rise to a cause of action). We conclude the district court properly granted summary judgment on this claim.