Opinion ID: 778215
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Negligence Per Se Claim

Text: 17 In its second memorandum opinion, the district court clarified that it had granted summary judgment to the defendants on Satterfield's state law claim of negligence per se in its first memorandum opinion and order. The court stated that [t]he negligence per se claim cannot exist without proof of a statutory violation by Defendants, J.A. at 281; because the court had previously found that Bluhm and Occupatient could not have violated the ADA because they were not covered entities in relation to Satterfield, the court concluded that Satterfield could not claim negligence per se under state law on the ground that Bluhm and Occupatient violated the ADA. 9 Satterfield contends on appeal that his inability to sue Bluhm and Occupatient under the ADA should not preclude him from alleging their statutory violation of the ADA in a state law negligence per se claim. 18 This court has stated that under Tennessee law the violation of a statute or regulation is negligence per se as to members of the class that the statute or regulation is intended to protect. Wren v. Sullivan Elec., Inc ., 797 F.2d 323, 325 (6th Cir.1986). In arguing that he should be permitted to pursue his negligence per se claim in the state courts, Satterfield seems confused as to the district court's actual holding regarding his ADA claim. Satterfield seems to believe that the district court simply did not let him sue the defendants under the ADA; actually, however, the district court concluded, and we affirm, that Bluhm and Occupatient cannot have violated Satterfield's rights under the ADA because they are not covered entities for the purposes of the ADA in relation to Satterfield. In that Satterfield would need to demonstrate that Bluhm and Occupatient violated the ADA for a jury to return a verdict for Satterfield on his state law negligence per se claim, we also conclude that summary judgment for the defendants on Satterfield's negligence per se claim was proper.