Opinion ID: 1830585
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Breach; Proximate Cause

Text: Of course, our determination that the University owed a landowner-invitee duty to Sharkey to take reasonable steps to protect against foreseeable acts of violence and the harm that naturally flows therefrom answers only one of the issues involved in the present case. Upon retrial, it will be for the district court to decide, as the finder of fact, whether the University failed to take reasonable steps to discharge that duty and, if so, whether any specific act or omission of the University was such that the ultimate injury to Sharkey flowed from the University's breach of duty. In other words, the Sharkeys have alleged, among other things, that the University failed (1) to take reasonable security measures for the protection of the Sharkeys and other students, (2) to make telephones adequately available for students' use in the case of a life-threatening emergency, (3) to establish or implement adequate security measures for the protection of the Sharkeys and other students from criminal conduct on the UNO campus, and (4) to timely and adequately respond to or intercede in the physical attack on Sharkey. Although evidence was adduced in the district court trial regarding the University's alleged breach of duty, there was no determination by the district court as to whether the University took reasonable steps to discharge its duty of care under the circumstances. Moreover, since there was no determination regarding the University's alleged breach of duty, there obviously was no determination whether the ultimate injury to Sharkey flowed from any specific act or omission on the part of the University. The determination of the University's alleged breach of duty and the proximate cause of Sharkey's damages are questions of fact for the finder of fact upon retrial.