Opinion ID: 874222
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A duty may exist where foreseeable harm arises on school grounds during school hours, even where the actual injury occurs off school grounds and after school hours.

Text: The district court found that neither I.C. § 33-512(4) nor the underlying common law special relationship between a school district and its students created a duty to care for students at the time of Cassie Jo's murder, which occurred at night, off school grounds. The court, relying on Rife v. Long, 127 Idaho 841, 908 P.2d 143 (1995), stated that this Court decided that when a student is not under the care, custody and supervision of a school, it is the parent's responsibility to take steps to protect the child from foreseeable risks of harm.... We do not decide the case on those grounds. Other decisions from this Court, notably Brooks v. Logan (Brooks I), 127 Idaho 484, 903 P.2d 73 (1995), and Hei v. Holzer, 139 Idaho 81, 73 P.3d 94 (2003), have recognized that a school district may owe a duty to its students, despite the fact that injury occurred off of school grounds and outside of school hours. Brooks I involved a student who committed suicide off school grounds but had written about his suicidal tendencies in a journal as part of his English class assignments. Brooks I, 127 Idaho at 486, 903 P.2d at 75. This Court, basing its decision to remand on I.C. § 33-512(4), stated that we must assume that the negligence occurred, if at all, while Jeff was attending school and [his teacher] failed to seek help. The result of the alleged negligence is the only element that did not take place on the school grounds. Id. at 490, 903 P.2d at 79. Describing the scope of the duty, the Court stated that I.C. § 33-512(4) exemplifies the role of the state to the children in school, which is a role described as one in loco parentis.  Id. (quoting Bauer v. Minidoka Sch. Dist. No. 331, 116 Idaho 586, 588, 778 P.2d 336, 338 (1989)). While this Court later found that the school district in Brooks was immune from suit under I.C. § 6-904A, the underlying question of whether the school district owed the student a duty was settled by Brooks I. Brooks v. Logan (Brooks II), 130 Idaho 574, 944 P.2d 709 (1997). The School District argues that the holding of Brooks I was subsequently abrogated by statute with the enactment of I.C. § 33-512B. The statute provides that [n]otwithstanding the provisions of section 33-512(4), Idaho Code, neither a teacher nor a school district shall have a duty to warn of the suicidal tendencies of a student absent the teacher's knowledge of direct evidence of such suicidal tendencies. I.C. § 33-512B(1). See also Carrier v. Lake Pend Oreille School Dist., 142 Idaho 804, 808, 134 P.3d 655, 659 (2006) (acknowledging that I.C. § 33-512B served to overrule Brooks I ). [3] Certainly, the passage of I.C. § 33-512B modified the Brooks holding regarding suicidal tendencies. However, we do not interpret the statute as abrogating all duties embodied in I.C. § 33-512(4) or limiting liability to injuries that occur on school grounds and during school hours. To extend an exemption to other than those plainly and unmistakably within its terms and spirit is to abuse the interpretative process.... A.H. Phillips, Inc. v. Walling, 324 U.S. 490, 493, 65 S.Ct. 807, 808, 89 L.Ed. 1095, 1099 (1945). The Hei case involved a sexual relationship between a student over the age of majority and a teacher. Hei, 139 Idaho at 84, 73 P.3d at 97. The Court distinguished between the claims against the school district alleging that there was negligent supervision of Hei (the student) and those claims alleging negligent supervision of Holzer (the teacher). Id. at 87-88, 73 P.3d at 100-01. The Court found that a duty existed toward the student. Id. at 85, 73 P.3d at 98 (citing Brooks I, 127 Idaho at 490, 903 P.2d at 79). However, the Court also found that only the claim based on the school district's supervision of the teacher could proceed because of the immunity conferred by I.C. § 6-904A. Id. at 87-88, 73 P.3d at 100-01. Rife is not inconsistent with the proposition that the relevant inquiry is to the location of the negligence rather than the location of the injury. The Rife Court noted that in enacting I.C. § 33-512, the legislature was addressing the need to properly supervise students during their required attendance at school, and mandating that the school district is responsible for any negligence occurring while the children are there. Rife, 127 Idaho at 846, 908 P.2d at 148. In Rife, where the relevant supervision would have occurred off school grounds and outside of school hours, the school district was under no duty to provide that supervision. Here, the Stoddarts argue that proper investigation during school hours would have prevented Cassie Jo's death, even though she was murdered off school grounds and after school hours. Based on the language of Rife, Brooks I, and Hei, we cannot say that the location of the injury is dispositive in determining whether the school district owed Cassie Jo a duty.