Opinion ID: 4195259
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Record Supports Cities’ Negligence

Text: The same facts that support the defamation claim suffice to create a triable issue regarding negligence. To prove a negligence claim, a plaintiff must establish “(1) that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff, (2) breach of that duty, and (3) injury to the plaintiff that was proximately caused by the breach.” Night & Day Mgmt., LLC v. Butler, 101 A.3d 1033, 1038 (D.C. 2014). “In the District of Columbia the applicable standard for determining whether an owner or occupier of land has exercised the proper level of care to a person lawfully upon his premises is reasonable care under all of the circumstances.” Id. (quoting D.C. Hous. Auth. v. Pinkney, 970 A.2d 854, 866 (D.C. 2009)). Further, “[a]s a general rule[,] the proprietor of a place of public resort is 15 subject to liability to his business invitees by the acts of other patrons or third persons if the proprietor by the exercise of reasonable care could have known that such acts were being done or were about to be done.” Grasso v. Blue Bell Waffle Shop, Inc., 164 A.2d 475, 476 (D.C. 1960). There is no dispute that Hall was lawfully at Cities and that Cities had a duty to treat her reasonably under the circumstances. See Sandoe v. Lefta Assocs., 559 A.2d 732, 738 (D.C. 1988). Under the familiar respondeat superior doctrine, “an employer may be held liable for the acts of his employees committed within the scope of their employment.” Brown v. Argenbright Sec., Inc., 782 A.2d 752, 757 (D.C. 2001). Thus, if Cities’ personnel lacked grounds to conclude that Hall owed and refused to pay an amount in excess of $1,000, then Cities may be liable for their negligent act of reporting Hall to the police. See id. at 758. The district court granted summary judgment to Cities on the negligence claim because, in its view, Cities did not proximately cause Hall’s injuries. Causation for purposes of the negligence claim entails a two-pronged inquiry: (1) whether the defendant’s alleged negligence was the “cause-infact” of the plaintiff’s injury, and (2) whether the defendant proximately caused the injury or instead, despite cause-in-fact, should be relieved of liability because the “chain of events leading to the plaintiff’s injury is unforeseeable or highly extraordinary in retrospect.” Majeska v. District of Columbia, 812 A.2d 948, 950 (D.C. 2002) (quoting District of Columbia v. Carlson, 793 A.2d 1285, 1288 (D.C. 2002)). Liability attaches to one who sets in motion harmful conduct performed by another—such as the police officers here—when “the danger of an intervening negligent or criminal act should have been reasonably anticipated and protected against.” Carlson, 793 A.2d at 1290 (quoting Lacy v. District of Columbia, 424
16 Based on the evidence of record, a reasonable jury could find that Cities’ call actually caused the arrest, and that it was foreseeable that police would arrest Hall based on Cities’ report that Hall fled the establishment after having refused to pay a bill that it said exceeded $1,000. There is certainly no evidence that Duru, Urquhart, or anyone else working for Cities told the police that arrest was unnecessary, or that they did anything but invite and encourage it. Indeed, Hall testified that she saw Duru standing outside staring at Hall when she was in handcuffs in the squad car, and that he was nodding and laughing at Hall, gloating over her arrest. See Hall Dep., 31:7- 11, 32:3-8. In sum, a jury could find both that Cities’ personnel’s call to the police was the cause-in-fact of Hall’s arrest, and that they should have foreseen that their allegation of facts amounting to felony theft would cause an arrest and some associated harm, satisfying the proximate cause requirement. The district court further held that Cities could not have reasonably foreseen that calling the police would result in Officer Lee’s use of excessive force. See Hall, 2016 WL 1452325, at . But anticipation that the force would be unlawfully excessive is not a prerequisite to Cities’ negligence liability to Hall. A reasonable jury could find it foreseeable that an unjustified arrest, even without excessive force, would cause some modicum of the physical and emotional harm the record suggests Hall experienced due to Cities’ 911 call. Arrest without justification can be deeply disturbing, and arrest itself often involves some physical discomfort, unnatural restraint, and forceful handling. For example, Hall testified that the arrest left her bruised on her arm, chin, shoulder and knees, scraped at her knees, and her wrist cut and bleeding as well as internally injured. Hall 17 Dep., 80:4-82:20; J.A. 61-63. She also testified that the arrest was a “very traumatic experience” causing her residual anxiety, that she repeatedly remembers the day “too much for comfort,” and that the arrest has had a “significant effect” on how and how much she interacts with people. Hall Dep., 106:1-20. In view of the record evidence capable of supporting a finding that Cities’ negligent or reckless conduct proximately caused the arrest, a jury that so found should be permitted to determine what portion of Hall’s harm would have been reasonably foreseeable had the arrest been unjustified but the force reasonable. Indeed, Hall’s emotional distress alone could support negligence liability: “[A] plaintiff may recover for negligent infliction of serious emotional distress, even without an accompanying physical injury, if the plaintiff was in the zone of physical danger and was caused by defendant's negligence to fear for his or her own safety . . . regardless of whether plaintiff experienced a physical impact as a direct result of defendant’s negligence.” Jones v. Howard Univ., Inc., 589 A.2d 419, 423 (D.C. 1991) (alteration in original) (quoting Williams v. Baker, 572 A.2d 1062, 1067 (D.C.1990) (en banc)).