Opinion ID: 1527812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Foreseeability and Certainty of Harm

Text: Foreseeability is the most important variable in the duty calculus, Ashburn, 306 Md. at 628, 510 A.2d at 1083, and without it there can be no duty to prevent suicide. Comment, Civil Liability for Suicide, 12 Loy.L.A.L.Rev. at 991. Here Nicole's suicide was foreseeable because the defendants allegedly had direct evidence of Nicole's intent to commit suicide. That notice to the defendants distinguishes this case from Bogust v. Iverson, 10 Wis.2d 129, 102 N.W.2d 228, where the counselor had no notice of contemplated suicide. The degree of certainty that Eisel and Nicole suffered the harm foreseen is one hundred percent. Nor would reasonable persons necessarily conclude that the harm ceased to be foreseeable because Nicole denied any intent to commit suicide when the counselors undertook to draw out her feelings, particularly in light of the alleged declarations of intent to commit suicide made by Nicole to her classmates. An adolescent who is thinking of suicide is more likely to share these feelings with a friend than with a teacher or parent or school guidance counselor. But, we all  parents, teachers, administrators, service providers and friends  can learn what the warning signs are and what to do. 3 Maryland Office for Children and Youth, Monthly Memo, at 3 (Apr. 1986). Jurors, as triers of fact, may well conclude that the quoted point of view is consistent with their own experiences with adolescents. On the other hand, when the facts of this case are fully developed, the court may conclude that the duty did not arise, or jurors may conclude that it had not been negligently breached.