Court Opinion

ID: 9657653
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:33:07.770556+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:47.241246
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
I agree with the majority’s holding that Lynette Robarge’s rental arrangement with the Y.W.C.A. exceeded a conventional landlord-tenant relationship, but I do not agree that these additional attributes give rise to a legal duty to prevent Robarge from suicide. The existence of a legal duty is generally an issue for the court to decide as a matter of law. Larson v. Larson, 373 N.W.2d 287, 289 (Minn.1985). Whether a duty exists depends not only on the relationship between the parties, but also on the foreseeability of harm to others. Erickson v. Curtis Inv. Co., 447 N.W.2d 165, 168-69 (Minn.1989). Although the Y.W.C.A. may have had a duty to protect Robarge from foreseeable harm by others, I do not believe that public policy favors extending that duty to the facts of this case. Erickson, 447 N.W.2d at 169 (public policy is major consideration in identifying legal duty as element of negligence claim).