Court Opinion

ID: 9740825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:42:20.532379+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:20.512963
License: Public Domain

LARSON, Justice
(dissenting).
The fireman’s rule is founded largely on public policy, a concern that, if a fireman (or similar public employee), is allowed to sue for injuries arising out of a call for assistance, it might discourage citizens from calling for help. See Pottebaum v. Hinds, 347 N.W.2d 642, 645 (Iowa 1984). There is, however, no empirical data presented in this case, or in Pottebaum, to support that conclusion. In fact, I believe there is considerable doubt that the thought of possible tort liability would even enter the mind of a citizen contemplating a call for help. That is especially true now, it seems to me, when virtually all property owners are covered by insurance against premises injuries.
On the other hand, there can be no doubt that in every case where the fireman’s rule is invoked, another public policy is frustrated. That is the public policy favoring a party’s right to seek reimbursement for injuries caused by the negligence of another. That right should not be denied a broad class of persons on the basis of a public policy as speculative as that supposedly underlying the fireman’s rule.
I would reverse.
HARRIS and SNELL, JJ., join this dissent.