Court Opinion

ID: 9739741
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:20:17.99464+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.690833
License: Public Domain

NORTON, Judge
(dissenting in part).
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that Lakewood’s failure to hire additional security for Southeast Asian Days was a policy-making decision protected by discretionary immunity.
Discretionary function immunity is the exception to the general rule of liability. Holmquist v. State, 425 N.W.2d 230, 231 (Minn.1988). Thus, discretionary function immunity must be construed narrowly to ensure the exception does not swallow the general rule of liability. Id. The burden is on the state to establish the challenged action was protected by discretionary function immunity. Nusbaum v. County of Blue Earth, 422 N.W.2d 713, 722 n. 6 (Minn.1988). In addition, the facts here *785must be viewed in the light most favorable to Rasivong, the non-moving party in this summary judgment action. See Offerdahl v. University of Minn. Hosps. & Clinics, 426 N.W.2d 425, 427 (Minn.1988). When the record is examined in light of the narrow construction given to the discretionary acts exception, the state’s burden of proof, and the standard of review for a summary judgment, it is evident that the trial court properly concluded Lakewood’s failure to hire additional security was an operational decision unprotected by discretionary act immunity.
In District Bd. of Trustees of Miami Dade Community College v. M.H., 578 So.2d 8, 8 (Fla.App.3d Dist.1991), pet. for rev. denied, 591 So.2d 181 (Fla.1991), the court addressed a similar issue and concluded a college could be sued for negligence for providing inadequate security on its campus. The court agreed with the plaintiff that while
a governmental entity may have discretionary authority to operate or not operate a particular facility, once the government entity decides to operate the facility there is a common law duty to operate the facility safely.

Id.

I find M.H. more persuasive than the Oregon case cited by the majority because M.H. and the present case both involve security on a college campus. As in M.H., once Lakewood made the discretionary decision to host Southeast Asian Days, it had a duty to conduct this event safely. Lakewood’s decision regarding the number of security officers necessary to safely host the event was an operational level determination made to implement the broader policy decision to host Southeast Asian Days. See Pletan v. Gaines, 460 N.W.2d 74, 77 (Minn.App.1990) (decision by police officer to pursue suspect in high-speed car chase was operational level decision implementing police department’s “pursuit” policy of evaluating safety risks and thus not protected by discretionary immunity), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. Nov. 1, 1990); Abbett v. County of St. Louis, 424 N.W.2d 82, 85 (Minn.App.1988) (discretionary function immunity not applicable as failure to place guardrail was professional decision made at operational level guided by underlying policy of minimizing barriers), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. July 28, 1988); see also Schaeffer v. State, 444 N.W.2d 876, 881 (Minn.App.1989) (although material fact dispute prevented court from determining if decision was operational or planning level, court rejected argument that decision was immune merely because it was made as part of a broad policy decision to undertake construction project).
Moreover, the record shows Lakewood’s failure to hire additional security was not protected by discretionary act immunity because this decision did not involve any policy balancing or even any policy consideration. See Nusbaum, 422 N.W.2d at 722 (in deciding whether discretionary function immunity applies, precise government conduct being challenged must be identified and examined to determine if it involved balancing of policy objectives). The present case involved security for a single event rather than a general security policy for the college. It is undisputed that both Dean Nesbitt and Lt. Pitman thought the number of officers assigned to the festival was “ridiculously low.” Yet, the record shows Nesbitt simply accepted the security arrangements that Pitman offered without considering any policy factors or even making an actual decision about whether additional security was needed for the event. Absent evidence showing Lakewood reached the decision not to hire additional security for Southeast Asian Days by balancing policy considerations, the trial court correctly concluded this decision was not protected by discretionary function immunity. See id. at 728 (discretionary function immunity not applicable because no evidence was presented to show policy considerations were involved).