Court Opinion

ID: 9588357
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:33:22.86614+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:59.347852
License: Public Domain

*430Chief Justice TOAL.
I respectfully dissent. In my opinion, the Transit Authority exercised reasonable care in dropping off its passenger. Therefore, I would reverse the court of appeals’ decision holding that the Transit Authority breached its duty of care to Hurd.
I disagree with the majority because, in my opinion, the majority holds the Transit Authority to a higher duty of care than what is required of common carriers. A common carrier is required to allow a passenger to exit the bus in a reasonably safe place. Flynn v. Carolina Scenic Stages, 237 S.C. 340, 345, 117 S.E.2d 364, 366-367 (1960). Further, the relationship between passenger and carrier ordinarily ends when the passenger steps from a bus into a reasonably safe place on a public highway. Id. Other courts have been reluctant to hold common carriers liable for injuries suffered after the passenger safely exits. See e.g. Burton v. Des Moines Metro. Transit Auth., 530 N.W.2d 696, 699 (Iowa 1995) (holding that the duty of a common carrier ends when the passenger safely exits and carriers are not liable for injuries caused by the passengers decision to step into traffic). In Burton, the Iowa Supreme Court explained the rationale for holding that a carrier’s duty ends once a passenger exits the bus:
[A]fter alighting, the passenger’s individual choice directs where he or she will walk, the passenger is in a better position to guard against the dangers of moving vehicles and common sense, logic, and public policy simply do not support extending a duty of care of the public carrier to insure that once the passenger has safely departed, the streets will be free from defect.
Id. citing Connolly v. Rogers, 195 A.D.2d 649, 599 N.Y.S.2d 731, 732 (N.Y.App.Div.1993) (quoting Blye v. Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, 124 A.D.2d 106, 511 N.Y.S.2d 612, 615, aff'd, 72 N.Y.2d 888, 532 N.Y.S.2d 752, 528 N.E.2d 1225 (1988)) (emphasis added).
In the present case, the Transit Authority dropped Hurd off on the shoulder of the road, out of harm’s way. The gravel shoulder was a defined turn out at least 200 feet long and at least twice as wide as the bus. Hurd then chose to cross the street, taking himself out of a safe place and inserting himself *431into a dangerous place, that is, the middle of the road. Hurd claims that the Transit Authority bus blocked vision when it pulled off, but the fact is, Hurd was in a safe place until he decided to cross the street before he could see clearly.2 In essence, he walked right out in front of a car with its lights on. In my opinion, the Transit Authority fulfilled the duty owed to Hurd by allowing Hurd to exit in a reasonably safe place — the shoulder of the highway. Because I believe the majority’s holding heightens the duty of care owed by common carriers to a level beyond reasonable care, I would reverse the court of appeals’ decision and hold that the Transit Authority was entitled to a directed verdict.

. It is undisputed that the shoulder of the road was a reasonably safe place. In fact, on cross-examination of Hurd's expert, the following exchange took place:
Q. [W]hen the bus driver discharged Mr. Hurd along the roadside in the shoulder that at the moment that he got out of the bus and was there along the shoulder he was in a place where it was safe for him to be ...
A. As long as he stood there. Yes. Reasonably safe, sir.
Instead the issue on appeal has been framed to determine whether the existence of a "safer” drop off area, such as a Park and Ride, makes the place the passenger actually exited unsafe. This is simply not the appropriate standard that common carriers are charged to uphold. The majority heightens the duty a common carrier owes to its passengers to a "best choice” standard, which is inconsistent with the current standard of care for common carriers. I fear that heightening the standard of care for a common carrier could create a nightmare scenario for rural area transit authorities. For example, under the rationale of the majority, a carrier could be found negligent for dropping off a passenger in a reasonably safe place because the carrier did not choose the best place to drop off the passenger, which might be two blocks down the street.