Court Opinion

ID: 9671497
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:37:39.83718+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:10.291633
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
{concurring in part and dissenting in part). I join that portion of the majority opinion holding that the City is not immune from liability in this case and affirming the jury's verdict against the City. I disagree with that part of the majority opinion relating to the liability of the officer. I conclude that the court should affirm the court of appeals' decision affirming the jury's finding that the officer was negligent with respect to the operation of his motor vehicle during the chase.
As the majority observes, the general discretionary act immunity defense inscribed in Wis. Stat. § 893.80(4) is qualified by Wis. Stat. § 346.03. Section 346.03(5) warns that the operator of an emergency vehicle is not relieved "from the duty to drive with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons" or "from the consequences of his or her reckless disregard for the safety of others."1 Placed *324squarely within the section of the statutes prescribing the rules and regulations applicable to emergency road vehicles, Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) makes clear that while emergency vehicle operators may on occasion disregard certain traffic rules, when they do so without "due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons," they are negligent.2
But having acknowledged that Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) qualifies discretionary act immunity, the majority opinion abruptly reverses course.
First, the majority attempts to segregate an officer's decision to initiate or continue a pursuit from the question of whether that officer drives "with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons." The majority concludes that an officer's decision to initiate or continue a pursuit — even when that pursuit is undertaken at high speeds through major intersections in a densely populated area — is automatically entitled to discretionary act immunity.
In short, while Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) is designed to limit discretionary act immunity, the majority invokes *325discretionary act immunity to limit Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5). In rendering an officer's decision to initiate or continue a pursuit immune from liability, the majority creates an exception to the negligence statute which threatens to swallow the statute itself.
In contrast to the majority opinion, a number of state supreme courts interpreting provisions substantially similar to Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) have concluded that a law enforcement officer ishiot immune from liability for a discretionary decision to give or not to give chase and that the negligence standard is applicable to the officer's conduct.3
Second, the majority converts the clear language of Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) requiring an officer to "drive with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons" into a requirement that an officer not be negli*326gent in "the physical operation of the vehicle." Majority op. at 317-18.
Surely, as Maryland's highest court observed in interpreting a provision similar to Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5),4"[n]egligent operation of a car is not limited to the negligent manipulation of the gas pedal, steering wheel, or brake pedal." Boyer v. State, 594 A.2d 121, 129 (1991). "A decision to operate or continue operating the car, when a reasonable person would not due so, clearly can be 'negligent operation.'" Id.
Under the majority's interpretation of Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5), however, it is unclear if even the "manipulation of the gas pedal, steering wheel, or brake pedal" would provide grounds for finding a pursuing officer negligent, since the manner in which one accelerates, steers and brakes is integrally related to one's decision to initiate or continue pursuit. Indeed, a reader would be hard pressed to ascribe any concrete meaning to Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) if, as the majority maintains, it refers to one negligent in "the physical operation of the vehicle." Any activity which might fit under this rubric might just as easily be described as an activity related to an officer's decision to pursue or not pursue.
Hence while the majority professes agreement with the court of appeals' conclusion that an officer remains liable on negligence grounds under Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5), majority op. at 317, the majority fails to follow the court of appeals' lead in upholding a jury verdict that the officer in this case was negligent with respect to the operation of his motor vehicle. Instead, the majority relies upon cases drawing "a distinction between an officer's discretionary decision to initiate *327and continue a pursuit and the physical operation of the vehicle." Majority op. at 317-18. It is hard to imagine any decision pertaining to an officer's physical operation of a police vehicle that might not also be characterized as a discretionary decision entitling that officer to immunity. In short, according to the majority, even when officers engaged in high-speed chases are negligent, they are entitled to immunity.5
In concluding that police officers can be shielded from their negligent acts under the doctrine of official act immunity, the majority ignores the limiting language within the immunity statute itself, which states that "[w]hen rights or remedies are provided by any other statute against . . . any officer . . . such statute shall apply." Wis. Stat. § 893.80(5). An immunity statute's primary purpose is to insure that liability will not attach to governmental actors as a consequence of their *328actions. By definition, an officer who has not acted negligently will have no need of the protection which an immunity statute provides; it is only when an officer has acted negligently that an immunity statute might serve some purpose by providing relief from liability. Consequently, when, as is the case in this state, an immunity statute explicitly contemplates the prospect that immunity might be waived by other statutes, and when one of those other statutes explicitly states that officers engaged in high-speed chases are not relieved of liability for their negligent acts, this state's immunity statute is irrelevant. Under Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5), it matters not whether one characterizes the officer's decisions in this case as discretionary or ministerial. Neither formulation can shield an officer from the statutorily prescribed duty to "drive with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons."6
In holding otherwise today, the majority not only shields officers from liability for their negligent conduct, but also shields municipalities from liability so long as those municipalities dutifully issue the guidelines required under Wis. Stat. § 343.05(6). Thus an innocent victim of a negligently conducted high-speed case will frequently be unable to collect damages from either the negligent officer or from the municipality for which that officer works.
Finally, the majority does not give sufficient deference to the jury verdict. In this case, the jury found the pursuing officer responsible for 2% of the victim's inju*329ries. "When there is any credible evidence to support a jury's verdict, even though it be contradicted and the contradictory evidence be stronger and more convincing, nevertheless the verdict must stand." Weiss v. United Fire & Cas. Co., 197 Wis. 2d 365, 390, 541 N.W.2d 753 (1995) (citations omitted).
I conclude that credible evidence supports the jury's determination that the pursuing officer's decision to continue the pursuit was negligent.7 For *330example, the driver of the pursued vehicle stated that he would have stopped speeding and running red lights if the officer had stopped chasing him. In the report which police officer Dennis Pajot filled out on the accident giving rise to this case, the roads were described as "slippery" and "frosted with ice.” Officer Pajot considered travel at 50-55 miles per hour too fast for conditions; evidence in the record suggests that at times both the pursuing and pursued vehicles were travelling at speeds above 70 miles per hour. The pursuing officer in this case testified that all he knew for certain was that the driver of the pursued vehicle had violated traffic laws. He also testified that he never considered terminating the pursuit. Furthermore, the plaintiffs expert Leonard Territo, who has written numerous books and articles on the subject of high-speed chases, testified that when the only infraction known to have been committed by the driver of a pursued vehicle is a traffic violation and when, as was the case here, the pursued vehicle is approaching a number of major intersections, an officer should consider terminating the pursuit.
Based on this record, a reasonable jury could have concluded that the officer's violation of the duty to drive with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons was unreasonable and contributed to the subsequent accident. Because there is credible evidence supporting the jury's finding of causal negli*331gence against the pursuing officer, I would uphold the jury's verdict.
In overturning that verdict today, the majority may be creating a blanket rule immunizing both law enforcement officers and municipalities from liability whenever a high-speed chase precipitates a collision. While the legislature recognizes that police pursuit is often important and necessary, the legislature has not concluded that all chases are reasonable, regardless of the circumstances. Wisconsin's emergency vehicle statute displaces the presumption of negligence that ordinarily arises from a violation of traffic rules. As Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) makes clear, it is not intended to shelter drivers of emergency vehicles from liability for their negligent actions.
The court should interpret and apply this statute as it is written and allow the trier of fact to assess whether an officer engaged in high-speed pursuit has driven "with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all persons."
For the reasons set forth, I write separately.

 Wis. Stat. § 346.03(1) (1993-94) provides:
The operator of an authorized emergency vehicle, when responding to an emergency call or when in the pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law... may exercise the privileges set forth in this section, but subject to the conditions stated in subs. (2) to (5).
Wis. Stat. § 346.03(5) (1993-94) provides:
The exemptions granted the operator of an authorized emergency vehicle by this section do not relieve such operator from the duty to drive with due regard under the circumstances for the safety of all *324persons nor do they protect such operator from the consequences of his or her reckless disregard for the safety of others.
Unless otherwise stated, all further statutory references are to the 1993-94 volume of the Wisconsin Statutes.

 Each year, between 50,000 and 500,000 "hot" pursuits occur in the United States. Between 6000 and 8000 of these pursuits result in crashes, killing between 300 and 400 people and injuring another 2000 to 2500. More than 90% of these pursuits are triggered by traffic violations; in less than 1% is a suspect wanted for violent crime. For discussions of high speed chases, see, e.g., Richard G. Zevitz, Police Civil Liability and the Law of High Speed Pursuit, 70 Marq. L. Rev. 237 (1987); Erik Beckman, High-Speed Chases: In Pursuit of a Balanced Policy, Police Chief, Jan. 1983, at 34; Frank Kuznick, Macho Mayhem., Washington Post, May 19, 1991 (Magazine), at 20.

 See, e.g., Tetro v. Stratford, 458 A.2d 5 (Conn. 1983) (recklessness of operator of pursued car does not ipso facto relieve pursuing officers of liability for their negligent conduct in maintaining a police pursuit); Mixon v. City of Warner Robins, 444 S.E.2d 761 (Ga. 1994) (a law enforcement officer's decision to initiate or continue pursuit is negligent if unreasonable under the circumstances; "an officer's performance of his professional duty is not to be considered paramount to the duty that he owes to other members of the driving public"); Lowrimore v. Dimmitt, 797 P.2d 1027 (Ore. 1990) (law enforcement officer's decision to pursue not entitled to statutory immunity); Haynes v. Hamilton Co., 883 S.W.2d 606 (Tenn. 1994) (when car pursued by law enforcement officers injures innocent third parties, officers' decision to commence or continue pursuit can provide grounds for negligence); Mason v. Bitton, 534 P.2d 1360 (Wash. 1975) (law enforcement officers have a responsibility to determine whether the purpose of a pursuit is justified by the accompanying risk; when such a determination is unreasonable, officers can be negligent).

Md. Transp. § 21-106(d) states that "[t]his section does not relieve the driver of an emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons."

 Indeed, several of the cases relied upon by the majority so hold. See, e.g., Frohman v. City of Detroit, 450 N.W.2d 59, 62 (Mich. App. 1989) ("concept of immunity presupposes that acts complained of may have been negligently performed"; "even if an employee's performance of discretionary-decisional acts constitutes negligence, that employee is afforded immunity from liability" so long as the employee's acts are undertaken in good faith and the employee holds a reasonable belief that the acts are within the prescribed scope of authority); Fonseca v. Collins, 884 S.W.2d 63, 67 (Mo. App. 1994) (officer "is protected by official immunity for any negligent conduct arising out of the pursuit"); Bachman v. Welby, 860 S.W.2d 31, 34 (Mo. App. 1993) (police officer engaged in high-speed chase entitled to official immunity; therefore, "officer could not be held civilly liable for his alleged negligence in taking these actions"); City of Lancaster v. Chambers, 883 S.W.2d 650 (Tex. 1994) (official immunity "protects officers from suit even if they acted negligently"); Colby v. Boyden, 400 S.E.2d 184 (Va. 1991) (police officers are immune from liability for acts of simple negligence).

Hence while it is true, as the majority notes, that counsel for the plaintiff agreed at oral argument before the court that a decision to initiate or continue a pursuit is discretionary, counsel immediately added that Wisconsin's emergency vehicle statutes were passed "without regard to discretionary decisions."

 A causal connection can exist between an officer's alleged negligence and a victim's injuries even if the officer's own vehicle — as distinguished from the vehicle which the officer is pursuing — does not make "physical contact" with the victim.
Wisconsin has adopted the position set forth in the Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 447 (1965), that even when the intervening act of a third person is negligent, it is not a superseding cause of harm to another when an actor's own negligent conduct is a substantial factor in causing harm so long as the actor "at the time of his negligent conduct should have realized that a third person might so act." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 447(a) (1965); Stewart v. Wulf, 85 Wis. 2d 461, 476-77, 271 N.W.2d 79 (1978).
The decisions cited in the margin at note 3, for example, pertain to accidents which involved the pursued vehicle and an innocent third party but not the vehicle of the pursuing officer. The Texas Supreme State succinctly states the reason why such a fact pattern should not, ipso facto, lead to the conclusion that a pursuing officer is not negligent:
Foreseeability means that the actor, as a person of ordinary intelligence, should have anticipated the dangers that his negligent act created for others. Foreseeability does not require that a person anticipate the precise manner in which injury will occur once he has created a dangerous situation through his negligence. Although the criminal conduct of a third party may be a superseding cause which relieves the negligent actor from liability, the actor's negligence is not superseded and will not be excused when the criminal conduct is a foreseeable result of such negligence. *330Travis v. Mesquite, 830 S.W.2d 94, 98 (Tex. 1992) (emphasis added) (when car pursued by law enforcement officers collides with third vehicle, officers can be causally negligent). See also Fiser v. City of Ann Arbor, 339 N.W.2d 413 (Mich. 1983) (when pursued vehicle in a high-speed chase strikes a third vehicle, law enforcement officers' decision to initiate or continue a pursuit can be grounds for a finding of causal negligence).