Court Opinion

ID: 9513581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:38:05.858481+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:55.280191
License: Public Domain

NEUMANN, Justice,
concurring.
[¶ 20] I have joined the majority in this case despite the dicta I authored in Hovland v. City of Grand Forks, 1997 ND 95, 563 N.W.2d 384. On the facts of this case, I see a close correspondence between the statutory classification in N.D.C.C. ch. 15-03 and the legislative goal of fostering the availability of free recreational opportunities. As the majority opinion points out, these appellants were recreational users in the clearest sense of the term, utilizing a free recreational facility for a traditional recreational purpose.
[¶ 21] The legislature has declared a general policy of protecting citizens from injury caused by the negligent omissions of others. However, the legislature also realized this policy could limit the availability of free recreational opportunities for those same citizens. The legislature decided our people would best be served by increasing free recreational opportunities, even if the safe use of those free opportunities would have to depend primarily upon the caution and watchfulness of those who use them. To my mind that is a clear close correspondence between classification and legislative goal.
[¶ 22] What is more of a mystery and concern to me is the expansively broad language of the act, encompassing not just recreational facilities but every publicly owned building, road and “ways” in the State of North Dakota. The effect of that broad language is to treat drivers and pedestrians on our public streets and sidewalks differently, depending on their pur*872pose in being there. A citizen who chooses to walk to work because it is a beautiful spring day arguably is owed no duty of care by the city to keep the sidewalk safe, while the person beside him, walking to work because he has no car, is owed such a duty. A close correspondence between that classification and the legislative goal is much harder to see. Further concern is raised by the inclusion of “education” in the definition of “recreational purposes.” The statute appears to relieve all school districts of any duty to keep their buildings and other premises safe for use by students who have not paid a fee for the educational use of those premises. At the same time, the statute holds the school districts to a higher standard of care for the student who pays a fee to use those same premises for an extracurricular activity. Again, the correspondence between classification and legislative goal is elusive.
[¶ 23] Fortunately, as the majority opinion points out, none of those facts are presented in this case. I have therefore joined the majority.
[¶ 24] MARY MUEHLEN MARING, and DALE V. SANDSTROM, JJ, concur.