Court Opinion

ID: 9954532
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-26 16:01:00.806014+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:12:58.717737
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION                           FILED
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                       MAR 26 2024
                                                                      MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
                                                                       U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MADELEINE BARLOW,                               No.    21-35397

                Plaintiff-Appellant,            D.C. No. 3:20-cv-05186-BHS

 v.
                                                MEMORANDUM*
STATE OF WASHINGTON, DBA
Washington State University,

                Defendant-Appellee.

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Western District of Washington
                   Benjamin H. Settle, District Judge, Presiding

                       Argued and Submitted April 12, 2022
                        Submission Vacated June 23, 2022
                          Resubmitted March 26, 2024
                               Seattle, Washington

Before: BOGGS,** HURWITZ, and SUNG, Circuit Judges.

      The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant State

of Washington, d/b/a Washington State University (University), on Madeleine

      *
             This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
      **
            The Honorable Danny J. Boggs, United States Circuit Judge for the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation.
Barlow’s Title IX and state-law negligence claims. We previously affirmed the

summary judgment on the Title IX claim. Barlow v. Washington, No. 21-25297,

2022 WL 2256318 (9th Cir. June 23, 2022). We certified to the Washington State

Supreme Court the dispositive questions of state law, relating to whether the

University owed Barlow a duty in negligence under the circumstances of this case.

Barlow v. Washington, 38 F.4th 62, 67 (9th Cir. 2022). The Washington Supreme

Court accepted our certification request, and rendered an opinion on the certified

questions on January 4, 2024. Barlow v. Washington, 540 P.3d 783 (Wash. 2024),

reconsideration denied, Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration, No. 101045-1

(Wash. Mar. 12, 2024). In light of that opinion, we affirm the grant of summary

judgment on the remaining state-law negligence claim.

      Under Washington law, the general rule is that people and businesses have no

duty to protect others from third-party conduct subject to certain exceptions,

“including when a special relationship exists between the actor and the perpetrator

or between the actor and the plaintiff/victim.” Id. In Barlow, the Washington

Supreme Court held that state law “recognizes a special relationship between a

university and its students, giving rise to a duty to use reasonable care to protect

students from foreseeable injury at the hands of other students.” Id. at 785. “The duty

exists where a student is on campus, similar to a business invitee, or involved in

university sponsored activities.” Id. Here, it is undisputed that the third-party

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conduct   that   harmed   Barlow     occurred   off-campus    and   outside   of   a

university-sponsored activity. Therefore, the University did not owe Barlow a duty

to protect her from that third-party conduct, and it is entitled to summary judgment

on the state-law negligence claim.

      AFFIRMED.

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