Court Opinion

ID: 9571382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:31:23.465139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:30:23.040893
License: Public Domain

Hunstein, Justice,
concurring specially.
I cannot agree with the majority’s adoption of the general duty/ special duty analysis from Cuffy v. City of New York, 505 NE2d 937 (N.Y. 1987), albeit modified and retitled, which foreign jurisdictions have employed as a means of piercing a governmental defendant’s defense of sovereign immunity. As reflected by the foreign authorities cited approvingly by the majority, the rationale for the analysis adopted by the majority is to establish a duty that exists notwithstanding the existence of governmental immunity. Thus, quite aside from the fact that application of the majority’s analysis, is inappropriate where governmental immunity has been waived, as in the case at bar,6 I object to the adoption of the majority’s “public duty doctrine” because that doctrine creates an across-the-board exception to governmental immunity that is applicable where such immunity would otherwise be a complete defense to the negligent performance of discretionary acts. Compare Logue v. Wright, 260 Ga. 206, 207-208 (1) (392 SE2d 235) (1990).
Under the doctrine adopted by the majority, government has a duty to all, but is responsible to none. Given that “[protection to person and property is the paramount duty of government and shall be impartial and complete,” (emphasis supplied), Const. of Ga., Art. I, Sec. I, Par. II (1983), I agree with the Court of Appeals that “the City of Rome exists in part to protect its citizens from the criminal acts of third parties,” Jordan v. City of Rome, 203 Ga. App. 662, 666 *32(417 SE2d 730) (1992), and that no “special relationship” should be required before a duty exists requiring a governmental entity like the City to exercise ordinary care to protect persons within its boundaries from the intentional and often unpredictable criminal acts of third parties when the governmental entity knew or should have known that its acts or omissions exposed those persons to a foreseeable risk of harm. Id. at 666-667 (2). See also Feise v. Cherokee County, 207 Ga. App. 17 (427 SE2d 294) (1992), applying that analysis to counties.
The analysis set forth in Jordan, supra, is consistent with the established law of this State, in that Jordan applies traditional tort principles, does not negatively affect our rulings on governmental immunity, and reflects that questions of fact regarding issues such as foreseeability and detrimental reliance are best resolved by a jury as the trier of fact rather than as artificial questions of “duty” to be resolved as a matter of law by the trial court. Most importantly, the Jordan analysis also recognizes that it is a question of fact for resolution by the jury whether the actions taken by the governmental defendant in response to its knowledge that a person within its boundaries has been exposed to a foreseeable risk of harm were “within the capabilities of the [governmental defendant’s] resources.” Id. at 668.
In a suit against a governmental defendant for failure to provide police protection, the pivotal issue involves the fact question whether the governmental defendant has a complete defense to the negligence suit because it did not possess the resources to respond to an emergency situation in the manner plaintiffs contend would have prevented the alleged harm. This defense is critically important to avoid the danger of subjecting governmental entities to “ ‘wholesale liability in negligence to all crime victims on generalized charges of insufficiency of care in law enforcement.’ [Cit.]” Jordan, supra at 667. Because this pivotal defense will so often be the determinative factor in the resolution of a suit alleging negligent failure to provide police protection, I would modify the analysis in Jordan to direct trial courts to examine the evidence adduced by the parties regarding this issue at the earliest possible moment in order to determine whether genuine issues of fact remain for the jury.
The case at bar illustrates the importance of this issue. It appears uncontroverted in the record that appellants did not respond to the calls placed by Dana Jordan Marks and her mother by sending a police car to the Jordan residence because the police were otherwise occupied handling a shooting in another part of town, calls regarding which were just coming in at the time of Dana Marks’ first call alerting police that her husband, an “escapee” from a local hospital, was harassing her sister-in-law. Assuming, arguendo, that Dana Marks’ call was sufficient to place the City on notice that a criminal act of some nature was in progress, the record is devoid of any evidence that *33the City had any police units available to respond to Dana Marks’ call at that time. Hence, the record establishes that no questions of fact remain regarding appellants’ complete defense to appellees’ suit alleging negligent failure to provide police protection.7
Decided March 15, 1993
Reconsideration denied March 30, 1993.
Brinson, Askew & Berry, Robert M. Brinson, J. Anderson Davis, for appellants.
Robins, Kaplin, Miller & Ciresi, Daniel A. Ragland, for appellees.
Based on this review, I would find that appellants have a complete defense to appellees’ suit given the uncontroverted evidence that the resources were not available at the time of the attack to respond, even assuming appellants possessed the knowledge that Ms. Jordan had been exposed to a foreseeable risk of harm. Accordingly, because I would find the trial court’s holding right for the reason set forth above, I would affirm the trial court’s judgment and reverse the Court of Appeals. Therefore, I can concur only in the judgment of the majority’s opinion.

 As the Court of Appeals correctly notes, the general duty/special duty analysis was developed to expand governmental liability in days when sovereign immunity was the general rule, see Cuffy, supra at 939-940, and has been rejected in jurisdictions where sovereign immunity is no longer the rule because it improperly reinstates a type of immunity unique to governmental defendants. Jordan v. City of Rome, 203 Ga. App. 662, 665 (417 SE2d 730) (1992).

 Although the record reflects that appellants failed to respond at all to the emergency call by sending a police car after the attack, at whatever point the shooting crisis was resolved and police cars became available to respond, the record establishes uncontrovertedly that appellees were not harmed thereby because it is uncontroverted Jordan was not rendered.unable by the attack to obtain medical attention and that although she did not personally report the attack until several days later, this delay did not prevent the capture, prosecution, and conviction of her attacker. “In order for a tort action in negligence to lie, there must be injury to the plaintiff resulting from the defendant’s negligence. [Cits.]” Church v. SMS Enterprises, 186 Ga. App. 791, 793 (368 SE2d 554) (1988). Appellants were entitled to summary judgment on this issue.