Court Opinion

ID: 9514416
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:49:17.438866+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:17.256382
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 29.] There are genuine issues of material fact concerning the exceptions to the public duty doctrine and the trial court should have allowed this case to go to a jury. “The burden of proof is upon the movant to show clearly that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” State Dep’t of Revenue v. Thiewes, 448 N.W.2d 1, 2 (S.D.1989) (citation omitted). Since the defendants did not meet their burden, summary judgment was improperly granted and we should reverse.
[¶ 30.] 1. THERE ARE GENUINE ISSUES OF MATERIAL FACT WHETHER DEFENDANTS HAD ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE BY DRINKING MINORS.
[¶ 31.] Deputies Smith and Dean were both in close proximity to this underage drinking party which they both believed to be the juvenile gathering mentioned in the anonymous telephone call. Smith was actually on the premises, saw the bonfire surrounded by “a large gathering of people,” and was told by Huck that “The kids are drinking, and they’re stayin’ here.” Smith and Dean repeatedly testified in their depositions that they had a “gut feeling” and were suspicious that underage drinking was going on. Furthermore, Huck told Smith there was “parental supervision”2 and that the gate would be *488locked to bar the exit to anyone who was drinking.
[¶ 32.] Smith now claims he lacked “probable cause” to investigate further to determine whether juveniles were consuming alcohol; however, in his deposition he admitted to believing that “a reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed” is the standard for whether an officer can investigate a potential criminal situation.3 “The existence of reasonable suspicion is a question of law which is fully reviewable by this court.” State v. Lownes, 499 N.W.2d 896, 898 (S.D.1993).
Reasonable suspicion is a less demanding standard than probable cause not only in the sense that reasonable suspicion can be established with information that is different in quantity or content than that required to establish probable cause, but also in the sense that reasonable suspicion can arise from information that is less rehable than that required to show probable cause. Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 330, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 2416, 110 L.Ed.2d 301, 309 (1990).
Id. at 899. The information available to the defendants was easily enough to establish reasonable suspicion inviting further investigation: 1) On New Year’s Eve, they received an anonymous tip of an underage drinking party in progress; 2) they observed a bonfire surrounded by “a large gathering of people”; 3) Huck told Smith “The kids are drinking, and they’re stayin’ here”; 4) Huck also told Smith that there was “parental supervision,” an obviously improbable element of an adult party.
[¶ 33.] As a matter of law, the defendants possessed adequate information to establish reasonable suspicion. It is up to a jury to decide whether the defendants were derelict in their duty in failing to conduct further investigation. It is also for the jury to determine whether violence by an intoxicated minor was reasonably foreseeable based upon the defendants’ observations of the party and further, whether that constitutes actual knowledge of the likelihood of violence. Whether there is factual justification for finding that Michael’s injury was foreseeable presents a jury question. Westover v. East River Elec. Power Coop., Inc., 488 N.W.2d 892, 896 (S.D.1992); Peterson v. Safway Steel Scaffolds Co., 400 N.W.2d 909, 913 (S.D.1987).
It is the jury, not the court, which is the fact-finding body. It weighs the contradictory evidence and inferences, judges the credibility of witnesses, receives expert instructions, and draws the ultimate conclusion as to the facts. The very essence of its function is to select from among conflicting inferences and conclusions that which it considers most reasonable.
Fajardo v. Cammack, 322 N.W.2d 873, 878 (S.D.1982) (Wollman, C.J., concurring specially) (citations omitted). See Tri-State Ins. Co. of Minn. v. Bollinger, 476 N.W.2d 697, 700 (S.D.1991) (noting that facial lacerations received in a drunken fight “could be expected in combat, a fracas, or tussle”); Limpert v. Bail, 447 N.W.2d 48, 50 (S.D.1989) (“If reasonable persons, upon examining the evidence, might reach different conclusions, a motion for summary judgment should be denied and the case tried on the merits.”) (citation omitted).
*489[¶ 34] 2. REASONABLE RELIANCE
[¶ 35.] As noted by the conference opinion, Gleasons do not attempt to allege reliance. However, a plaintiffs inability to prove reliance is not a bar to suit. See Andrade v. Ellefson, 391 N.W.2d 836, 843 (Minn.1986) (finding a special duty when first factor only partially met and third factor conclusively established); Tipton v. Town of Tabor, 538 N.W.2d 783, 787 (S.D.1995) (Tipton I) (“Strong evidence concerning any combination of these factors may be sufficient to impose liability on a government entity”).
[¶ 36.] 3. THERE ARE GENUINE ISSUES OF MATERIAL FACT WHETHER MICHAEL WAS A MEMBER OF THE CLASS PROTECTED BY THE STATUTES.
[¶ 37.] The plain language in Tipton I instructs that the language of a statute is not dispositive of whether there is a duty to any particular class of persons:
Sole reliance on statutory language in determining whether a duty exists is needlessly restrictive and arbitrary. A statutory reference to a particular class of persons could very well be inadvertent rather than the result of any reasoned analysis of municipal or county responsibility. We require an analytical framework that more accurately measures a public entity’s culpability for the harm suffered.
538 N.W.2d at 787. Despite this language, the conference opinion concludes that, since the statute raised by Gleasons does not mention a particular class, it was not intended to protect Michael.
[¶ 38.] Defendants were empowered to stop this party. SDCL 7-12-4 provides:
It shall be the duty of the sheriff to comply with all orders of the attorney general or his agents and at all times, whether on duty under the call of the attorney general or his agents or not, to see to it as far as may be possible that all the laws of this state and especially all laws relating to alcoholic beverages are faithfully executed and enforced.
(Emphasis added). Smith testified that, once he knows of underage drinking, he has no option but to stop the party.4 The Legislature emphasized the importance of enforcing “all laws relating to alcoholic beverages” in SDCL 7-12-4. Additionally, it has put an emphasis on the illegality of underage drinking. See, e.g., SDCL 35-9-1:
It is a Class 1 misdemeanor to sell or give for use as a beverage any alcoholic beverage to any person under the age of eighteen years unless it is done in the immediate presence of a parent or guardian or spouse over twenty-one years of age of by prescription or direction of a duly licensed practitioner or nurse of the healing arts for medicinal purposes.
See also SDCL 35-9-1.1 (Class 2 misdemean- or when the minor is between eighteen and twenty-one years).
[¶ 39.] The defendants had the power and the duty to abate the nuisance of an underage drinking party. The situation on the Huck property constituted a nuisance as a matter of law. See SDCL 35-10-17:
Any structure, conveyance, or place where alcoholic beverages are manufactured, sold, kept, bartered, given away, found, consumed or used in violation of the laws of the state, relating to alcoholic beverages, and all alcoholic beverages and property kept and used in maintaining the same, is hereby declared to be a common nuisance, and any person who maintains such a common nuisance is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
*490A nuisance such as this party constitutes a “public” nuisance.5 See SDCL 21-10-8:
A public nuisance is one which affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon the individuals may be unequal. Every other nuisance is private.
[¶ 40.] Failure to act when one has a duty to do so also constitutes a nuisance. SDCL 21-10-1 defines what acts and omissions constitute nuisances:6
A nuisance consists in unlawfully doing an act, or omitting to perform a duty, which act or omission either:
(1) Annoys, injures, or endangers the ... health, or safety of others;
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(4) In any way renders other persons insecure in life, or in the use of property-
(Emphasis added).
[¶ 41.] One present at an underage drinking party is included in the class of persons intended to be protected by the nuisance statutes.7 Defendants had the power and duty to end this party. Nuisance liability may be imposed on non-owners if they have control over “the instrumentality alleged to constitute the nuisance.” 58 AmJur2d Nuisances § 117, at 761 (1989). “The person whose duty it is to abate a nuisance should answer for the consequences resulting from its continuance.” Id. § 118; cf. Cochrane v. Mayor of City of Frostburgh, 81 Md. 54, 31 A. 703, 705 (1895) (stating that when a statute confers a power to be exercised for the public good, “the exercise of the power is not merely discretionary, but imperative, and the words ‘power and authority’ in such ease may be construed ‘duty and obligation.’ ”).
[¶42.] Moreover, persons at the party came within the “ambit of the risk” created by any negligent failure to act on the knowledge of an illegal party. See Livingston v. City of Everett, 50 Wash.App. 655, 751 P.2d 1199, 1201 (1988):
When statutes intend to insure the safety of the public highways, a governmental officer’s knowledge of an actual violation creates a duty of care to all persons and property who come within the ambit of the risk created by the officer’s negligent conduct.
(Emphasis added) (citations omitted). It is usually a matter of time before violence *491erupts at a large party where alcohol is being consumed.8 Whether the defendants should have acted to protect Michael and other persons present is a question for the jury.
[¶ 43.] Based on the knowledge the defendants possessed after visiting the underage drinking party, there are genuine issues of material fact: 1) whether Michael and others similarly situated were within the class protected under the statutes; 2) whether Michael was a foreseeable plaintiff. As the court noted in Champagne v. Spokane Humane Society, 47 Wash.App. 887, 737 P.2d 1279, 1283 (1987), “an entity performing governmental functions may be held liable where the plaintiff demonstrates that an otherwise general duty to the public has focused on the particular plaintiff and the entity breaches that duty.”9
[¶ 44.] 4. THERE ARE GENUINE ISSUES OF MATERIAL FACT WHETHER DEFENDANTS’ FAILURE TO ACT CONSTITUTED A BREACH OF DUTY.
[¶45.] As noted, the defendants had the authority to stop the party. “[P]ersons are generally not liable for failure to act, but once having acted, [they] must proceed without negligence.” Tipton v. Tabor, 1997 SD 96, ¶ 13, 567 N.W.2d at 358 (Tipton II) (emphasis added). If the jury finds that the defendants possessed actual knowledge of the likelihood of violence breaking out at this. party, whether they were obligated to act is another question for the jury. See Andrade, 391 N.W.2d at 841 (“Actual knowledge of a dangerous condition tends to impose a special duty to do something about that condition.”); see also id. at 844 (Wahl, J., concurring specially) (“[Defendants] had actual knowledge of a dangerous condition ... such that a special duty was imposed on them to do something about the condition.”). Whether a defendant breached a duty and whether his breach resulted in injury to the plaintiff are questions for the jury. Laber v. Koch, 383 N.W.2d 490, 493 (S.D.1986).10
[¶ 46.] Whether stopping the party would have diminished the risk of harm to Michael and other partygoers is yet another jury question. The conference opinion states that “[fjailure to diminish harm is not enough.” Supra ¶ 21 (citing Tipton II, supra). It is true that Andrade stands for the proposition that failure to decrease the risk of harm can *492not be the grounds upon which duty is imposed. However, Andrade goes on to state that failure to decrease the risk of harm “goes to whether, assuming the legal duty exists, it was breached.” 391 N.W.2d at 843 (emphasis added). As Andrade states, the duty can be established by the knowledge of the dangerous condition. It is axiomatic that questions of breach, proximate cause, and damages are resolved by the jury in all but the rarest of cases.
[¶47.] The essence of Gleasons’ claim is that violence should have been reasonably anticipated by the defendants, that it became their duty to protect Michael against it, and that their failure to perform that duty was negligence. There is “strong evidence” on three of the four factors, which is more than Tipton I, 538 N.W.2d at 787 or Cracraft v. City of St. Louis Park, 279 N.W.2d 801 (Minn.1979), require. Since resolution of this action hinges on the jury’s determination of disputed factual issues, i.e., whether the defendants had actual knowledge of the likelihood of violence, and if so, whether they breached a duty by not acting, summary judgment was improper. We should reverse and remand for trial on the merits.

. In his deposition, Smith testified that he was aware of the law allowing a minor to drink *488alcohol in the presence of a parent, guardian, or spouse. See SDCL 35-9-1 and -1.1. He conceded that if 10 underage drinkers were present, there must be 10 parents, guardians, or spouses also present to render the act of underage drinking non-criminal. Dean was also aware of this law.

. Dean also testified by deposition that he did not investigate further because of lack of probable cause, but later admitted that was the standard for arrest, not investigation. See State v. Soft, 329 N.W.2d 128, 129 (S.D.1983) ("A police officer, in performing his official work, may properly question persons when the circumstances reasonably indicate that it is necessary to the proper discharge of his duties.”) (quoting State v. Burkman, 281 N.W.2d 436, 439 (S.D.1979)). "[A] police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest.” State v. Boardman, 264 N.W.2d 503, 505-06 (S.D.1978) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 906 (1968)). "[I]n justifying the particular intrusion, the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the intrusion.” Id. at 506.

. One of the concerns associated with underage drinking is the danger of driving in an impaired condition. The defendants may have felt this risk was alleviated by 1) Huck’s statement that the gate would be locked to any person who was drinking and trying to leave the premises, and 2) the highway patrol officers who agreed to monitor traffic near the party. However, those "precautions” obviously did not eliminate other persons such as Michael from coming into contact with intoxicated minors. The defendants' reliance on this assurance was questionable because 1) they had never before met Huck, and 2) the gate was unlocked upon Smith's arrival. Additionally, when they returned to investigate the assault on Michael, Huck was asleep, yet the party had not ended.

. The significance of this party constituting a public nuisance is that the statute narrows the class of persons intended to be protected by its provisions. If it were meant to extend a duty of protection to the public as a whole, it would not make sense to list the three categories of persons to whom it is directed. "[Tlhis court must assume that the Legislature meant what the statute says and therefore give its words and phrases a plain meaning and effect.” In re Estate of Gossman, 1996 SD 124, ¶ 6, 555 N.W.2d 102, 104 (citing Nilson v. Clay County, 534 N.W.2d 598, 601 (S.D.1995)). SDCL 2-14-1 provides that when construing and giving effect to our statutes, "words used are to be understood in their ordinary sense.... ” As the plain language of SDCL 21-10-3 states, the persons to be protected are a "community,” a "neighborhood," or “any considerable number of persons.” Both Smith and Dean testified that there were at least thirly people present at the party, which amounts to a "considerable number of persons.”

. Cf. SDCL 9-29-13: "Every municipality shall have power to declare what shall constitute a nuisance and prevent, abate, and remove the same.” See also Wynkoop v. Mayor & City Council of Hagerstown, 159 Md. 194, 150 A. 447, 449 (1930) ("[W]here the municipality is authorized by the Legislature to abate nuisances, the authority carries with it the duty to exercise it, and where it either fails to adopt such ordinances as may be necessary to the reasonable performance of that duty, or to exercise reasonable diligence in enforcing them when adopted, it will be answerable to any private individual injured as a result of its default.”).

.See Runkel v. City of New York, 282 A.D. 173, 123 N.Y.S.2d 485, 489 (1953), where the City of New York was held liable for failing to abate a known nuisance when neighborhood children were injured while playing in a dangerous, abandoned building. The children were found to come within the class of persons intended to be protected by the nuisance statutes. The court relied on N.Y. Mult. Dwell. Law § 309, which defines "nuisance” in part as any public nuisance known at common law and "whatever is dangerous to human life or detrimental to health.” See also Union County v. Hoffman, 512 N.W.2d 168, 170 (S.D.1994) (analyzing whether mobile home park was a public nuisance by examining its effect on residents of the park). As noted, the Legislature has declared a place where alcohol is used in violation of the laws of the state a nuisance as a matter of law.

. See Muhlenkort v. Union County Land Trust, 530 N.W.2d 658, 662 (S.D.1995) ("To establish a duty on the part of the defendant, it must be foreseeable that a party would be injured by the defendant's failure to discharge that duty.”); Mark, Inc. v. Maguire Ins. Agency, Inc., 518 N.W.2d 227, 229-30 (S.D.1994) (“Whether a duty exists depends on the foreseeability of injury.”); see also Mid-Western Elec., Inc. v. DeWild Grant Reckert & Assocs. Co., 500 N.W.2d 250, 254 (S.D.1993) ("We instruct trial courts to use the legal concept of foreseeability to determine whether a duty exists."); Champagne v. Spokane Humane Soc'y, 47 Wash.App. 887, 737 P.2d 1279, 1283 (1987) (noting that the "privity” necessary to impose liability despite the public duty doctrine refers to the relationship between the entity and any reasonably foreseeable plaintiff); Wytupeck v. City of Camden, 25 N.J. 450, 136 A.2d 887, 894 (1957) (holding city responsible for injuries to minor and noting that the relationship between the parties is founded upon the foreseeability of harm to the person in fact injured) (paraphrasing Judge Cardozo's writing in Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928)).

. The jury can also consider the defendants’ resources and its resource allocation policy in answering the question whether the defendants owed a duty to Michael and others similarly situated. However, this is really a non-issue under the nuisance statutes because the defendants had the opportunity to stop the party at no cost by assessing the real estate or suing the owner. SDCL 21-10-6. The public duty rule stems, at least in part, from a concern that individuals could affect the manner in which limited public resources are utilized. As this statute makes clear, the defendants are afforded an opportunity to carry out their duty without depleting any resources. Therefore, this concern is not present in a suit brought under the nuisance statutes, and should be considered by the jury, not withheld from the jury as done by the trial court.

.Ordinarily, the question of whether a duty exists is a question of law for the court. Here, the answer to that question rests upon substantial issues of material fact that are rightfully jury questions. Swiden Appliance & Furniture, Inc. v. National Bank of SD, 357 N.W.2d 271, 277 (S.D.1984); accord City of Gary v. Odie, 638 N.E.2d 1326, 1329-30 (Ind.Ct.App.1994) ("Factual questions may be interwoven with the determination of the existence of a relationship, rendering the existence of a duty a mixed question of law and fact, ultimately to be resolved by the fact-finder.”) (citation omitted).