"As in many cases, this fatal accident has multiple causes," he wrote. "Would we have dismissed the tort claims against the city under the public-duty doctrine in (the Urbandale case) if a third-party pedestrian tripped on the uneven sidewalk and fell into the plaintiff, knocking her down? No."Īppel, in his one-page concurrence, wrote that he agreed with the result but would have gone further and eliminated the public-duty doctrine. The decision draws from a 2021 decision holding that a woman who tripped on an uneven Urbandale sidewalk could sue for her injuries, and Waterman wrote that the addition of a third party does not change that analysis, since both Beary's and the defendants' actions contributed to the crash.
"According to the pleadings, the government defendants’ affirmative negligence created a dangerous condition on their own property that was a cause of the fatal accident," Waterman wrote, noting that the court must take the plaintiff's allegations as true at this stage in the case.įrom 2018: Two Des Moines police officers, killed by a drunk driver, honored as models of public service But Waterman wrote in his opining that although the doctrine applies when a government fails to remove a hazard, it doesn't when the government's actions created the dangerous condition. The public duty doctrine generally protects governments from liability in cases where a third party, such as a drunken driver, directly caused the harm to which the government allegedly contributed.
But Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman, writing for the five-justice majority, found that ruling had misapplied the "public-duty" doctrine. Justice Brent Appel wrote a separate, concurring opinion and Justice Matthew McDermott did not take part in the case.įor subscribers: Families of Des Moines police officer, Floyd County motorcyclist lose suits blaming intersections' designs for fatal crashes The appeals court ruled the governments were protected from liability. The suit alleges negligence and other forms of liability in the design, construction and maintenance of the intersection. View Gallery: 3 photos: The diverging diamond intersectionįarrell's family in their suit contend it contributed to Beary's mistake in entering the freeway going the wrong direction, and say the state and the two cities provided insufficient signage and lighting for the interchange.
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