Burton v. Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority

530 N.W.2d 696, 1995 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 90, 1995 WL 246293
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 26, 1995
Docket93-1963
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 530 N.W.2d 696 (Burton v. Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burton v. Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority, 530 N.W.2d 696, 1995 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 90, 1995 WL 246293 (iowa 1995).

Opinions

SNELL, Justice.

Shumaine Burton was injured by a car that struck him after he left a city bus and attempted to cross the street. Shumaine, by his representatives, sued the defendant, Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority, claiming that the MTA was negligent and caused the accident. The trial court held as a matter of law that neither assertion could be established. Plaintiffs appeal; we affirm.

I. Factual Background

On Saturday, February 9, 1991, Shumaine Burton, a ten-year-old boy, boarded an MTA bus, alone, in downtown Des Moines. Shu-maine was heading to his home located north of University Avenue. He had been riding MTA buses with his mother since he was four years old. Shumaine began riding public buses alone, with his mother’s knowledge [698]*698and consent, when he was approximately nine years old. He rode on the bus alone almost every day for approximately six months prior to the accident.

The bus traveled from downtown Des Moines and eventually headed east on East University Avenue. The bus passed the intersection of East 16th Street and East University and stopped near a posted stop on the side of the southern-most eastbound lane. This stop is across from where McCormick Street forms a “T” intersection with East University. East University is a four-lane street with two lanes each running east and west.

No marked crosswalk, sidewalk, stop sign, or traffic lights exist at the location of the stop. There is a strip of land on which a person may stand between an embankment and the southern eastbound lane of East University. The area of land directly to the south of the street is an undeveloped grass field.

After the bus stopped, Shumaine exited through the front door. After exiting the bus, Shumaine proceeded a short distance in an easterly direction on the south side of the road. He then turned and stepped off the curb into the street to cross the street from its south side to its north side. Shannon Smith, a passenger in a car headed west on East University, saw Shumaine “look both ways” before stepping into the street. The driver of the car, Marysue E. McMulin, slowed the car because she saw that Shu-maine was going to cross the street. McMu-lin also observed Shumaine “look both ways” before stepping into the street. As Shu-maine attempted to cross, a vehicle driven by Houng Dinh Kouang passed the bus in the northern eastbound lane and struck Shu-maine causing him serious injuries.

Shumaine’s mother, Lovella White Agnew, individually, and Shumaine, by his co-conservators, Hawkeye Bank of Des Moines and his mother, brought an action against Kouang and La Q Rasavanh, the owner of the vehicle Kouang was driving at the time of the accident. The parties settled this matter, prior to trial, for $200,000. In February of 1992, the co-conservators filed a petition against the MTA which alleged, generally, that the MTA was negligent for: (1) failing to exercise reasonable care in providing bus transportation; (2) failing to exercise the degree of care required of a public carrier; (3) locating a bus stop at an unsafe location; (4) failing to warn Shumaine of the dangers associated with crossing the street at the location of the stop and under the existing conditions; (5) failing to maintain a lookout for traffic passing the bus; and (6) failing to exercise reasonable care.

The MTA filed a motion for summary judgment requesting the trial court to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims on the ground that, based on the undisputed facts, the MTA did not owe Shumaine a duty of care as a matter of law after he had alighted from the bus. MTA further argued that even if it did owe a duty, no actions of the MTA constituted a breach of its duty or a proximate cause of Shumaine’s injuries. The MTA also asserted that the Kouang vehicle was an independent, intervening cause.

The trial court granted the MTA’s motion for summary judgment on all grounds the MTA asserted. The court held that the MTA’s duty to exercise care for Shumaine terminated when he safely alighted from the bus. The court further held that the location of the stop was safe, and even if the stop had been unsafe, there was no legal nexus between any act of the MTA and the accident. For this reason no actions of the MTA could have constituted a proximate cause of Shu-maine’s injuries.

Shumaine’s co-conservators have appealed the trial court’s decision to this court. .On appeal, the co-conservators argue: (1) the MTA owed a duty of care to Shumaine to guard him against foreseeable danger after he had alighted from the bus, due to his age; (2) the bus stop did not constitute a safe place for a child of Shumaine’s age to alight; (3) the law charged the MTA with a duty to warn Shumaine of the dangers of exiting the bus at the location of the stop; (4) sufficient evidence exists to demonstrate the MTA breached the duty of care it owed Shumaine; and (5) sufficient evidence exists to show the MTA’s actions constituted a proximate cause of Shumaine’s injuries.

[699]*699II. Standard and Scope of Review

When reviewing a trial court grant of a motion for summary judgment, we consider the evidence in the entire record in the light most favorable to the non-movant and determine whether any issue as to any material fact exists. Ciha v. Irons, 509 N.W.2d 492, 493 (Iowa 1993); West Bend Mut. Ins. Co. v. Iowa Iron Works, Inc., 503 N.W.2d 596, 598 (Iowa 1993). Summary judgment is appropriate if no issue as to any material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ciha, 509 N.W.2d at 493; West Bend Mut. Ins., 503 N.W.2d at 598. We review the district court’s decision for errors of law. Iowa R.App.P. 4; Ciha, 509 N.W.2d at 493; Keller v. State, 475 N.W.2d 174, 179 (Iowa 1991).

III. Existence of Duty of Care

The co-conservators argue that the issue of the existence of a duty of care on the part of the MTA toward Shumaine should have been submitted to the jury. The co-conservators assert that issues of material fact existed with regard to whether the MTA had a duty of care to Shumaine under the circumstances and therefore, the trial court erred in granting the MTA’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court held that, as a matter of law, the MTA owed no duty of care to Shumaine beyond that existing in the normal carrier/passenger situation.

It is axiomatic that the .threshold question in any negligence action is whether the defendant owed the plaintiff a legal duty. Shaw v. Soo Line R.R., 463 N.W.2d 51, 53 (Iowa 1990). Duty is a question of whether the relationship between the actor and the injured person gives rise to any legal obligation on the actor’s part for the benefit of the injured person. Leonard v. State, 491 N.W.2d 508, 509 (Iowa 1992). Whether a particular duty arises out of parties’ relationship is always a matter of law for the court to decide. Leonard, 491 N.W.2d at 509; Shaw, 463 N.W.2d at 53; Engstrom v. State, 461 N.W.2d 309, 315 (Iowa 1990); Poe v. City of Detroit,

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Bluebook (online)
530 N.W.2d 696, 1995 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 90, 1995 WL 246293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burton-v-des-moines-metropolitan-transit-authority-iowa-1995.