Fenrich v. Blake Sch.

920 N.W.2d 195
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 21, 2018
DocketA17-0063
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 920 N.W.2d 195 (Fenrich v. Blake Sch.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fenrich v. Blake Sch., 920 N.W.2d 195 (Mich. 2018).

Opinions

LILLEHAUG, Justice.

*198A 16-year-old high-school student caused a fatal accident while driving his cross-country teammates and a volunteer coach to an extracurricular athletic competition in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Gary Fenrich was killed and his wife, appellant JeanAnn Fenrich, was severely injured. She brought a negligence action against respondent The Blake School ("the school"). The district court granted the school's motion for summary judgment, concluding that, as a matter of law, the school did not owe a duty of care to members of the general public. The court of appeals affirmed, but on a different ground, holding that the school's conduct did not create a foreseeable risk of injury to a foreseeable plaintiff. Because summary judgment was not proper in the circumstances of this case, we reverse the court of appeals.

FACTS

On November 12, 2011, shortly before 11:00 a.m., Gary Fenrich was driving northbound on Minnesota Highway 15 in Watonwan County. His wife, JeanAnn Fenrich, was in the front seat on the passenger side. An oncoming car crossed over the centerline and collided with the Fenrichs. Gary was killed and JeanAnn suffered serious injuries.

The car that crossed the centerline was driven by T.M., a 16-year-old boy. T.M. was a member of the school's cross-country team. He was driving himself, two other members of the team, and the team's volunteer coach as part of a team trip to Sioux Falls.

The team had participated in the interscholastic Minnesota State High School League ("the League") season, which had just ended. But T.M. and his teammates were going to the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional meet in Sioux Falls. The Nike meet was not a League-sponsored event and, because it occurred after the League's official season had ended, the team's coaches were not allowed to help prepare the team for it. Nevertheless, both the head coach and the assistant coach assisted the team as the Nike meet approached.

The Nike meet was listed on the team's official schedule, which was posted on the team website.1 At least four posts were made on the website referencing the upcoming Nike meet. For example, during the League season, the head coach sent an email to the team members and parents stating: "Sunday, November 13th, the Nike Heartland Regional meet in Sioux Falls. All varsity and top JV runners encouraged to participate. Talk to [the assistant coach] for details."

Team members were instructed to tell the coaches in writing if they were planning to attend the Nike meet. Fourteen members of the team signed up, and the assistant coach paid the team's $300 bulk meet-participation fee.

Because the official League season had ended, and in an effort to comply with League rules, the assistant coach arranged *199for a volunteer coach-a recent graduate of the school-to run practices the week before the Nike meet. The assistant coach emailed the team: "All practices are run by Captains, (and [the volunteer coach] ) this week."

Although the team members were nominally responsible for arranging their own lodging and transportation to the Nike meet, the team's coaches helped coordinate the arrangements. On November 7, the assistant coach sent out the following email to a team parent:

I am stopping by the school before practice to make sure everyone has coordinated rides and rooms for this weekend. If [your son] gets a chance, it would be nice if he could get [in] an easy run before dinner.
We are very excited with the number of runners that signed up for the meet (officially completed as well, as I submitted/paid early this morning). This will be a lot of fun and a great way to end the sea[s]on.

Two days later, the coaches received an email from T.M.'s mother that read, in relevant part:

[T.M.], his dad and I just finished a conversation about transportation for the race this weekend. It sounds like [T.M.] (and the boys) would like to have a caravan down and back with you. We are very comfortable with [T.M.'s] driving skills and he's legal now to have passengers, and we are fine with him taking our car. Given the long distance though, we would like to know that he is following you, and won't be venturing to Sioux Falls and back without an adult at least in [the] rear view mirro[r]s. All we would need is you to confirm that is the plan .... Please know that [T.M.'s father] is willing to drive as well, if you would prefer that, but we understand also that 'Coach plus kids' sounds like a more fun venture for [T.M.] and the boy team runners ....

The assistant coach called the head coach to ask whether he was comfortable with T.M. driving. The head coach replied that he did not get involved with those decisions. The assistant coach then replied to the email stating: "That works, we will drive in a caravan at a safe speed!"

On the morning of November 12, the students met at the assistant coach's house in Chanhassen for the two-car "caravan" to Sioux Falls. The assistant coach estimated that they would be on the road for about five hours. The majority of the team rode with the assistant coach, including the assistant coach's own son.

Three people rode with T.M.: two students and the volunteer coach, who was located in the back seat behind T.M. Although T.M.'s mother stated that T.M. could legally drive multiple passengers, this assertion is not supported by the record. T.M. obtained his driver's license on June 17, 2011, and all three of his passengers, including the volunteer coach, were under the age of 20. See Minn. Stat. § 171.055, subd. 2(c) (2016) ("For the first six months of provisional licensure, a provisional license holder may not operate a motor vehicle carrying more than one passenger under the age of 20 years who is not a member of the holder's immediate family.").

Before departing, the assistant coach gave no driving instructions to either T.M. or the volunteer coach. Nor did the volunteer coach give T.M. any instructions.

T.M. followed the assistant coach's car. During a brief stop outside of Mankato, the assistant coach reminded T.M. to "make sure we keep it safe and keep rolling." He provided no specific instructions as to how "we keep it safe." Thereafter, *200the vehicles turned southbound onto Highway 15, a two-lane highway.

As the vehicles approached Lewisville, in Watonwan County, the volunteer coach was in the back seat using his phone. According to the volunteer coach, T.M. was probably distracted by his own phone.2 As a result, T.M. swerved over the centerline of the highway, into oncoming traffic, and his car collided with the Fenrichs' vehicle. JeanAnn was severely injured, and Gary was killed.

After the accident, police interviewed the assistant coach and the volunteer coach. The volunteer coach described himself as "an assistant coach with the Blake Cross Country Team" and told police that "we all drove down as a team." The assistant coach told police that he had already talked to the school and told them that any future trips would need to be by bus. He also said: "[W]hy would [T.M.] even be driving that far ....

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
920 N.W.2d 195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fenrich-v-blake-sch-minn-2018.