Fenrich v. Blake School

901 N.W.2d 223, 2017 WL 3863849, 2017 Minn. App. LEXIS 109
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 5, 2017
DocketA17-0063
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 901 N.W.2d 223 (Fenrich v. Blake School) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals 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 School, 901 N.W.2d 223, 2017 WL 3863849, 2017 Minn. App. LEXIS 109 (Mich. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

JOHNSON, Judge

A high-school student caused an automobile accident while driving himself and other students to an extra-curricular activity in his family’s vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle was killed, and a passenger of the other vehicle was injured. The issue in this appeal is whether the student’s school may be held hable to the persons in the other vehicle on the ground that the school was negligent. The district court answered that question in the negative, reasoning that a school does not owe a duty of reasonable care to the general public to protect against the tortious conduct of its students. We conclude that, in the circumstances of this case, the school is entitled to summary judgment because the automobile accident was not foreseeable. Therefore, we affirm.

FACTS

The Blake School is a private school in the Twin Cities, with a high school in Minneapolis. In 2011, the high school sponsored a cross-country running team that participated in inter-scholastic meets governed by the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL). The high school employed a head coach and a part-time assistant coach for the cross-country team.

One week after the end of the MSHSL cross-country season, Nike Inc. hosted the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional cross-country meet in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Several weeks before the Nike meet, the head coach sent an e-mail message to all team members and their parents, stating that “all varsity and top JV runners are encouraged to participate” in the Nike meet. Because the Nike meet was to occur after the MSHSL season, the school’s coaches determined that team members could not participate in the Nike meet on behalf of the school and, thus, that the school could not provide uniforms, transportation, or other resources. The assistant coach informed team members that they would be responsible for their own transportation and lodging. This information also was posted on the team’s website. The school’s coaches also determined that they could not conduct practices after the MSHSL season. A former team member, who had graduated from the school one and one-half years earlier and sometimes assisted on a volunteer basis, was available to lead “captains’ practices” during the week between the end of the MSHSL season and the Nike meet.

During that week, the assistant coach stopped by one of the captains’ practices to talk to team members to “make sure that they talked to their parents about the lodging and transportation.” Some team members said that they would like to ride to the Nike meet in the assistant coach’s [227]*227vehicle. Three days before the Nike meet,' the mother of T.M., a member of the team, sent an e-mail message to the head coach and the assistant coach concerning T.M.’s transportation to the Nike meet:

[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.j’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 wori’t be venturing to Sioux Falls and back without an adult at least in rear view mirrors. All we would need is you to confirm that is the plan, and perhaps your cell phone, so that we have a way to reach an adult if need be. I’m not able to go this weekend. 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. That’s what we are hearing tonight anyway. ... Please call if you want to discuss .... Let me know.

The assistant coach responded by writing, “That works, we will drive in a caravan at a safe speed!”

On the morning of Saturday, November 12, 2011, some team members met at the assistant coach’s home in Chanhassen to begin the journey to Sioux Falls. The assistant coach drove his personal vehicle, in which his son, who was a member of the team, and other team members were passengers. T.M. drove his family’s vehicle, in which two team members and the volunteer coach were passengers. The assistant coach suggested that-the volunteer coach ride with T.M. so -that the volunteer coach would not need to incur the expense of transporting himself to the meet.

Later that day, while driving on state highway 15 through Watonwan County, T.M. lost control of his vehicle, crossed over the center line, and collided with a vehicle in which JeanAnn Fenrich and her husband, Gary Fenrich, were traveling in the opposite direction; JeanAnn was injured, and Gary was killed. When a law-enforcement officer' conducted interviews later that day, the volunteer coach identified himself as “an assistant coach with the Blake Cross-Country Team.” The volunteer coach told the investigator that, shortly before the collision, the team members in the vehicle were using their cellular telephones or similar devices to play music and that T.M. might have “lost focus on what was ahead of him.”

In November 2014, JeanAnn Fenrich commenced this action. The complaint named the school, the head coach, the assistant coach, and the volunteer coach as defendants. Fenrich alleges that the defendants were negligent “by having [T.M.] drive himself [and others] to the Nike meet” and “by failing to provide adequate •supervision while [T.M.] drove himself [and others] to the Nike meet.” She alleges that the school is liable for its own negligence and is vicariously liable for the negligence of its agents. She seeks damages for her husband’s death and for her own injuries. The complaint acknowledges that Fenrich previously entered into a settlement agreement with T.M.

The district court resolved Fenrich’s claims at various stages of pre-trial proceedings. In May 2015, the district court granted a motion to dismiss the claims against the head coach arid the assistant coach on the ground that those two defendants were not properly- served within the applicable limitations ' period. In August 2016, the district court ruled on a motion [228]*228for summary judgment brought by the school and the volunteer coach. The district court essentially granted the motion in part by stating that the school does not have a duty “to protect third-party non-students from injury caused by the conduct of its students who are driving to a school-sponsored activity” but merely a duty “to protect its students from injury resulting from conduct of other students.” But the district court denied the motion in part with respect to the vicarious-liability claim on the ground that Fenrich presented sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable juror to find that T.M. “was acting as an agent of the school” or of the volunteer coach.

In October 2016, after a pre-trial conference, the district court issued an order clarifying that it had resolved Fenrich’s negligence claims against the school and the volunteer coach. The order stated that Fenrich was permitted to go to trial on her vicarious-liability claim. The school and. the volunteer coach then requested reconsideration of the district court’s May 2015 order, which had, among other things, denied a motion to dismiss Fenrich’s vicarious-liability claim. The district court agreed to reconsider and asked the parties to submit memoranda.

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Related

Fenrich v. Blake Sch.
920 N.W.2d 195 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
901 N.W.2d 223, 2017 WL 3863849, 2017 Minn. App. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fenrich-v-blake-school-minnctapp-2017.