Hutcherson v. City of Phoenix

933 P.2d 1251, 188 Ariz. 183, 227 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 1996 Ariz. App. LEXIS 217
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 8, 1996
Docket1 CA-CV 94-0202
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 933 P.2d 1251 (Hutcherson v. City of Phoenix) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hutcherson v. City of Phoenix, 933 P.2d 1251, 188 Ariz. 183, 227 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 1996 Ariz. App. LEXIS 217 (Ark. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

OPINION

NOYES, Judge.

On February 24,1990, Chiquita Burt called a City of Phoenix 911 operator and, initially, said that “someone just keeps harassing me” and he was threatening to do something to the car of her boyfriend, Darryl Usher. After further conversation, the 911 operator took Usher’s address and said, “[Wje’ll send an officer out there.” About eighteen minutes later, Burt’s ex-boyfriend, Craig Gardner, broke into Usher’s apartment and shot and killed Usher, Burt, and himself. The victims’ mothers filed wrongful death actions against the City, claiming that the 911 operator mishandled the call and that, but for this fault, police would have arrived at Usher’s apartment in time to prevent the murders. The City denied that the 911 operator was at fault and claimed that all fault was Gardner’s.

After a three-week trial, the jury awarded $600,000 to Plaintiff Hutcherson for the loss of her daughter and $1,100,000 to Plaintiff Usher for the loss of her son. The jury found the City seventy-five percent at fault and Gardner twenty-five percent at fault. After denying post-trial motions, the court multiplied the damages verdicts by the percentage of fault assigned to the City and entered judgments against the City in the amount of $450,000 for Plaintiff Hutcherson and $825,000 for Plaintiff Usher.

The City’s appeal argues error in all elements of the case. Plaintiffs’ cross-appeal [187]*187argues error in assigning any fault to Gardner. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. section 12-210KB) and (F)(1) (1994).

We affirm the liability and damages verdicts. Pursuant to Rule 59(a)(8), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule”), we reverse and remand for new trial on apportionment of fault. The evidence does not justify a verdict that the 911 operator was three times as much at fault for the wrongful deaths of Plaintiffs’ decedents as Gardner, who intentionally shot and killed Plaintiffs’ decedents.

The 911 Call

An appellate court must view the facts in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict and judgment. McFarlin v. Hall, 127 Ariz. 220, 224, 619 P.2d 729, 733 (1980). Because the litigation focused in microscopic detail on a four-and-a-half minute telephone conversation, we set forth a transcript of that tape-recorded call. The City’s 911 calls are numbered in the order received. Burt’s call on February 24 was number 106,572, meaning that the City’s 911 operators handled about 1,940 calls a day in the first fifty-five days of 1990. We have heard the tape of Burt’s 911 call; all voices on it sound relatively calm and controlled.

Operator (0):

This is 911. What is your emergency.

Chiquita Burt (C):

Um yes. I’m calling because someone just keeps harassing me and last night I got a restraining order on him and I can’t get it through until Monday. So I was calling to see, what can I, what kind of process can I go through because he’s threatening to do something to my boyfriend’s car.
O: Okay. Hold on, let me take you off the emergency line first.
C: Okay. Thanks.
O: How are you being harassed?
C: Um, last night he tried to assault me and then he was threatening my family and me, telling me that he was going to kill us, and stuff like that, and um I had two guys that helped me out of the club because he tried to do something to me. And then so last night, I went to Tempe; and then I called the um Phoenix Police Department and we met ’em and we told them what happened, and so the police officer said that he would take all the information and that he would put it through and to let every — you know, I guess to let the police, ya know, the other polices know that I did file a complaint towards this guy.
O: Uh huh.
C: And so now today he got the number to where my boyfriend lives and he’s trying ’ta um, he just called over here and pretended like he was somebody else to see if I was here, and then he’s threatening to walk around the apartments until he finds his car, and he’s gonna do something to his car, so I don’t know, could you have somebody go over there to his house, or something?
O: Is he an ex-boyfriend or something?
C: Yeah, he is. And um, my boyfriend said if he comes over here, he’s gonna shoot him. ’Cause he’s been doing this all night. And then last night he went to my girlfriend’s house about twice, one at three in the morning and one at five in the morning.
O: Okay.
C: So either you can bring the police over here and I’ll go to his house with the police or—
0: Well, do you have a restraining order that has to be served or you don’t got one now?
C: I was, I was in the process of the restraining order last night, and the um cop I talked to, he says that it wouldn’t go through until, ah, ’till Monday.
0: Well, you, you have to go to the justice of the peace court or to ’tha municipal court to get one. The officers can’t give you one.
C: Okay, right, that’s what he said. He gave me all the information, but I’m talk[188]*188ing about, about right now. What can I do?
O: Where does he five? Nearby or something?
C: Yeah, he lives close.
0: Well, how close is close to where you’re at now?
C: I’m, like five minutes, not even five minutes away.
0: Well, where are you calling from?
C: Phoenix.
0: Where?
C: Off of 52nd Street and Van Burén. At the ah, what’s the name of the apartments, Darryl? Ciera Del, Del Rey Apartments.
0: And where does he live, though?
C: He lives off 52nd Street in the Boulder Creek Apartments, not that far from here. And he just called here and hung up. Pretended like he was someone else.
0: Did he say he was coming over?
C: Yeah.
0: Well, we can have an officer come out there and take some information. If he happens to show up, though, before an officer gets there, you need to call us right away, okay, and tell us he’s there now. What is the actual address you’re at?
[Dialogue about addresses and phone numbers omitted.]
C: [Darryl’s] gonna run and check the apartment number. Oh, ok. Because he just moved here so he’s going to check to see what they’re called.
0: Okay.
C: He plays football and I don’t want him to get in trouble or anything, but he’s gonna, if the guy comes over here, you know ’cause he has been, he’s been threatening me all night, you know, that’s why I came over here, because he went to my girlfriend’s house twice in a row looking for me, you know, and I’m — I’m just trying to prevent somebody from getting hurt.
0: Okay, he fives on 52nd Street and what?

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Hutcherson v. City of Phoenix
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Bluebook (online)
933 P.2d 1251, 188 Ariz. 183, 227 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 1996 Ariz. App. LEXIS 217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hutcherson-v-city-of-phoenix-arizctapp-1996.