Rodriguez v. City of Philadelphia, Department of Human Services

657 A.2d 105, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 157, 1995 WL 135085
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 30, 1995
DocketNo. 1420 C.D. 1994
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 657 A.2d 105 (Rodriguez v. City of Philadelphia, Department of Human Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. City of Philadelphia, Department of Human Services, 657 A.2d 105, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 157, 1995 WL 135085 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

KELTON, Senior Judge.

Maria Rodriguez, Administratrix of the estate of Maria Rodriguez; Maria Rodriguez and Jose Jorge, her husband; and Lillian and Jorge and Jose Jorge (Appellants) appeal from the February 7, 1994 orders of the Honorable Murray C. Goldman of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial court), granting the motions for summary judgment of the City of Philadelphia (the City) and the Young Women’s Christian Association of Philadelphia (YWCA).

The issues before us are (1) whether the City is immune from suit; and (2) whether the YWCA breached a duty owed to Appellants.1 We conclude that the City is immune from Appellants’ suit; therefore, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the City. We also conclude that the YWCA owed no duty to Appellants; therefore, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the YWCA.

Background

Appellants, the surviving immediate family members of Maria Rodriguez (Decedent), brought wrongful death and survival actions against the City and the YWCA. The City and the YWCA moved for summary judgment. The trial court assumed as true Appellants’ alleged facts for the purpose of deciding these motions.

Appellants contended that Decedent was killed by Louis Billa, a detainee from a work release detention center operated by the City in a facility leased from the YWCA. Billa had been sentenced to partial confinement at the center by two separate orders of the trial court. On January 8, 1987, while serving time at the center,

Billa left the detention center at an unauthorized time and without permission, despite the fact that his floor had a monitor on duty to prevent such behavior. Billa crossed the street and entered the home of the [Appellants]. Sixteen year old [Decedent] was home baby sitting her infant niece. There he brutally stabbed [Decedent], and while she was still alive, crushed her skull with a baseball bat. The deceased’s body was discovered later that afternoon by her sister and brother.

(Trial court opinion at 6.)

Under the lease agreement for the detention center between the YWCA and the City, the center was to be used as a residence for convicted criminals in the custody of the Department of Corrections. The City agreed in the lease to provide security guards and to prevent detainees from engaging in unsafe or immoral conduct. The City agreed to indemnify the YWCA for all liability for damage to any third party’s property or person occurring on the City’s leased [107]*107space. The YWCA retained the joint right to use the gymnasium and pool and the right to inspect the leased premises.

Appellants contended that the City had promised the community that only non-violent prisoners would reside at the facility and that the detainees would be confined to the facility unless travelling to and from jobs or treatment programs. Contrary to the City’s promises to the community, Appellants contended that the facility housed prisoners, including the detainee who murdered Decedent, with known dangerous propensities. Additionally, Appellants contended that detainees, among other infractions, roamed the neighborhood without permission, received drugs and alcohol at the facility, and engaged in behavior otherwise constituting a public nuisance. Appellants asserted that the YWCA knew or should have known of these infractions.

Appellants asserted negligence claims against the City, contending that the City had contractually waived its governmental immunity through its agreement in the lease to indemnify the YWCA for any harm caused by the City’s negligence. Appellants asserted a breach of contract claim against the YWCA, under a third party beneficiary theory, for its alleged failure to enforce the City’s promise to prevent unsafe detainee conduct. Appellants also asserted tort claims against the YWCA, as a landowner and/or lessor, for allegedly allowing the establishment and maintenance of a dangerous condition on its land.

In a well reasoned opinion, the trial court granted summary judgment for the City and the YWCA. With respect to Appellants’ claims against the City, the court held that, assuming arguendo that Appellants had stated a valid claim against the City at common law, Appellants’ cause of action did not fall within any exception to sovereign immunity enumerated in the Judicial Code.2 Further, the court held that the City had not waived its immunity by contract.

With respect to the breach of contract claim against the YWCA, the court determined that Appellants, neighbors of the facility, were not intended beneficiaries of the lease. Rather, the court determined that any safeguards in the lease were intended for the YWCA’s benefit as landlord. With respect to the negligence claims, the court held that, even assuming arguendo that the YWCA breached some duty owed to Appellants, the YWCA’s alleged negligence was not the proximate cause of Appellants’ injury. Rather, the court held, the murder of Decedent by the detainee was a superseding cause. The court reasoned that, the only infractions of which the YWCA may have been aware involved detainee rowdiness such as pulling cases of beer through the windows or urinating on public sidewalks; therefore, it was not foreseeable to the YWCA that any violence toward a neighborhood resident, let alone murder, would occur.

On appeal to this Court, with respect to the City, Appellants argue that Ludwin v. Port Authority Transit Corp., 102 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 36, 517 A.2d 1006 (1986), supports their contention that the City contractually waived its immunity through its agreement to indemnify the YWCA under the lease. Appellants concede the inapplicability of any exception to immunity under the Judicial Code, but argue that neither the Code nor case law prohibits a municipality from waiving its immunity by contract. With respect to the YWCA, Appellants argue that a violent crime committed against a neighborhood resident was a foreseeable result of the YWCA’s breach of contract and/or negligence.

Discussion

Contractual Waiver of Immunity of the City

We address first Appellants’ argument that the trial court erred in concluding [108]*108that the City is immune from suit despite an alleged waiver of immunity by contract.3 Appellants refer to the following indemnity provision of the lease:

Tenant will be responsible for and hereby relieves Landlord from and indemnifies Landlord against all liability by reason of any injury, damage or loss to any person or property which occurs in or about the Tenant’s Space, unless resulting from the negligence of Landlord.... Tenant further releases Landlord from all liability for damage to or loss of any property of Tenant or any third party which may result from the leakage of water into the Tenant’s Space, or from any other cause, unless resulting from the negligence of Landlord.

(R.R. at 41a-42a.) In arguing that this indemnity provision operates as a contractual waiver of immunity, Appellants rely on this Court’s statement in Ludwin that the terms of a similar indemnity provision in a lease “are tantamount to a waiver of immunity by the City.” Ludwin, 102 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. at 45, 517 A.2d at 1010. A complete reading of Ludwin,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Edison Learning, Inc. v. School District of Philadelphia
56 F. Supp. 3d 674 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2014)
McShea v. City of Philadelphia
995 A.2d 334 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
MASAD v. Weber
2009 SD 80 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2009)
Lakew v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
844 N.E.2d 263 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2006)
Looby v. Local 13 Productions
43 Pa. D. & C.4th 33 (Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
657 A.2d 105, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 157, 1995 WL 135085, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-city-of-philadelphia-department-of-human-services-pacommwct-1995.