Williams v. Kentucky Department of Education

113 S.W.3d 145, 2003 WL 21990525
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 23, 2003
Docket2000-SC-0342-DG
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 113 S.W.3d 145 (Williams v. Kentucky Department of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Kentucky Department of Education, 113 S.W.3d 145, 2003 WL 21990525 (Ky. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

Justice COOPER.

At approximately 10:15 a.m. on Friday, April 28, 1989, Anthony Wayne Williams was killed in an automobile accident in Floyd County, Kentucky. At the time of his death, Williams was sixteen years of age and a member of the junior class at Betsy Layne High School. School was in session and Williams should have been at a school-sponsored extracurricular activity, i.e., decorating the school gymnasium in preparation for the junior-senior prom. Instead, he was riding as a passenger in an automobile operated by another student, Julie Hall. Both Hall and Williams had already consumed an undetermined quantity of alcoholic beverages and were on their way to a liquor store to purchase more. The accident occurred when Hall lost control of the vehicle, causing it to leave the roadway and overturn. Williams, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle and crushed to death when the vehicle rolled on top of him. The administrator of Williams’s estate brought this wrongful death action in the Board of Claims alleging that negligent supervision of the extracurricular activity by the high school faculty was a substantial factor in causing his death. His parents also brought separate actions for loss of consortium. All three claims were asserted against the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Department of Education (DOE).

After hearing the evidence, the Board of Claims dismissed all three claims, holding that the duty to prevent harm by providing reasonable supervision is a regulatory function, the negligent performance of which does not give rise to a cause of action. On appeal, the Floyd Circuit Court affirmed, concluding that (1) the Board’s decision was supported by substantial evidence, CR 52.01; (2) the claims *148 asserted by Appellants were not claims for which relief could be granted, CR 12.02(f); and (3) Appellants had not proven “the essential elements of negligence.” On further appeal, the Court of Appeals concluded that the DOE is not -vicariously liable for the negligence of employees of a local board of education because “it is a separate entity from the local board.” We affirm the dismissal of the claims for loss of consortium but reverse the dismissal of the claim for wrongful death. Because the Board of Claims dismissed that claim without reaching the issues of negligence, causation, apportionment, or damages, we remand to the Board for further proceedings on those issues.

I. NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION.

It is well established in this jurisdiction that a school teacher can be held liable for injuries caused by negligent supervision of his/her students. Yanero v. Davis, Ky., 65 S.W.3d 510, 529 (2001); Wesley v. Page, Ky., 514 S.W.2d 697, 699 (1974) (“The very adventuresome nature of teenagers leads to experimentation and should place a teacher on notice that he can look forward not only to the expected but also to the unexpected.”). The basic premise for this duty is that a child is compelled to attend school 1 so that “the protective custody of teachers is mandator-ily substituted for that of the parent.” Yanero, supra, at 529 (quoting McLeod v. Grant County Sch. Dist. No. 128, 42 Wash.2d 316, 255 P.2d 360, 362 (1953)). The “special relationship” thus formed between a school district and its students imposes an affirmative duty on the district, its faculty, and its administrators to take all reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to its students. Leger v. Stockton Unified Sch. Dist., 202 Cal.App.3d 1448, 249 Cal.Rptr. 688, 693-94 (1988); Doe Parents No. 1 v. State, Dep’t of Educ., 100 Hawai'i 34, 58 P.3d 545, 590-92 (2002); Eversole v. Wasson, 80 Ill.App.3d 94, 35 Ill.Dec. 296, 398 N.E.2d 1246, 1247 (1980); McLeod, supra, at 362-63; cf. Lane v. Commonwealth, Ky., 956 S.W.2d 874, 876-82 (1997) (Cooper, J., concurring). See also Restatement (Second) of Torts § 314A(4) (1965) (“One who is required by law to take or. who voluntarily takes the custody of another under circumstances such as to deprive the other of his normal opportunities for protection is under a similar duty [to protect the other against unreasonable risk of physical harm].”), cmt. d (“The duty to protect the other against unreasonable risk of harm extends to risks arising out of the actor’s own conduct.”), § 320, cmt. b (“The circumstances under which the custody of another is taken and maintained may be such as to deprive him of' ... the protection of someone who, if present, would be under a duty to protect him, or though under no such duty would be likely to do so.... So, too, a child while in school is deprived of the protection of his parents or guardian. Therefore, the actor who takes custody of a ... child is properly required to give him the protection which the custody or the manner in which it is taken has deprived him.”).

The “findings of fact” of the Board of Claims’s administrative law judge (ALJ) largely consists of a summary of the testimony of the various witnesses who appeared at the hearing. The testimony was in many respects contradictory and the ALJ did not specify which testimony he believed to be accurate and which he believed to be inaccurate. Thus, for purposes of determining whether the evidence *149 was sufficient to have sustained findings of negligence and causation, we assume as accurate the facts most favorable to Appellants.

The junior-senior prom was scheduled for Saturday night, April 29, 1989. By tradition, the junior class was charged with decorating the gymnasium for the prom on the immediately preceding school day while the senior class enjoyed a “skip day,” an unauthorized but unpunished absence from school. Apparently, the seniors would report to school so as to be recorded as in attendance then depart without authorization to engage in less scholarly pursuits. In 1989, the junior class sponsors, Mr. Stratton, Mrs. Fraley, and Mrs. Jones, determined that two days would be needed to complete the prom decorations and that, to minimize classroom absences, those junior class members with last names beginning with the letters A — M would decorate on Thursday, April 27th, and those with last names beginning with the letters N — Z would decorate on Friday, April 28th. Under this arrangement, there would be approximately 100 students at the gymnasium each day. 2

The gymnasium was located on the elementary school campus approximately two miles from the high school. The original plan was for the decorators to travel from the high school to the gymnasium in private vehicles owned and operated by students. Each member of the junior class was given a “permission slip” to be signed by that student’s parent authorizing this proposed method of transportation. Neither of Anthony Williams’s parents signed the permission slip.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
113 S.W.3d 145, 2003 WL 21990525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-kentucky-department-of-education-ky-2003.