March 1, 2023 – San Bernardino, California. FDM attorneys Daniel Modafferi and Gabriel Kontarovsky prevailed on an appeal from summary judgment in favor of San Bernardino City Unified School District and one of its administrators, in a lawsuit filed by students who witnessed a shooting at their elementary school. In its published opinion, the Court of Appeal held that the school district had no duty to prevent an unforeseeable criminal attack, such as the one the plaintiffs witnessed.
The shooting occurred in 2017, when a teacher’s husband came to the school with a concealed handgun and killed the teacher, a student, and himself. The plaintiffs were in the teacher’s classroom at the time and witnessed the incident. They sued the school district for negligence and dangerous condition of public property.
The undisputed evidence showed that the teacher’s husband had previously visited the school without incident and was known to the school staff. Therefore, after the husband checked in at the front desk, he was permitted to enter the school grounds. The plaintiffs argued that school shootings and domestic violence are so prevalent in modern life that the school should have a duty to prohibit all visitors from entering school grounds while students are present. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument and instead held that, absent specific evidence to the contrary, an attack by a known, trusted visitor, such as a teacher’s spouse, is speculative and not foreseeable. The Court explained that adopting the plaintiffs’ position would make every school responsible for preventing every act of domestic violence, no matter how unforeseeable. The Court ruled that this standard is unworkable and therefore inappropriate. Finally, the Court concluded that public policy factors counsel against imposing a duty on school districts to ensure that students are safe from third party criminal conduct of known visitors – including teachers’ spouses, and students’ parents and family members. The extent of the burden to shoulder such a duty and the consequences to school personnel would be extremely heavy. Because this is an unrealistic obligation, the Court affirmed the summary judgment in favor of the school district and the administrator.
The Court of Appeal’s opinion is published as follows: C.I. v. San Bernardino City Unified School District (2022) 82 Cal.App.5th 974.
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