The
SD Supreme Court handed down one decision this morning, holding inter alia:
- Tort claims denied
against Mother of adult Son
Summary
follows:
KOENIG
v. LONDON, 2021 S.D. 69: At the
conclusion of the underlying criminal proceeding for aggravated assault against
a law enforcement officer, this civil action was filed by the injured Highway
Patrolman and his wife for damages against the 42 year old shooter (Son) and
his Mother. The claims against the
Mother included negligence, negligent supervision, negligent entrustment of
firearms, and breach of an assumed legal duty in regard to the Son’s conduct in
connection with the firearms. The trial
court granted summary judgment for Mother and the SD Supreme Court affirmed,
holding:
[¶50.] The circuit court did not err when it found [Mother] owed no
duty to Sergeant Koenig under a general negligence theory because she was not
in a special relationship with [Son]. Nor is [Mother] subject to a legal duty based upon her own
conduct because it did not create a foreseeable high risk of harm. The court
also did not err when it determined that [Mother] did not gratuitously assume a duty to
supervise [Son].
This
decision is unanimous (5-0) with opinion authored by Justice Salter. Former Chief Justice Gilbertson participate
in this decision which was orally argued some 14 months ago on Oct. 5,
2020.
This
decision may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
