Public-duty doctrine doesn't help fire department, high court rules

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - RALEIGH NC

The law that protects police officers from being sued by every crime victim does not extend to building inspectors, firefighters and other local-government employees, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday in two cases.

Sharon Lynn Lovelace sued the city of Shelby, claiming that it was negligent in the death of her daughter, Shayla, because of delays in dispatching firefighters to their home.

Evidence at the trial showed that Lovelace and two of her three children escaped from their house after it caught fire June 29, 1996. The house was about one mile from a fire station, but a dispatcher delayed sending fire trucks to the scene for six minutes after getting a 911 call. The department arrived about 10 minutes after the call was made.

''While plaintiff and others waited for the fire department to arrive, Shayla could be heard inside the house talking and calling for her mother,'' Justice Robert Orr wrote for the high court.

''Bystanders, including police officers who arrived on the scene before the fire department, made several attempts to enter the house, but the intensity of the flames thwarted their rescue attempts. Shayla was alive inside the house for several minutes immediately following the beginning of the fire and prior to the fire department's arrival.''

The trial judge rejected the city's argument that it had a general obligation to the public but not a specific obligation to Lovelace. The state Court of Appeals accepted that argument and ruled that Lovelace's lawsuit should be dismissed. The Supreme Court overruled that decision.

''The general common-law rule, known as the public-duty doctrine, is that a municipality and its agents act for the benefit of the public, and therefore, there is no liability for the failure to furnish police protection to specific individuals,'' Orr wrote. ''This rule recognizes the limited resources of law enforcement and refuses to judicially impose an overwhelming burden of liability for failure to prevent every criminal act.''

But the courts have never extended the public duty doctrine to other local-government agencies, Orr wrote.

The court also declined yesterday to extend the public-duty doctrine to building inspectors. Alex and Sheila Thompson sued Lee County for approving work done by a contractor they hired to build their home in 1994. ''The building inspectors for Lee County made periodic inspections of the home and were grossly negligent in that they approved construction that was in violation of the North Carolina State Building Code and good building practice,'' Chief Justice Henry Frye wrote for the court. ''Within two weeks of the completion of the home, plaintiffs began experiencing substantial structural defects, including stress fractures, cracks, settling of foundations, and shifting of walls.''

In other cases:

� The court ruled that government retirees who won refunds of income taxes they paid from 1989 to 1991 are due an extra three months' interest on the state's first $400 million payment to settle their lawsuit.

The suit involved state taxes on the pensions of state and local-government employees. The legislature approved a $799 million settlement in 1998 with the state and federal retirees, including an initial payment of $400 million to be deposited in a special account by July 1. But the court did not officially approve the settlement until Oct. 9, 1998.

The state had questioned whether interest earned on the $400 million from July 1 to Oct. 9 should go to the state or into the special retirees' account. Writing for the court, Justice Franklin Freeman ruled that the retirees should get the interest because the legislation and the court order indicated that the money was transferred to retirees July 1.

� The court ruled that there is no such crime as ''attempted second-degree murder'' in North Carolina.

Jerry Alfred Coble was tried on an attempted murder charge in Alamance County in 1999. Over his objections, the judge instructed the jury that they could find him guilty of attempted first-degree murder or attempted second-degree murder.

Published: April 8, 2000