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City argues it's immune from lawsuit
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FarkPIERRE -- A lawyer said Tuesday that Rapid City's municipal government should not be held responsible for permanent brain damage suffered by a teenager who was riding in a car that crashed into a city park pond in December 2000.
The justices were told during a high court session that cities are immune from lawsuits over the safety of streets.
John Nooney, representing the city, said the 1939 Legislature repealed a law that had required cities to make roads safe. Neither cities, counties, townships nor the state can be held responsible for traffic accidents, he said.
The crash was caused by the inattentiveness of the driver, Charrisa Hitchcock, then 16, Nooney said. Her car slid off a sharp curve on a slippery road in Canyon Lake Park when she looked down to retrieve something from the floor of her car, the city's lawyer said.
Nooney also said Hitchcock had driven in the park many times before and was going much faster than the posted 10 mph speed limit.
"It just happened to be on this particular evening, as teenagers will do from time to time, that they're driving the vehicle and being relatively inattentive for myriad reasons," he said. "She lost control of her car, partially probably because she was driving three times the speed limit."
When the car flipped into the water, Adam Hohm was submerged for several minutes and suffered brain damage. He is unable to feed, clothe or otherwise care for himself and will need continuous help for the rest of his life.
His family sued, and a Pennington County jury awarded $3.85 million from the city and $3.15 million from Hitchcock.
Steven Oberg, a lawyer for Hohm, urged the Supreme Court to uphold the judgment against the city. Several other vehicles had earlier tumbled into the pond, and the city knew the park curve was dangerous, he said.
"In those instances where a public entity ... has specifically identified a hazard, it cannot stand idly by while that hazard knowingly exists," Oberg said.
"They didn't erect a sign. They didn't salt or sand to increase friction at that location. They did nothing," Hohm's lawyer told the justices.
Justice John K. Konenkamp wondered what would happen if the high court decides cities can be sued for failing to keep roads safe and free of danger.
"Are we opening up cities in South Dakota to an avalanche of lawsuits where every time someone misjudges the turn or runs a red light or runs into someone else that there's going to be a lawsuit that not only brings in the people involved in the accident but now every time they bring the city in and claim that they should have had a turning lane, they should've had wider corners, the yellow light should have been longer?
"You can see the infinite variety here once we say there's liability," Konenkamp said.
Chief Justice David Gilbertson asked Nooney, the city lawyer, if Rapid City had a duty to put up a warning sign or fix a dangerous corner if officials were aware of the problem.
"It doesn't," Nooney responded.
"So, they can just cavalierly ignore it?" Gilbertson asked.
Yes, Nooney said.
"It's no different than a county or township. If counties or townships were held to some obligation, every time someone was errant, disregarded laws, went off dead man's corner, so to speak. If that creates some obligation, who knows where we'd be?"
The justices will announce their decision on a later date.
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