Hollis v. City of Brighton

Summary

The Alabama Supreme Court reviews a summary judgment involving claims against the City of Brighton arising from the destruction of the plaintiffs’ home by fire. The court holds that creation of a volunteer fire department did not create an enforceable duty to provide skillful fire protection, and that volunteer firefighters’ statutory immunity precluded vicarious negligence liability against the City. The court reverses and remands as to the City’s potential vicarious liability for a police officer who ordered the plaintiffs not to reenter the burning house, concluding that the record did not establish immunity as a matter of law.

Holdings

1. A city does not undertake a legally enforceable duty to provide skillful fire protection merely by creating a volunteer fire department.
2. The City was entitled to summary judgment on the vicarious-liability claims arising from the volunteer firefighters' conduct because the firefighters were immune from negligence liability under the Volunteer Service Act, and a city cannot be vicariously liable for wanton conduct.
3. Summary judgment was improper on the claim that the City was vicariously liable for the policeman's order because the record did not establish, as a matter of law, that the order fell within the immunity provided by § 6-5-338(a) or any category of State-agent immunity.
4. Substantive immunity in the police-services context protects municipal decisions about whether to deploy officers or how many officers to deploy, but it does not immunize a municipality from vicarious liability for the tortious conduct of a particular officer who was on the scene.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the City's creation of a volunteer fire department imposed a legally enforceable duty to provide skillful fire protection.
2. Whether the Volunteer Service Act immunized the City from vicarious liability for the alleged negligence or wantonness of its volunteer firefighters.
3. Whether Alabama Code § 6-5-338(a), State-agent immunity, or substantive municipal immunity required summary judgment on the City's vicarious-liability claim arising from the policeman's order.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded