Locke v. Ozark City Bd. of Educ.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed a summary judgment for the Ozark City Board of Education in a breach-of-contract action brought by a baseball umpire who was assaulted at a high school game. The court held that the evidence created genuine issues of material fact as to whether the umpire was an intended direct beneficiary of an agreement requiring adequate police protection and whether the Board breached that obligation. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Locke presented substantial evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact that the Board and the AHSAA intended the contractual requirement of adequate police protection to directly benefit umpires such as Locke.
2. Locke's claim sounded in contract, not tort, because he alleged that the Board failed to perform a contractual duty to provide police protection and that the failure caused his injury.
3. The rule that a person generally has no tort duty to protect another from the criminal acts of a third person does not defeat a claim based on an alleged contractual duty to provide police protection.
4. Substantial evidence created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Board breached the contractual requirement to provide adequate police protection at the baseball game.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Locke presented substantial evidence that he was an intended direct third-party beneficiary of the contract between the Board and the AHSAA.
2. Whether Locke's claim sounded in contract rather than tort.
3. Whether the Board could owe Locke a contractual duty to provide police protection against criminal acts of third parties.
4. Whether substantial evidence created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Board breached the contractual requirement to provide adequate police protection.
5. Whether summary judgment for the Board was appropriate.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded