Wilma D. Miller, Administratrix v. Elkins-Randolph County Emergency Squad, Inc.

Summary

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Elkins-Randolph County Emergency Squad in a wrongful-death negligence action arising from an emergency medical response. The Court held that the plaintiff could not establish the direct-contact element required for a special relationship under the public duty doctrine and therefore did not show an actionable duty. The Court also declined to address an immunity-waiver argument based on insurance coverage because the relevant policy was not included in the record.

Holdings

1. No special relationship existed because the record contained no evidence of direct contact between the emergency squad and the petitioner, her husband, or the decedent, and no evidence that the squad or its agents assumed an affirmative duty to provide emergency medical services to the decedent.
2. Summary judgment in favor of the emergency squad was proper because the petitioner could not establish the special relationship necessary to impose the asserted individual duty.
3. The Court declined to address the insurance-waiver assignment of error because the petitioner did not introduce the insurance policy below or include it in the appellate record.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the emergency squad was entitled to summary judgment because no special relationship creating a duty to the decedent existed under the public duty doctrine.
2. Whether the petitioner's failure to provide the insurance policy supporting a waiver-of-immunity theory required the Court to decline review of that assignment of error.

Disposition

affirmed