Thomas W. Paradise and Lauren Stone (Hollywood, FL) (Appeal/Governmental Law) obtained Final Summary Judgment in the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
Plaintiff, Sebastian McCall, was a 20-year-old spectator who attended a basketball game at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Florida on January 12, 2013. The basketball game was against Deerfield Beach High School, which the Plaintiff alleged was a rivalry game. At the conclusion of the basketball game, while McCall was walking on the sidewalk while leaving campus, an altercation broke out and a crowd of 50-60 people, who were ahead of him and who had already exited the school’s campus, suddenly turned and began to run back onto campus. While trying to run with the crowd, the Plaintiff fell causing him to sustain severe personal injuries. As a result of the incident, the Plaintiff brought a negligence action against the School Board of Broward County, Florida under a theory of negligent security. As a result of the incident, the Plaintiff suffered a right shoulder dislocation and a fracture to his right hip.
The Plaintiff alleged that the school breached its duty of care to the Plaintiff to provide a reasonably safe environment within the bounds of the school by failing to have adequate security and crowd control as this particular game against Deerfield Beach High School was “a long standing and hotly contested rivalry.” More specifically, the Plaintiff alleged that the school should have had more police officers present at the subject basketball game. The School Board of Broward County argued that it had a security plan in place for every game, which included the school’s security team and police officers. In particular, the evidence showed that a meeting was held prior to the basketball season to develop a security plan for each home game, which included the number of police officers present at each game. As such, the School Board further argued that Plaintiff’s claim was barred by sovereign immunity pursuant to Fla. Statute §768.28 as discretionary/planning level functions of the government are immune from suit and that the waiver of sovereign immunity only applies to operational level functions. The School Board argued that the Plaintiff did not establish any evidence that the School Board failed in its operation of its security on the date of loss.
The School Board filed a Motion for Summary Judgment based on sovereign immunity as the Plaintiff’s claim that the School Board should have had more police officers present at the basketball game was a planning level decision. The trial court entered an order denying the motion holding that the School Board’s decision as to security was operational. The School Board appealed the trial court’s order.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s ruling denying the School Board’s Motion for Summary Judgment as it was determined that the School Board was entitled to sovereign immunity and that Final Summary Judgment should be entered in favor of the School Board of Broward County.