Cope v. Utah Valley State College
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, a student at Utah Valley State College (UVSC), was injured while practicing with the state-owned college’s ballroom dance team. Plaintiff sued UVSC, alleging negligence. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, concluding that, in accordance with the public duty doctrine, UVSC owed no duty of care to Plaintiff. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the special relationship exception to the public duty doctrine applied to Plaintiff. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed the district court, although for different reasons from those expressed by the court of appeals, holding that Plaintiff’s lawsuit was not based on a public duty, and therefore, the public duty doctrine did not bar Plaintiff’s negligence claim.
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