Recently, the local news reported that a man's car ran out of gas on a busy bridge right before rush hour one morning. He pulled his car to the side of the road, but the narrow shoulder prevented him from moving it completely off the road. Another motorist stopped to help him by blocking traffic.
There are many feel-good accounts of strangers coming to the aid of those in distress, but unfortunately these stories do not always end on a positive note. In this case, the stalled driver asked the considerate motorist if he had a gas can, but another vehicle struck the motorist's car, knocking the man whose car had run out of gas into the river below. He did not survive.
A Helping Hand
We often refer to a stranger who stops to help a person in need as a good Samaritan. While the motorist in this story was not responsible for the fate of the man who died, sometimes good intentions can lead to tragic results for which liability exists. This is where good Samaritan laws may come into play.
Currently, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have good Samaritan statutes. These statutes often pertain to providing emergency care and vary by state. For instance, the classes of people protected by the law are not the same in every state. Some limit the immunity to emergency aid in specific locations, while other states limit the immunity to aid exercised according to specific standards of conduct. All states have at least two common requirements: the emergency care must be provided in good faith and without the expectation of payment.
Good Samaritan laws offer several items for courts to consider when a legal challenge arises. Because the laws all speak of some standard of care, the courts must look at the care provided by the good Samaritan, determining if it was reasonable and did not represent a case of gross negligence. Additionally, the courts must decide whether the care was given under emergency or life-threatening circumstances that were not created by the person providing the care. 
The courts must also verify whether the aid was administered without any objection from the person being helped. Finally, a determination must be made as to whether the care is covered by the good Samaritan statute. For example, those individuals who by the nature of their work have a preexisting duty to render aid to an injured person are not covered.
While we often think of strangers as playing the role of good Samaritan, the laws can apply to friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and family members who provide assistance purely out of the kindness of their hearts.
A Family Affair
An unreported case earlier this year from Wisconsin illustrates how a good Samaritan law can be applied in a negligence case. The court found the grandparents in the case to be "causally negligent" for worsening injuries their grandson sustained when he did not receive prompt medical attention for an eye injury. The grandparents' homeowners' insurer, Trade Lake, then appealed in Wilson v. Trade Lake Mut. Ins. Co., 797 N.W.2d 934.
It all began when Jason Wilson was hitting a tent stake against a tree. A piece of the stake then broke off and struck him in the eye. He was at the home of Jessica LaPierre, his aunt, when the incident occurred between 1 and 1:30 p.m. LaPierre and another of Jason's aunts, Nicole Ruez, both looked at his eye and saw only a cut on his eyelid. They contacted his mother, Rene Haselman, who called Cumberland Hospital and relayed the aunts' observations. Hospital staff told Haselman to bring him in immediately, but she decided to wait until she picked him up at 5 p.m.
In the meantime, the aunts asked Jason's grandparents, Mary and Earl Wilson, to examine his eye as well. They both saw only the cut on the eyelid. At that point, no one had pulled Jason's eyelid up for a closer look because he was not cooperating.
When Haselman picked Jason up after 4:30 p.m., she pulled his eyelid down and saw what "looked like a tongue coming out of his eye." After going to Cumberland Hospital and transferring to Children's Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., Jason had surgery at 10:23 p.m. The surgeon was unable to fully repair the damage because Jason's iris had been outside of his eye for too long. Consequently, part of the iris had to be removed.
Legal Action
Jason and his mother sued Trade Lake, the Wilson's homeowners' insurer, stating that its failure to obtain immediate medical attention worsened his injury. A jury found the Wilsons to be 40-percent responsible for the worsened injuries. The insurer appealed and challenged the negligence finding.
The jury instruction in the case quoted the good Samaritan rule adopted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which "requires one who voluntarily assumes a duty that is necessary for the protection of another to exercise ordinary care in the performance of the duty, if the circumstances are such that the failure to do so increases the risk of harm to another."
The lower court determined that the jury could reasonably find that Jason's grandparents owed a duty of care based on the Supreme Court's rule, and that a causal connection existed between the delay in obtaining medical attention and the enhanced injuries. However, it concluded that this did not mean the Wilsons were automatically liable.
The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's judgment, stating that the Wilsons' negligence in proximity to Jason's injury was too remote. A precise series of events would have had to occur for his eye to be saved, and even with prompt medical attention, there is no guarantee those events would have occurred and reduced the severity of his injury. Thus, the court said, "Imposing liability in this case would shock our judicial conscience. Jason's injury is too remote from the Wilsons' negligence and wholly out of proportion to the Wilsons' culpability."
Although the homeowners' negligence in this instance was found to be insufficient to account for the enhancement of the injury, that is not the case for all insureds who discover they can be culpable if things go wrong. Depending on the jurisdiction, insureds may find some protection under good Samaritan statutes.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.