Davis v. Dollar Tree, Inc.
Filing
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ORDER Granting 4 Motion to Dismiss. (Written Opinion) Signed by Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright on 1/11/2019. (RJE)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
Synquez Davis,
Case No. 18-cv-1118 (WMW/HB)
Plaintiff,
v.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S
MOTION TO DISMISS
Dollar Tree, Inc.,
Defendant.
Defendant Dollar Tree, Inc., moves to dismiss Plaintiff Synquez Davis’s complaint
for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. (Dkt. 4.) For the reasons
addressed below, the motion to dismiss is granted.
BACKGROUND 1
Synquez Davis went to the Dollar Tree store in Burnsville, Minnesota, to apply for
a job. Before Davis arrived, a physical altercation occurred between Dollar Tree employee
Tyler Rousseau, and Grant Hendrickson. Several of Rousseau’s coworkers observed the
altercation. After the store manager repeatedly ordered Hendrickson to leave the premises,
several employees escorted Hendrickson from the store. The Dollar Tree employees
neither warned store patrons of any possible danger nor secured the store in the event that
Hendrickson returned.
Holding a gun in his hand, Hendrickson returned to the Dollar Tree store. As Davis
walked to the front of the store to make a purchase, Hendrickson fired one shot, made eye
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The events addressed here are alleged in Davis’s complaint, and they are accepted
as true for the purpose of this motion to dismiss. See Blankenship v. USA Truck, Inc., 601
F.3d 852, 853 (8th Cir. 2010).
contact with Davis, and fired a second shot that hit Davis near his knee. Davis fell to the
floor. Hendrickson walked away. As Davis attempted to move to safety, Hendrickson
approached Davis and shot him in the torso.
Davis subsequently commenced this negligence action against Dollar Tree in
Minnesota state court. Dollar Tree removed the case to this Court, asserting diversity
jurisdiction.
ANALYSIS
A complaint must allege facts that, when accepted as true, state a facially plausible
claim to relief. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). A claim that fails to meet this
pleading standard warrants dismissal. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). When evaluating the
sufficiency of a claim, a district court accepts as true all factual allegations in the complaint
and draws all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff’s favor. Blankenship v. USA Truck,
Inc., 601 F.3d 852, 853 (8th Cir. 2010).
In an action invoking a district court’s diversity jurisdiction, state substantive law
applies. Gylten v. Swalboski, 246 F.3d 1139, 1141 (8th Cir. 2001). A negligence claim
under Minnesota law has four elements: (1) the existence of a duty of care, (2) a breach of
that duty, (3) an injury, and (4) proximate causation arising from the breach. Engler v. Ill.
Farmers Ins. Co., 706 N.W.2d 764, 767 (Minn. 2005). The Court addresses in turn each
of Davis’s three negligence claims.
I.
Vicarious-Liability Claim (Count I)
Count I alleges that Dollar Tree is vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its
employees. According to the complaint, Dollar Tree’s employees, including Rousseau and
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his manager, “took no action” to alert customers to any potential danger or to secure the
store in case Hendrickson returned. This failure to act, Davis contends, breached the duty
of Dollar Tree employees to “take reasonable care in [their] interactions with [store
customers] to ensure that the premises were reasonably safe.”
Under Minnesota law, an employer may be either directly liable or vicariously liable
for the actions of its employees. See Yunker v. Honeywell, Inc., 496 N.W.2d 419, 422
(Minn. Ct. App. 1993) (contrasting direct liability with vicarious liability). An employer
is vicariously liable for an employee’s negligent act if that act occurs within “the course
and scope of employment.” Hentges v. Thomford, 569 N.W.2d 424, 427 (Minn. Ct. App.
1997) (citing Edgewater Motels, Inc. v. Gatzke, 277 N.W.2d 11, 15 (Minn. 1979)).
A threshold determination when assessing a vicarious-liability claim is whether the
employees owed the plaintiff a duty of care, absent which any negligence claim fails.
Domagala v. Rolland, 805 N.W.2d 14, 22 (Minn. 2011). Here, Davis alleges that the
employees had a duty to take reasonable care to ensure the safety of store patrons, including
himself. Davis alleges that the employees breached that duty by failing to warn store
patrons of danger, lock doors to prevent Hendrickson from re-entering the store, or
intervene in the altercation between Rousseau and Hendrickson before it escalated.
Generally, a person does not have a duty to warn against or protect others from harm
caused by third-party conduct, id. at 22-23 (discussing the “duty to warn”); Bjerke v.
Johnson, 742 N.W.2d 660, 665 (Minn. 2007) (discussing the “duty to protect” against harm
caused by a third party), but such a duty may arise in specific circumstances.
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When a “special relationship” exists between a person and the plaintiff and the harm
to the plaintiff is foreseeable, that person may have a “specific duty” to warn or protect.
Domagala, 805 N.W.2d at 22-23 (emphasis added). A special relationship may exist when
a person, entrusted with another’s safety, is in a position to protect and is expected to
protect the other from certain harms. Errico v. Southland Corp., 509 N.W.2d 585, 587
(Minn. Ct. App. 1993). A special relationship may arise either from the status of the
parties, such as parents and children, or in situations when one person has “custody of
another person under circumstances in which that other person is deprived of normal
opportunities of self-protection.” Bjerke, 742 N.W.2d at 665 (internal quotation marks
omitted). In the absence of a special relationship, a person may also owe a duty to warn or
protect arising from a “general duty of reasonable care” if that person’s conduct creates a
foreseeable risk of harm to a foreseeable plaintiff. Domagala, 805 N.W.2d at 24-26.
Davis has not alleged a special relationship between himself and any Dollar Tree
employee. Thus, whether any employee had a duty to warn Davis of harm or protect him
from Hendrickson’s conduct depends on whether any employee’s own conduct created a
foreseeable risk of harm to Davis. The only employee whose conduct arguably created a
foreseeable risk of injury to Davis is Tyler Rousseau. Davis’s complaint alleges Rousseau
instigated a violent altercation with Hendrickson, after which Hendrickson returned to the
store with a gun. This allegation is sufficient to raise an issue of fact as to whether
Rousseau was negligent towards Davis.
But, even if Rousseau created a foreseeable risk of injury to Davis, Dollar Tree is
liable only if Rousseau was acting in the course and scope of his employment. This
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determination—whether Rousseau committed negligent acts within the scope of his
employment—depends on several relevant factors, including whether the conduct was in
furtherance of the employer’s interests, the employee was authorized to perform the
conduct, the conduct occurred substantially within authorized time and space restrictions,
and the employer should reasonably have foreseen the conduct.
Snilsberg v. Lake
Washington Club, 614 N.W.2d 738, 745 (Minn. Ct. App. 2000) (citing Hentges, 569
N.W.2d at 427-28).
There is no “hard and fast rule . . . to resolve the ‘scope of
employment’ inquiry.” Edgewater, 277 N.W.2d at 15. Because this determination depends
on the facts, whether an allegedly negligent act occurs within the scope of employment
ordinarily is a question of fact for the jury. Snilsberg, 614 N.W.2d at 745. But when either
the evidence is undisputed or there is no evidence that supports a necessary element, the
Court may resolve the scope-of-employment issue as a matter of law. Id.
No facts alleged in Davis’s complaint demonstrate that Rousseau was acting in the
course and scope of his employment when engaged in the alleged conduct that may have
created the risk of harm to Davis. Rousseau’s fight with Hendrickson was not in the scope
of his employment, nor were any of his actions after the fight. Likewise, no aspect of
Davis’s complaint supports a determination that Rousseau was acting in furtherance of his
employer’s interests, that he was to authorized act in this manner, or that his conduct was
reasonably foreseeable by Dollar Tree.
In sum, because the acts alleged in Davis’s complaint do not establish that the Dollar
Tree employees were either negligent in their conduct or acting in the course and scope of
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employment when they created a risk of foreseeable harm to Davis, the complaint fails to
state a vicarious-liability claim against Dollar Tree.
II.
Claim of Negligence in Developing Security Measures (Count II)
Dollar Tree also moves to dismiss Count II, which alleges that Dollar Tree breached
its duty of care by failing to develop security protocols to protect its customers from harm
caused by “a person with dangerous propensities entering the store.” To state a claim of
negligence, 2 Davis must establish that Dollar Tree owed Davis a duty of care—that is,
either a specific duty to warn or protect based on a special relationship, or a general duty
to act with reasonable care. Because a merchant-customer relationship does not create a
specific duty to warn or protect, Erickson v. Curtis Inv. Co., 447 N.W.2d 165, 168 (Minn.
1989), Davis’s claim is founded on Dollar Tree’s general duty to act with reasonable care. 3
Although a person who creates a foreseeable risk of injury to another may owe a
duty to warn or protect that party from the risk, if “the connection between the danger and
the alleged negligent act is too remote to impose liability as a matter of public policy,” no
such duty exists. Domagala, 805 N.W.2d at 27 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Moreover, “the specific danger” created must be “objectively reasonable to expect,” not
2
“Negligence in developing security measures” is not a cognizable cause of action
under Minnesota law. Therefore, the Court analyzes these claims under a general
negligence framework.
3
Davis’s argument that Dollar Tree had a duty to protect him from harm appears to
refer, at least in part, to a premises-liability theory of negligence. But Dollar Tree’s duty
to maintain its premises in a safe condition does not extend to the criminal conduct of a
third party. See Sulik v. Total Petroleum, Inc., 847 F. Supp. 747, 752 (D. Minn. 1994)
(citing Pietila v. Congdon, 362 N.W.2d 328, 332-33 (Minn. 1985)).
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simply “within the realm of any conceivable possibility.” Whiteford ex rel. Whiteford v.
Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., 582 N.W.2d 916, 918 (Minn. 1998).
Here, the connection between Dollar Tree’s alleged failure to develop security
measures and Davis’s injury is too remote, and the specific danger that led to Davis’s
injury—Hendrickson entering the store and shooting Davis—was not objectively
reasonable for Dollar Tree to expect. Because nothing in Davis’s complaint demonstrates
that Dollar Tree owed Davis a duty of care, Davis fails to state a general negligence claim
against Dollar Tree for failure to develop security measures.
III.
Claims of Negligent Supervision, Hiring, and Retention (Count III)
Davis alleges that Dollar Tree was negligent in the supervision, hiring, and retention
of its employees. Negligent supervision, hiring, and retention are three distinct claims
under Minnesota law. See Yunker, 496 N.W.2d at 422. Negligent supervision, a form of
vicarious liability, “derives from the respondeat superior doctrine.” Id. As such, the
employee’s allegedly negligent act must be committed in the scope of employment. See
Oslin v. State, 543 N.W.2d 408, 414 (Minn. Ct. App. 1996). Davis has not alleged that any
of Dollar Tree’s employees acted negligently while in the course and scope of their
employment, see supra Part I. For this reason, Davis fails to state a claim for negligent
supervision.
Negligent hiring and negligent retention impose direct—as opposed to vicarious—
liability on an employer for an employee’s actions. Yunker, 496 N.W.2d at 422. Both
theories of liability arise from the “risks created by exposing members of the public to a
potentially dangerous individual.” Id. An employer is liable for its employee’s intentional
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tort, which almost invariably is outside the scope of employment, when the employer knew
or should have known that its employee was “violent or aggressive and might engage in
injurious conduct.” Id.
Davis has not alleged that any Dollar Tree employee committed intentional torts
that led to Davis’s injury. And the complaint includes no facts that support the conclusion
that Dollar Tree knew or should have known that any employee was violent or might
engage in violence. As such, Davis’s complaint fails to state a claim for negligent hiring
or retention. See Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007) (stating that a
complaint must contain “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face”).
In summary, because Davis has not stated a claim against Dollar Tree for negligent
supervision, negligent hiring, or negligent retention, dismissal is warranted.
ORDER
Based on the foregoing analysis and all the files, records and proceedings herein, IT
IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant Dollar Tree, Inc.’s motion to dismiss for failure
to state a claim, (Dkt. 4), is GRANTED and Plaintiff Synquez Davis’s complaint, (Dkt.
1), is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
LET JUDGMENT BE ENTERED ACCORDINGLY.
Dated: January 11, 2019
s/Wilhelmina M. Wright
Wilhelmina M. Wright
United States District Judge
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