N.L. v. Bethel Sch. Dist. ( 2016 )


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  •     IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
    N.L.,                                       )
    )      No. 91775-2
    Respondent,             )
    )
    v.                                  )      En Bane
    )
    BETHEL SCHOOL DISTRICT,                     )              ,•"•   ~--....   --   '   ...,
    )                    , - ~::~
    Filed - - - - -
    Petitioner.             )
    GONZALEZ, J.-N.L. met Nicholas Clark at school track practice. She
    was 14, and he was 18. Both were students in the Bethel School District.
    Neither N.L. nor any responsible adult on the field knew that Clark was a
    registered sex offender who had previously sexually assaulted a younger girl
    who had been about N.L. 'sage at the time. The Pierce County Sheriff's
    Department had informed Clark's school principal of his sex offender status,
    but the principal took no action in response. Clark persuaded N.L. to leave
    campus with him and raped her. N.L. sued the district, alleging negligence.
    We must decide whether Bethel School District's duty to N.L. ended when
    she left campus and whether its alleged negligence, as a matter of law, was
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    not a proximate cause of her injury. The answer to both questions is no. We
    affirm.
    FACTS
    N.L. ran track for Bethel Junior High School. Clark ran track for
    Bethel High School's varsity team. The two schools share the track field
    between them, and on April 24, 2007, the junior and senior high schools
    were both using the field for practice. N.L. alleges that Clark acted as a
    coach and mentor to the younger students on both schools' teams. During
    practice, a mutual friend introduced N.L. to Clark. The two exchanged
    phone numbers and started exchanging text messages. Clark told N.L. he
    was 16 years old. He invited her to lunch after school the next day.
    Unbeknown to either the junior or senior high school track coach or
    apparently any other district employee on the field that day, Clark was a
    registered sex offender.
    The next day, Clark and N.L. skipped track practice with the
    intention, N.L. thought, of going to Burger King for lunch. They left
    campus in Clark's car. Clark drove past the Burger King, ostensibly to fetch
    2
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    something he had forgotten at home. Instead, Clark took N.L. into his house
    and raped her. 1
    N.L. told a friend what Clark had done to her. The friend told her
    mother, who informed both the school and N.L.'s mother. The school called
    the police, and the next month, Clark was charged with third degree rape.
    Clark ultimately pleaded guilty to second degree assault.
    Clark already had an extensive disciplinary history while in the Bethel
    School District by that day in April 2007. By the seventh grade, he had
    started making racial slurs and inappropriate sexual comments in class. This
    behavior escalated to physical assaults and sexual misconduct against
    younger female students. In June 2004, when Clark was 16, he sexually
    assaulted another student at Bethel Junior High School. Based on that
    assault, Clark was charged with indecent liberties and suspended for the rest
    of the school year. That October, Clark pleaded guilty to attempted indecent
    liberties, was sentenced to 12 months of community custody, and was
    required to register as a level one sex offender. Among other things, he was
    1
    At several points, the district appears to challenge whether N .L. was raped. E.g., Bethel
    Sch. Dist.'s Response Br. at 4, 6; Clerk's Papers (CP) at 52,454-56. Since this case is
    before us on review of summary judgment, we need not resolve this dispute, but we note
    that N.L. was too young to consent to intercourse with Clark and that she has presented
    ample evidence that Clark raped her. RCW 9A.44.079; CP at 50, 60, 286. We have
    declined to allow school districts to attribute fault to students who are raped by their
    teachers. Christensen v. Royal Sch. Dist. No. 160, 
    156 Wash. 2d 62
    , 67, 
    124 P.3d 283
    (2005).
    3
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    ordered to have no contact with people two or more years younger than
    himself. N.L. is four years younger than Clark.
    That December, the Pierce County sheriff notified Bethel High
    School's principal that Clark was a registered sex offender. There is
    considerable evidence in the record that suggests the principal did not inform
    Clark's teachers, coaches, or relevant staff of Clark's status. The evidence
    also suggests that the principal did not develop a safety plan, let alone one
    that would have helped Clark avoid students two or more years younger than
    him. The record also suggests there was a district policy in place at the time
    that required the principal to inform Clark's teachers of his status. Clerk's
    Papers (CP) at 99 (citing District Policy 3143 2); CP at 361-62, 420. The
    assistant principal testified he did not know of any such policy.
    2
    The policy is not in the record. According to the "Bethel School District BoardDocs"
    webpage, Policy 3143 was adopted in 2003 and says:
    A court will notify the common school in which a student is enrolled if the
    student has been convicted, adjudicated, or entered into a diversion agreement for
    any of the following offenses: a violent offense, a sex offense, a firearms offense,
    inhaling toxic fumes, a drug offense, liquor offense, assault, kidnapping,
    harassment, stalking or arson. The principal must inform any teacher of the
    student and any other personnel who should be aware of the information. The
    information may not be further disseminated.
    Bethel School District Board Policy Manual, District Notification of Juvenile Offenders,
    Policy 3143 (2003 ),
    http://www.boarddocs.com/walbethel/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=9SQUU97DB74A
    [https://perma.cc/5MCV-3YJA]. The accuracy of this website has not been tested by the
    parties.
    4
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings analyzed
    the district's practices around the time N.L. was raped. Superintendent
    Billings observed that "RCW and Bethel District policy require that the
    principal 'must inform any teacher of the student and any other personnel
    who should be aware ofthe information' of a student's sex offender status."
    CP at 300. She also noted that "[m]odel policies for Washington State, the
    standard of care recognized and implemented by most school districts - but
    not by Bethel - provides that 'other personnel' includes coaches and
    counselors, neither ofwhom were informed" of Clark's sex offender status.
    !d. She concluded, among other things, that "[t]he haphazard nature of
    Bethel's approach to keeping its students safe from registered sex predators
    frankly boggles the imagination," and that the district "fell unconscionably
    below the accepted standard of care 'to protect students from dangers that
    are known or should have been known."' !d. at 302, 304.
    In 2012, N.L. sued the Bethel School District for negligence on the
    grounds it had failed to take reasonable precautions to protect her from a
    known registered sex offender. The district moved for summary judgment,
    arguing that it had no duty to N.L. because she was not actually in its
    custody at the time she was raped and that N.L's "decision to skip track
    practice and leave campus with Clark were 'independent act[s]' that 'br[oke]
    5
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    the chain of causation."' CP at 20, 21 (alterations in original) (quoting
    Riojas v. Grant County Pub. Uti!. Dist., 
    117 Wash. App. 694
    , 697, 
    72 P.3d 1093
    (2003)).
    The trial judge noted in her oral ruling that "the issue is not so much
    the duty as the causation element, and on that basis I'm going to dismiss the
    case." Verbatim Tr. of Proceedings (Jan. 10, 2014) at 18. The Court of
    Appeals reversed, finding the district had a duty of reasonable care to N.L.
    and that there was a genuine issue of fact as to whether any breach of the
    duty was a proximate cause ofN.L.'s injury. N.L. v. Bethel Sch. Dist., 187
    Wn. App. 460,463, 
    348 P.3d 1237
    (2015). We granted the district's petition
    for review. NL. v. Bethel Sch. Dist., 
    184 Wash. 2d 1002
    , 
    357 P.3d 665
    (2015).
    We have received an amicus brief in support of the district from the
    Washington State School Directors Association, the Association of
    Washington School Principals, and the Washington Association of School
    Administrators (WSSDA). The Washington State Association for Justice
    Foundation submitted an amicus brief in support ofN.L.
    ANALYSIS
    To prevail in her negligence suit, N.L. "must show (1) the existence of
    a duty to the plaintiff, (2) a breach of that duty, (3) a resulting injury, and (4)
    the breach as the proximate cause of the injury." Crowe v. Gaston, 134
    6
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    Wn.2d 509, 514, 
    951 P.2d 1118
    (1998) (citing Reynolds v. Hicks, 134 Wn.2d
    491,495,951 P.2d 761 (1998)). At this summary judgment stage, the
    district contests only the intertwined issues of duty and proximate cause.
    Thus, they are the only issues before us. CP at 20-21; see also Lowman v.
    Wilbur, 
    178 Wash. 2d 165
    , 169, 
    309 P.3d 387
    (2013) (citing Hartley v. State,
    
    103 Wash. 2d 768
    ,779-81, 
    698 P.2d 77
    (1985)).
    1. DUTY
    Whether a duty exists is a question of law for the court. Aba Sheikh v.
    Choe, 
    156 Wash. 2d 441
    , 448, 
    128 P.3d 574
    (2006) (citing Hertog v. City of
    Seattle, 
    138 Wash. 2d 265
    , 275, 
    979 P.2d 400
    (1999)). "As a general rule, our
    common law imposes no duty to prevent a third person from causing
    physical injury to another." Aba 
    Sheikh, 156 Wash. 2d at 448
    (citing
    RESTATEMENT(SECOND)OFTORTS § 315 (AM. LAWINST. 1965)). But such
    a duty can arise when "'a special relationship exists between the defendant
    and either the third party or the foreseeable victim of the third party's
    conduct."' Niece v. Elmview Grp. Home, 
    131 Wash. 2d 39
    , 43, 
    929 P.2d 420
    (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Hutchins v. 1001 Fourth
    Ave. Assocs., 
    116 Wash. 2d 217
    ,227, 
    802 P.2d 1360
    (1991)). "Intentional or
    criminal conduct may be foreseeable unless it is 'so highly extraordinary or
    improbable as to be wholly beyond the range of expectability. "' Kok v.
    7
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    Tacoma Sch. Dist. No. 10, 
    179 Wash. App. 10
    , 18, 317 P .3d 481 (20 13)
    (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting 
    Niece, 131 Wash. 2d at 50
    ).
    Washington courts have long recognized that school districts have "an
    enhanced and solemn duty" of reasonable care to protect their students.
    Christensen v. Royal Sch. Dist. No. 160, 
    156 Wash. 2d 62
    , 67, 
    124 P.3d 283
    (2005). This includes the duty to protect their students from the foreseeable
    risk of harm the students may inflict on each other. See McLeod v. Grant
    County Sch. Dist. No. 128,
    42 Wash. 2d 316
    ,319-20,
    255 P.2d 360
    (1953)
    (citing Briscoe v. Sch. Dist. No. 123,
    32 Wash. 2d 353
    , 362,
    201 P.2d 697
    (1949)); see also JN. v. Bellingham Sch. Dist., 
    74 Wash. App. 49
    , 
    871 P.2d 1106
    ( 1994). School districts have the duty "to exercise such care as an
    ordinarily responsible and prudent person would exercise under the same or
    similar circumstances." 
    Briscoe, 32 Wash. 2d at 362
    (citing Rice v. School
    Dist. No. 302, 
    140 Wash. 189
    , 
    248 P. 388
    (1926)). Based on McLeod, the
    district argues there are two necessary components to its duty to students:
    "[(1)] the harm was foreseeable and [(2)] the injury occurred in a custodial
    context." Suppl. Br. of Pet'r at 8 (citing 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 319
    , 321 ).
    The district is correct that in McLeod, we found a duty in part because
    the district's authority and obligations had been substituted for the parents'
    while the students were in the district's custody. 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 319
    .
    8
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    But McLeod does not suggest that a district's liability for breaches of that
    duty is cut off as soon as the student steps off campus.
    In McLeod and the cases it relied on, the duty arose, and the injury
    occurred, while the student was in the district's custody. 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 318
    ; see also 
    Briscoe, 32 Wash. 2d at 355
    , 357 (district potentially liable for
    injuries that occurred during unsupervised recess); Eckerson v. Ford's
    Prairie Sch. Dist. No. 11, 
    3 Wash. 2d 475
    ,483-84, 
    101 P.2d 345
    (1940)
    (district properly held liable for negligent construction and supervision that
    resulted in injury after one child slammed door on another). During the
    noon recess, several students forced a 12-year-old girl into a small room off
    the gymnasium and raped her. 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 318
    . The district had
    assigned a teacher to watch the students in the gymnasium specifically "for
    the purpose of protecting any students from being harmed by other
    students." !d. Unfortunately, that teacher "absented himself." !d. We
    allowed McLeod's negligence suit to go forward. !d. at 320. We noted the
    plaintiff was compelled to attend school and was under the "protective
    custody of teachers[, which] mandatorily substituted for that of the parent."
    !d. at 319. We found the rape "fell within a general field of danger which
    should have been anticipated" given the students' access to a dark and
    isolated room. !d. at 321, 322. We concluded that "the duty of a school
    9
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    district ... is to anticipate dangers which may reasonably be anticipated, and
    then to take precautions to protect the pupils in its custody from such
    dangers." !d. at 320.
    McLeod establishes that school districts have a duty to protect the
    students in their custody from foreseeable dangers and that it is foreseeable
    that one student might rape 
    another. 42 Wash. 2d at 320
    , 322. The district
    insists that McLeod also limits school districts' duties in negligence to
    custodial situations. See, e.g., Suppl. Br. of Pet'r at 1. The district seems to
    reason that since its duty arose from the fact that its care and custody had
    been mandatorily substituted for that of the parents', its duties must end
    when the student is no longer in its care and custody. !d. But while the
    district's duty to exercise reasonable care might end when the student leaves
    its custody, nothing in McLeod suggests that the district's liability for a
    breach of duty while the student was in its custody would be cut off merely
    because the harm did not occur until later.
    The McLeod court had no occasion to consider whether the district's
    liability was cut off once the students left campus because both the harm and
    the district's alleged negligence happened while the students were squarely
    in the district's custody. Here, too, the duty arose while N.L. and Clark were
    in the district's custody. Similarly, the alleged breach in both McLeod (the
    10
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    failure to supervise) and here (failure to take adequate steps to protect
    students from a registered sex offender) occurred while the students were all
    still in the districts' custody.
    Bethel also points to our opinion in Coates v. Tacoma School District
    No. 10, 
    55 Wash. 2d 392
    , 396, 
    347 P.2d 1093
    (1960), as support for the
    proposition that a school's duty of reasonable care to prevent injuries is
    limited to injuries that happen in the custodial context. Bethel Sch. Dist. 's
    Resp. Br. at 18-20. In Coates, a Tacoma student was injured in a drunk
    driving accident at 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday in Mason County, allegedly on his
    way home from a school club initiation that likely involved 
    drinking. 55 Wash. 2d at 393
    . The student sued, alleging failure to supervise. 
    Id. at 394.
    He did not allege that the "club was a curricular or extracurricular activity of
    the school district" or that the district had appointed anyone to supervise it.
    
    Id. at 394-95.
    We dismissed the case on multiple grounds, including how
    distant the accident was from the school and the school day. 
    Id. at 394-95.
    We observed that
    where the event causing the injuries is so distant in time and place
    from any normal school activity that it would be assumed that the
    protective custody was in the parents, unless facts and circumstances
    are alleged which extend the duty of the school district beyond the
    normal school district-student relationship.
    11
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    !d. at 399. This is not the language of a per se rule that a district has a duty
    only to students who are in its custody when an injury caused by its
    negligence occurs. Instead, the court relied on the fact that the "events
    causing the injuries [was] so distant in time and place from any normal
    school activity" to relieve the school of liability, not that they were merely
    off campus. !d. Here, one of the alleged events causing N.L. 's injury is the
    fact the district took inadequate precautions to protect children from a
    known risk while on school grounds. We find this case is not analogous to
    Coates.
    The district finds more support in a Court of Appeals opinion, Scott v.
    Blanchet High Sch., 
    50 Wash. App. 37
    , 38, 44-45, 
    747 P.2d 1124
    (1987).
    There, relying on Coates, the Court of Appeals found that a private high
    school was not liable for failing to supervise a student who had "sexual and
    romantic activities" with a teacher that grew out of after-school counseling.
    !d. at 38, 44-45. The court noted that "[a]t some point ... the event is so
    distant in time and place that the responsibility for adequate supervision is
    with the parents rather than the school." !d. at 44-45 (citing 
    Coates, 55 Wash. 2d at 399
    ). But Scott is not an opinion of this court, and again, "[a]t
    some point" is not the language of a per se rule requiring district custody
    during the injury for a duty to attach.
    12
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    The district does not point to any case that clearly articulates its
    suggested rule, and we find none in our case law. The district is absolutely
    correct that "[f]or school pupils ... the essential rationale for imposing a
    duty 'is that the victim is placed under the control and protection of the other
    party, the school, with resulting loss of control to protect himself or
    herself.'" N.K. v. Corp. of Presiding Bishop of Church ofJesus Christ of
    Latter-Day Saints, 
    175 Wash. App. 517
    , 532, 
    307 P.3d 730
    (2013) (quoting
    Hutchins v. 1001 Fourth Ave. Assocs., 
    116 Wash. 2d 217
    , 228, 
    802 P.2d 1360
    (1991)). But it does not follow that the victim must be in the school's
    custody at the time of the injury for the duty to have existed.
    The California Supreme Court rejected a similar proposal some years
    ago. See Hoyem v. Manhattan Beach City Sch. Dist., 
    22 Cal. 3d 508
    , 515,
    
    585 P.2d 851
    , 
    150 Cal. Rptr. 1
    (1978). "Contrary to [the district]'s assertion,
    no California decision suggests that when a school district fails to properly
    supervise a student on school premises, the district can automatically escape
    liability simply because the student's ultimate injury occurs off school
    property." /d. (citing Calandri v. lone Unified Sch. Dist., 
    219 Cal. App. 2d 542
    , 549-50, 
    33 Cal. Rptr. 333
    (1963) (school district liable for injury
    student sustained at home as a result of dangerous instrument made in shop
    13
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    class)). The court concluded that "the off-campus situs of an injury does not
    ipso facto bar recovery from a school district." !d.
    While courts across the nation are divided, the California court is far
    from alone. The Maryland Supreme Court found that a school district had a
    duty to a student who had committed suicide off campus on a school
    holiday. Eisel v. Bd. ofEduc., 
    324 Md. 376
    , 377, 
    597 A.2d 447
    (1991).
    There, the student had expressed suicidal thoughts to friends, who had
    repmied it to school officials. School officials questioned the student but
    took no other action. Despite the fact the suicide took place off campus and
    not during school hours, the court let the wrongful death action go forward,
    noting that "[f]oreseeability is the most important variable in the duty
    calculus" and given what the district knew, the death was foreseeable. !d. at
    386 (citing Ashburn v. Anne Arundel County, 306 Md. 617,628, 
    510 A.2d 1078
    (1986)). As the Idaho Supreme Court observed, "[A] school district
    may owe a duty to its students, despite the fact that injury occurred off of
    school grounds and outside of school hours." Stoddart v. Pocatello Sch.
    Dist. #25, 
    149 Idaho 679
    , 684, 
    239 P.3d 784
    (2010) (citing Brooks v. Logan,
    
    127 Idaho 484
    , 
    903 P.2d 73
    (1995)). 3
    3
    Amici WSSDA et al. cites nine cases from Louisiana, New York, Idaho, and Florida for
    the proposition that school districts are not liable for student injuries outside ofthe
    custodial context. Br. of Am. Cur. WSSDA et al. at 12-16. It is correct that Louisiana
    14
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    We hold that districts have a duty of reasonable care toward the
    students in their care to protect them from foreseeable dangers that could
    result from a breach ofthe district's duty. While the location of the injury is
    relevant to many elements of the tort, the mere fact the injury occurs off
    campus is not by itself determinative. As the Idaho Supreme Court noted in
    a somewhat similar case, "the relevant inquiry is to the location of the
    negligence rather than the location of the injury." !d. at 685. Whether the
    district breached its duty to take reasonable care to protect N.L. from Clark
    is a factual question in this case. 4
    In the alternative, the district argues that it had no duty in this case
    because, in its view, the harm was not foreseeable because N.L.'s "injury
    was the result of criminal conduct" and was ''precipitated by her failure to
    and New York have dismissed negligence cases on such grounds. E.g., S.J v. Lafayette
    Par. Sch. Bd., 
    41 So. 3d 1119
    (La. 2010); Banks v. N. Y City Dep 't of Educ., 
    70 A.D.3d 988
    , 990, 
    895 N.Y.S.2d 512
    (N.Y. App. Div. 2010). Florida does not have a per se rule,
    and, as discussed above, Idaho has rejected the proposition. See Kazanjian v. Sch. Bd.,
    
    967 So. 2d 259
    , 266 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2007).
    4
    We respectfully disagree with the dissent that "[t]aken to its logical conclusion, if a
    school has notice of a student's violent tendencies, under the majority's view, it could be
    found liable for an off-campus, nonschool related assault." Dissent at 8. First, almost
    nothing in tort law is taken to its logical conclusion because there is almost always a
    countervailing principle. Second, in this case, taking the facts alleged as true (as we must
    at this stage), the district gave a registered sex offender the imprimatur of coach and
    mentor to younger students, knowing that he had previously preyed on young girls. The
    district put these children in danger without informing any responsible staff member of
    the sex offender's status, in apparent violation of its own policy. This is a far cry from
    simply knowing about a student's violent tendencies. Third, the alleged breach happened
    on campus, while the student was in the school district's custody. In the dissent's
    hyperbolic counterfactual, no breach of duty occurs on campus.
    15
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    fulfill her obligations as a student" by skipping an after-school track
    practice. Suppl. Br. of Pet'r at 6. "Taken together," it contends, "the
    circumstances of the injury in this case are 'so highly ... improbable as to
    be wholly beyond the range of expectability. "' !d. (alteration in original)
    (quoting 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 323
    ). It is true that districts have no duty to
    prevent unforeseeable harms to their students. See 
    Kok, 179 Wash. App. at 19
    .
    But McLeod explicitly rejected the district's argument that as a matter of
    law, student-on-student rape was not foreseeable because student criminal
    conduct is not foreseeable or because the intervening act of another student
    exonerates the district from its 
    duty. 42 Wash. 2d at 321
    . "The fact that the
    danger stems from such an intervening act ... does not itself exonerate a
    defendant from negligence. If, under the assumed facts, such intervening
    force is reasonably foreseeable, a finding of negligence may be predicated
    thereon." !d. at 320 (citing Berglund v. Spokane County, 
    4 Wash. 2d 309
    , 
    103 P.2d 355
    (1940)). "This principle has special application in cases, such as
    the one before us, where the defendant has custody of the plaintiff." !d.
    We are left then with the district's argument that 14-year-old N.L.'s
    decision to leave campus with Clark changes this calculation as a matter of
    law. But "'[f]oreseeability is normally an issue for the jury."' Taggart v.
    State, 
    118 Wash. 2d 195
    , 224, 
    822 P.2d 243
    (1992)) (quoting Christen v. Lee,
    16
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    113 Wn.2d 479,492, 
    780 P.2d 1307
    (1989)). We see no reason to depart
    from that rule here. Students have been skipping class "[ s]ince at least the
    days of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer." 
    Hoyem, 22 Cal. 3d at 520
    . We
    cannot say as a matter of law that it is unforeseeable that students will leave
    campus together.
    We affirm the Court of Appeals and hold that the district had a duty to
    students to use reasonable care to protect them from foreseeable injuries and
    that whether this injury fell within the scope of that duty is properly a
    question for the jury.
    2. PROXIMATE CAUSE
    Next, we are asked whether the trial court properly dismissed on
    proximate cause grounds. Proximate cause has two elements: cause in fact
    and legal cause. Hartley v. State, 
    103 Wash. 2d 768
    , 777, 
    698 P.2d 77
    (1985)
    (citing Harbeson v. Parke-Davis, Inc., 
    98 Wash. 2d 460
    , 475, 
    656 P.2d 483
    (1983)). "Cause in fact refers to the 'but for' consequences of an act-the
    physical connection between an act and an injury." !d. at 778 (citing King v.
    City of Seattle, 
    84 Wash. 2d 239
    , 249, 
    525 P.2d 228
    (1974)). It is normally a
    question for the jury. !d. Legal cause "is grounded in policy determinations
    as to how far the consequences of a defendant's acts should extend." 
    Crow, 134 Wash. 2d at 518
    . "In deciding whether a defendant's breach of duty is too
    17
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    remote or insubstantial to trigger liability as a matter of legal cause, we
    evaluate 'mixed considerations of logic, common sense, justice, policy, and
    precedent.'" 
    Lowman, 178 Wash. 2d at 169
    (internal quotation marks omitted)
    (quoting 
    Hartley, 103 Wash. 2d at 779
    ). "[W]here the facts are not in dispute,
    legal causation is for the court to decide as a matter of law." Schooley v.
    Pinch's Deli Mkt., Inc., 134 Wn.2d 468,478,
    951 P.2d 749
    (1998) (citing
    
    King, 84 Wash. 2d at 250
    ). Both legal cause and duty concern the question of
    how far the legal consequences of the defendant's negligence should extend.
    !d. "There may, of course, be more than one proximate cause of an injury,
    and the concurring negligence of a third party does not necessarily break the
    causal chain from original negligence to final injury." Smith v. Acme Paving
    Co., 
    16 Wash. App. 389
    , 396, 
    558 P.2d 811
    (1976) (citing State v. Jacobsen,
    
    74 Wash. 2d 36
    , 
    442 P.2d 629
    (1968)).
    The district's summary judgment motion (and the trial court's ruling)
    did not clearly articulate whether it was based on legal cause, cause in fact,
    or both. The substance of the district's (and its amici) arguments to this
    court go to legal cause: whether "'mixed considerations of logic, common
    sense, justice, policy, and precedent"' should lead us to conclude any
    negligence on the part of the district did not cause N.L.'s injuries. 
    Lowman, 178 Wash. 2d at 169
    (quoting 
    Hartley, 103 Wash. 2d at 779
    ). The district
    18
    NL. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    suggests that '"the connection between the ultimate result and the act of the
    defendant is too remote or insubstantial to impose liability."' Suppl. Br. of
    Pet'r at 9 (quoting Tyner v. Dep 't of Soc. & Health Servs., 
    141 Wash. 2d 68
    ,
    82, 
    1 P.3d 1148
    (2000)).
    Sex offender registration began in this state with the community
    protection act of 1990. LAws OF 1990, ch. 3, § 402. The act was in response
    to several horrific crimes by known sex offenders and was based on the
    work of a governor's task force on community protection. Norm Maleng,
    The Community Protection Act and the Sexual Violent Predators Statute, 15
    U. PUGET SOUND L. REV. 821, 821, 822 n.2 (1992) (citing GOVERNOR'S
    TASK FORCE ON CMTY. PROT., DEP'T OF Soc. & HEALTH SERVS., FINAL
    REPORT II-2 to II-3 (1989)). Initially, the purpose of registration was to
    assist law enforcement investigation of sexual offenses. State v. Ward, 123
    Wn.2d 488,493, 
    869 P.2d 1062
    (1994) (quoting LAWS OF 1990, ch. 3, §
    401 ). The legislature also authorized law enforcement to notify the
    community of a registered sex offender '"when ... necessary to protect the
    public and counteract the danger created by the particular offender."' In re
    Pers. Restraint of Meyer, 142 Wn.2d 608,613, 
    16 P.3d 563
    (2001) (quoting
    LAWS OF 1990, ch. 3, § 117, codified as RCW 4.24.550(1)). In this case, the
    Pierce County sheriff deemed it necessary to inform Clark's school of his
    19
    N.L. v. Bethel Schooi Dist., No. 91775-2
    status at least in part so that the institution could take appropriate steps to
    counteract the danger he presented. CP at 20, 75-76.
    Given this background and the principles set down in lvfcLeod, we
    cannot say as a matter of law that a district's failure to take any action in
    response to being notified that Clark was a registered sex offender was not a
    legal cause ofN.L.'s injury. Sexual assault by a registered sex offender is
    foreseeable, as is the fact that a much younger student can be convinced to
    leave campus by an older one. See Bryant v. United States, 
    565 F.2d 650
    ,
    654 (lOth Cir. 1977) (whether school's failure to supervise students who
    skipped class and were consequently injured in a snowstorm was a
    proximate cause of their injuries was properly a matter for the jury); Griego
    v. Marquez, 1976-NMCA-022, 
    89 N.M. 11
    , 14, 
    546 P.2d 859
    (1976)
    (whether intervening act in a second motor vehicle accident was the
    proximate cause of injury sustained is a question of fact for the jury); see
    also 
    Kok, 179 Wash. App. at 19
    -20.
    We also hold that N.L. has produced sufficient evidence of cause-in-
    fact to overcome summary judgment. If the school's track coach had known
    that Clark was a registered sex offender who had been convicted of sexually
    assaulting a younger girl, he or she could have taken steps to keep Clark
    20
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    away from the junior high students, or, at the least, not allowed him to act as
    a mentor to younger students as is alleged here. This is a matter for the jury.
    CONCLUSION
    School districts have a duty to take reasonable care to protect the
    children in their custody from foreseeable harm. Whether the district failed
    to meet its duty and whether any such failure caused N.L. 's injury are
    properly matters for the jury. We affirm the Court of Appeals and remand
    for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
    21
    N.L. v. Bethel School Dist., No. 91775-2
    WE CONCUR:
    0~---9
    w~r(}=,
    ~fuNw+.q.
    22
    N.L. v. Bethel Sch. Dist.
    No. 91775-2
    MADSEN, C.J. (dissenting)-! agree with the majority that schools have a "duty
    to protect their students from the foreseeable risk of harm the students may inflict on each
    other." Majority at 8. However, the majority extends this duty to protect students from
    harms inflicted when students are not in a school's custody. This expands the scope of a
    school district's duty further than our case law warrants and exposes school districts to
    liability for events over which they have no control. Because I would hold that school
    districts do not owe a duty to protect students who are not in their custody from the
    criminal conduct of other students occurring off school premises, and because I would
    hold that even if a duty were breached, it was not the proximate cause ofN.L. 's harm, I
    respectfully dissent.
    Duty
    The majority holds that "districts have a duty of reasonable care toward the
    students in their care to protect them from foreseeable dangers that could result from the
    breach ofthe district's duty." Majority at 14-15. The holding and iteration of a school
    district's duty is, on the surface, nothing new. However, by separating the alleged breach
    from the injury, which here occurred a day later after a series of attenuated events over
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    which the school had no control, and in another student's home, the duty the majority
    actually establishes is that school districts now owe their students a duty to protect them
    from harm at all times, regardless of location and custody. The majority reasons that
    because there is not "a per se rule that a district has a duty to students who are in its
    custody only when an injury caused by its negligence occurs," majority at 11-12, a
    district's duty may extend to students' off-campus conduct, even criminal conduct
    occurring in the home. However, this court's prior case law does place limits on a school
    district's duty-it is to protect students under its care, custody, and supervision from
    foreseeable harms.
    In McLeod v. Grant County School District No. 128, this court held that "'a duty is
    imposed on the school district to take certain precautions to protect the pupils in its
    custody from dangers reasonably to be anticipated."' 
    42 Wash. 2d 316
    , 320, 
    255 P.2d 360
    (1953) (emphasis added) (quoting Briscoe v. Sch. Dist. No. 123, 
    32 Wash. 2d 353
    , 362, 
    201 P.2d 697
    (1949)). The foundation for McLeod was Restatement (Second) of Torts§ 320
    (Am. Law Inst. 1979). Under § 320, a school district must prevent one student from
    harming another if the district "(a) knows or has reason to know that [it] has the ability to
    control the conduct of third persons, and (b) knows or should know of the necessity and
    opportunity for exercising such control." 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 320
    (emphasis added)
    (quoting RESTATEMENT§ 320). The school district could control Clark's conduct only if
    he were in the district's custody. A school district has neither the ability nor the
    opportunity to control students in their own homes. As the trial judge pointed out, "[A]
    2
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    teacher, an administrator, a coach is not in the role of a CCO, a community corrections
    officer." Verbatim Tr. ofProceedings at 18.
    Later decisions of this court emphasize that custody is a necessary element of the
    special relationship giving rise to a duty. In Coates v. Tacoma School District No. 10, we
    held that a school district could not be held liable for injuries that occurred off campus,
    outside of school hours, and not related to any school-sponsored activity. 
    55 Wash. 2d 392
    ,
    396-97, 
    347 P.2d 1093
    (1960). Specifically, we reasoned:
    [T]ranscending these differences [between Coates and McLeodJ is the
    insistence in the McLeod case that the injured child was compelled to attend
    school and that she was in the protective custody of the school district
    while on the school premises for that purpose; whereas, here, the time and
    place of the plaintiffs injury would normally suggest that the responsibility
    for adequate supervision ... was with the parents and the institution known
    as the home.
    !d. at 397.
    In Carraba v. Anacortes School District No. 103, we extended the duty to
    extracurricular, off-campus, school-sponsored events. 
    72 Wash. 2d 939
    , 956-57,435 P.2d
    936 ( 1967). However, we did not eliminate the element of custody from the duty owed to
    students. !d. at 955 ("The duty owed by a school district to its pupils ... [is] '[t]o
    anticipate reasonably foreseeable dangers and to take precautions protecting the children
    in its custody from such dangers."' (emphasis added) (quoting Tardiff v. Shoreline Sch.
    Dist., 
    68 Wash. 2d 164
    , 170, 
    411 P.2d 889
    (1966))); see also Wagenblast v. Odessa Sch.
    Dist. No. 105-157-166J, 
    110 Wash. 2d 845
    , 856,758 P.2d 968 (1988) ("school district owes
    a duty to its students to employ ordinary care and to anticipate reasonably foreseeable
    3
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    dangers so as to take precautions for protecting children in its custody from such
    dangers").
    Taken together, these cases stand for the general rule that in order for a school
    district to owe a duty to its students, the harm must be foreseeable, and it must be in a
    custodial context. Later Court of Appeals cases bear this out. In Scott v. Blanchett High
    School, plaintiffs brought suit against the high school for injuries arising out of a sexual
    relationship between their daughter and a teacher at Blanchett High School. 
    50 Wash. App. 37
    , 38, 
    747 P.2d 1124
    (1987). The relationship took place entirely off school grounds,
    outside of school hours, not during any school-sponsored activity, and without the
    knowledge or consent of the school. !d. at 41-42. Plaintiffs argued that the breach-
    failing to take adequate precautions, failure to monitor teachers, and failure to have a
    written policy in place forbidding student-teacher relationships-occurred while the
    student was in school custody and therefore "locate the tort within the scope of [the
    school's] authority." !d. at 45. The court rejected this argument and held the school did
    not owe the student a duty, finding that "the responsibility for supervision at the time of
    the alleged activities had shifted away from the school" and, further, that "the proximity
    between the breach of duty complained of and the alleged injury is so remote that it raises
    the possibility of finding proximate cause absent as a matter of law." !d. The court went
    on to identify the danger of expanding a school district's liability-which the majority
    does here-stating that "[b]y [plaintiff]s' logic, a school which failed to monitor student
    relationships and provide adequate sex education would also be liable for teen
    4
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    pregnancies, regardless of the circumstances, because teen pregnancies are 'within a
    general field of danger which should have been anticipated.'" !d. (quoting 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 321
    ).
    In JN. v. Bellingham School District No. 501, a first-grade student, alleging he
    had been sexually assaulted by a fourth-grade student in the school bathroom, brought an
    action against the school district. 
    74 Wash. App. 49
    , 54, 
    871 P.2d 1106
    (1994). Outlining
    the school district's duty, the court stated that "when a pupil attends a school, he or she is
    subject to the rules and discipline of the school, and the protective custody of the teachers
    is substituted for that of the parent." !d. at 56-57. There, the injury occurred while the
    student was in school custody and, given the history of aggressive and disruptive
    behavior of the assailant, the court concluded that the harm "fell within the general ambit
    of hazards which should have been anticipated by the District." !d. at 60.
    Applying these cases, I can conclude only that if a student is a registered sex
    offender, a school district's duty is to protect its students from being sexually assaulted
    by the registered sex offender during school or school-sponsored activities. Given
    Clark's history of sexual assault, had he assaulted N.L. while she was in school custody,
    the school district would most certainly have owed N.L. a duty to protect her. But a
    school district's specific duty is to protect the children in its custody from harm; it is not
    to protect children in their homes or in the home of another student from harm. To hold
    otherwise would be to expand a school district's liability beyond reason.
    5
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    The majority says that courts across the nation are divided, majority at 13, but
    most courts have held there is no duty if the injury occurs off campus and not during a
    school-related event. The majority relies on Hoyem v. Manhattan Beach City School
    District, 
    22 Cal. 3d 508
    ,513,
    585 P.2d 851
    (1978), in which the California Supreme
    Court held that a school district may be held liable if the breach of an on campus duty
    proximately caused an off-campus injury, but there a 10-year-old boy left campus during
    class and was subsequently struck by a motorcycle. 1 The majority also relies on Eisel v.
    Board of Education, 
    324 Md. 376
    ,
    597 A.2d 447
    ,452-53 (1991), which held a school
    board could have a duty to prevent an off-campus, non-school-related suicide. In Eisel,
    the student who committed suicide made her intent known to friends, which was then
    relayed to a school counselor. !d. at 449-50. The duty of a school counselor with direct
    evidence of a student's intent to commit suicide is far different from the duty advocated
    by the majority in this case. On the other hand, in addition to our own precedent, courts
    in Louisiana, Florida, New York, Kansas, and Idaho have held a school district does not
    owe an injured student a duty when that student is off campus. 2 The weight of authority
    does not support the majority here.
    1
    Although I would have decided Hoyem differently, the facts of Hoyem are notably different
    than the ones here. In Hoyem, the plaintiff was 10 years old and should have been in class.
    Here, the student was 14 and chose not to attend an extracurricular activity. The breach alleged
    in Hoyem, letting a student leave school when he should be in class, is far more feasibly avoided
    than the one alleged here, which is, in essence, allowing a registered sex offender to meet
    another student.
    2
    See, e.g., 
    Coates, 55 Wash. 2d at 396-97
    ; 
    Scott, 50 Wash. App. at 38
    ; S.J v. Lafayette Par. Sch. Bd.,
    
    41 So. 3d 1119
    , 1126 (La. 2010) (in finding no liability when a student was sexually attacked off
    6
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    school grounds, while walking home from school, the court stated that "the school board is not
    the insurer of the safety of the children, and constant supervision of all students is neither
    possible nor required"); Hayes v. Sheraton Operating Corp., 
    156 So. 3d 1193
    , 1198 (La. App.
    2014) (in holding a charter school not liable for the rape of a student at an off-campus party
    hosted at a hotel by a classmate's mother, the court stated that "it is well established that a school
    board's duty of reasonable supervision is limited to instances where the student is in its custody
    or control"); B.L. v. Caddo Par. Sch. Bd., 
    73 So. 3d 458
    , 460-61 (La. App. 2011) (holding that
    even if the school were aware of the attacking student's history ofbehavioral problems, the
    school's duty of care ended when the students left the school premises); Cavalier v. Ward, 
    723 So. 2d 480
    , 484 (La. App. 2011) ("The liability of the school board and its employees for injuries
    to students exists only when the school board has actual custody of the students entrusted to their
    care."); Kazanjian v. Sch. Bd., 
    967 So. 2d 259
    , 264 (Fla. App. 2007) (holding that a school
    district was not liable for the death of a student who left school without authorization and was
    killed in a motor vehicle accident); Matallana v. Sch. Bd., 
    838 So. 2d 1191
    , 1192 (Fla. App.
    2003) (holding that the school had no duty to supervise at the time of an incident that occurred
    off school premises and was unrelated to any school activities); Concepcion v. Archdiocese of
    Miami, 
    693 So. 2d 1103
    , 1103-04 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1997) (holding that a school owes no "duty
    of supervision to students during non-school hours when the students are not on the school's
    premises and not otherwise involved in school related or sponsored activities"); Pratt v.
    Robinson, 
    349 N.E.2d 849
    , 852 (N.Y. 1976) ("The duty owed by a school to its
    students ... stems from the fact of its physical custody over them .... The school's duty is thus
    coextensive with and concomitant to its physical custody of and control over the child. When
    that custody ceases because the child has passed out of the orbit of its authority in such a way
    that the parent is perfectly free to reassume control over the child's protection, the school's
    custodial duty also ceases."); Davis v. Marzo, 
    55 A.D.3d 1404
    , 1404-05 (S.C. App. Div. N.Y.
    2008) ("It is well established that a student who leaves school grounds is not entitled to
    protection of the school district, and that is the case herein." (citations omitted) (citing Chalen v.
    Glen Cove Sch. Dist., 
    29 A.D.3d 508
    , 509 (S.C. App. Div. N.Y. 2006); Youngs v. Bay Shore
    Union Free Sch. Dist., 
    258 A.D. 580
    , 580 (S.C. App. Div. N.Y. 1999))); Patella v. Ulmer, 
    518 N.Y.S.2d 91
    , 93 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1987) ("The court has found no precedent for the proposition that
    a school district is responsible for an injury to a student which occurs off school grounds except
    where such student was involved in a school sponsored or supervised off-campus activity.");
    Glaser ex rel. Glaser v. Emporia Unified Sch. Dist. No. 253, 
    21 P.3d 573
    , 581 (Kan. 2001)
    (finding no student-school district duty existed when "the injury occurred off school premises
    and at a time when the student was not on school property or in school custody"); Honeycutt v.
    City of Wichita, 
    836 P.2d 1128
    , 1140 (Kan. 1992) ("'[a] school district is under no duty to
    supervise, or provide for the protection of its pupils, on their way home, unless it has undertaken
    to provide transportation for them'" (alteration in original) (quoting Kerwin v. County of San
    Mateo, 
    176 Cal. App. 2d 304
    , 307, 1 Cal. Rptr 437 (1959))); Stoddart v. Pocatello Sch. Dist.
    #25, 
    239 P.3d 784
    , 790-91 (Idaho 2010) (declining to extend a school district's duty to require it
    "take reasonable steps to prevent a violent criminal act against a student by a fellow student
    away from school grounds and not in connection with a school-sponsored activity").
    7
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    I also agree with the petitioner that the proximity between the duty breached and
    the alleged injury is too remote and therefore was not reasonably foreseeable. The breach
    alleged is that Bethel School District did not have a sex offender policy in place and, if it
    had, N.L. and Clark would never have met. Had Clark never met N.L., then they would
    not have texted and planned to leave campus and have lunch and Clark would not have
    taken N .L. to his home and would not have raped her. This is very similar to the
    argument rejected by the Court of Appeals in Scott. The majority attempts to answer
    petitioner's argument-that the harm was not foreseeable because N.L.'s injury was the
    result of Clark's criminal conduct after N.L. skipped track practice-by isolating each
    element and concluding that each, on its own, is not dispositive. 3 See majority at 15-16.
    Each fact in isolation may not be enough to make the injury "so highly extraordinary or
    improbable as to be wholly beyond the range of expectability." 
    McLeod, 42 Wash. 2d at 323
    . However, taken together, a school district cannot be expected to foresee that merely
    allowing two students to meet would lead to an injury to a student who left campus, went
    to the home of another student, and was injured by that student's criminal conduct.
    The implications of the majority's decision are far reaching. IfN.L. were Clark's
    classmate, the school could not prevent her from being introduced to Clark by a mutual
    friend, from exchanging text messages and phone calls with Clark, or from skipping
    3
    For example, the majority seemingly characterizes McLeod to stand for the proposition that
    because the court rejected the district's argument that student-on-student rape was not
    foreseeable, then student on student rape is always foreseeable. Majority at 15-16. However,
    McLeod held student -on-student rape is foreseeable if there is an area on campus that, if left
    unsupervised, would give rise to acts of indecency, such as rape.
    8
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    practice and going to his house, but could still be held liable for a sexual assault. Taken
    to its logical conclusion, if a school has notice of a student's violent tendencies, under the
    majority's view, it could be found liable for an off-campus, non-school-related assault. If
    a school district is aware of a student's emotional or behavioral disorder, 4 it would be
    potentially liable for a student's harmful actions off campus, even at a student's own
    home. The majority's decision will make school districts the insurers of troubled
    students' off-campus conduct.
    The majority's decision also imposes an unworkable burden on school districts in
    the context of a sex offender. Registered sex offenders have a constitutional right to
    attend school. WASH. CONST. art. IX, § 1; Wash. State Office of Superintendent of Pub.
    Instruction (OSPI), School Safety Center, Juvenile Sex Offenders in Schools,
    http://www .k 12. wa. us/Safetycenter/Offenders/default.aspx [https ://perma.cc/D77S-
    YLKJ] ("Juvenile sex offenders in Washington have a continued right to a public
    education after their conviction, and many return to public schools after periods of
    confinement."). Indeed, their attendance is mandatory. RCW 28A.225.010. Registered
    4
    "Based on criteria from [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] DSM-IV, 15
    to 20% of the entire student population is said to have a clinically significant emotional and/or
    behavioral disorder at any one time." Larry Matsuda, SEATTLE UNIV., Teaching Students with
    Severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorder: Best Practices Guide to Intervention 1 (2005),
    http://www .k 12. wa. us/S pecialEd/F amilies/pubdocs/bestpractices. pdf [https://perma.cc/FU2J-
    8A 7E]. The definition of an "emotional and behavioral disorder" (EBD) used in the Individuals
    with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is less inclusive, but would account for 2 percent of the
    student population. 
    Id. at 2.
    "Students included within this 2% are primarily those students who
    have trouble following directions, are oppositional, and who become aggressive toward others."
    !d.
    9
    .   '•       .
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    sex offender students also have a right to privacy. 0 'Hartigan v. Dep 't of Pers., 
    118 Wash. 2d 111
    , 117, 
    821 P.2d 44
    (1991) (recognizing "the right to nondisclosure of intimate
    personal information, or confidentiality" (citing Whalen v. Roe, 
    429 U.S. 589
    , 599-600,
    
    97 S. Ct. 869
    , 
    51 L. Ed. 2d 64
    (1977))); see also RCW 9A.44.130; RCW 4.24.550. 5 This
    limits what steps a school district may take in order to meet the expanded duty the
    majority creates. By expanding the duty to noncustodial situations, the majority
    essentially forces a school district to choose between protecting itself from liability and
    infringing on its students' constitutional and statutory rights.
    Schools in Washington are required to educate all students, including registered
    sex offenders and students with criminal records or behavioral issues. To make a school
    district liable for a student's criminal off-campus conduct based on the student's
    5
    The OSPI' s "Model Policy No. 3144" addresses the privacy rights of registered sex offender
    students.
    Confidentiality
    The principal and school staff will maintain confidentiality regarding these
    students, the same as all students in the school. Any written information or
    records received by a principal as a result of a notification are confidential and
    may not be further disseminated except as provided in a state or federal law.
    Inquiries by the Public
    Inquiries by the public at large (including parents and students), regarding
    students required to register as a sex or kidnapping offender are to be referred
    directly to local law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies receive relevant
    information about the release of sex and kidnapping offenders into communities
    and decide when information needs to be released to the public.
    OSPI, RELEASE OF INFORMATION CONCERNING STUDENT SEXUAL AND KIDNAPPING
    OFFENDERS 2 (2006),
    http://www .k 12. wa. us/Safetycenter/Offenders/pubdocs/ModelPo licyOffenders. pdf
    [https://perma.cc/P4M9-8U6E].
    10
    .   .. .
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    enrollment at school and the district's knowledge of a student's behavioral issues creates
    an overreaching and unworkable responsibility on school districts statewide. Because the
    injury did not occur on school property or during the course of any school-related
    activity, was the result of criminal conduct, and occurred after both N.L. and Clark
    voluntarily left school together, I would hold that the school district did not owe a duty of
    care to N .L. as a matter of law.
    Proximate Cause
    The absence of a duty owed is enough to affirm the trial court; however, I would
    also hold that proximate cause is absent. Proximate cause is composed of both "cause in
    fact" and "legal causation." Hertog v. City of Seattle, 
    138 Wash. 2d 265
    , 282-83, 
    979 P.2d 400
    (1999). The majority states that cause in fact "is normally a question for the jury,"
    majority at 17, and that N.L. has produced sufficient evidence of cause in fact to allow a
    jury to decide. !d. at 20. Normally it is a question for the jury, but "if reasonable minds
    could not differ, these factual questions may be determined as a matter of law." 
    Hertog, 138 Wash. 2d at 275
    . "'[C]ause in fact[] exists when the act of the defendant is a necessary
    antecedent of the consequences for which recovery is sought."' 
    Coates, 55 Wash. 2d at 398
    (quoting Eckerson v. Ford's Prairie Sch. Dist. No. 11, 
    3 Wash. 2d 475
    , 482, 
    101 P.2d 345
    (1940)). Here, Clark and N.L. were introduced by a mutual friend. The meeting took
    "just took a couple seconds." Clerk's Papers at 52. The alleged breach is that if Bethel
    School District had had a better policy in place for Clark, or if more teachers and coaches
    had known about his status as a sex offender, this meeting would have been prevented.
    11
    . ..   "                                                                                    .   '.   .
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    But the school did not introduce them; a mutual friend did. This same mutual friend gave
    Clark's phone number to N.L., and N.L. and Clark subsequently exchanged phone calls
    and text messages. In these communications, Clark asked N.L. if she wanted to go to
    lunch with him. They both skipped track practice the next day and left school together.
    It was at this point that Clark took N.L. to his home and sexually assaulted her. The
    breach alleged, therefore, is not that the district did not have a policy in place, but rather
    that the school allowed a registered sex offender to meet another student. Even if the
    school district had a policy, and even if it implemented a plan that directed Clark to stay
    away from younger female students, and we had the same facts presented here, it could
    not have prevented Clark and N.L. being introduced by a mutual friend. The alleged
    breach-allowing a registered sex offender to meet and interact with classmates-cannot
    be prevented short of isolating registered sex offenders from their classmates because of
    their status or notifying students and their parents of its students' sex offender statuses. A
    school district could not accomplish this without infringing on a student's constitutional
    rights.
    Additionally, even a robust policy could not have prevented the injurious conduct,
    which was not the fact that N.L. and Clark met; rather, the injury was a rape that occurred
    at a later time in a private home outside the school's supervision. These are independent
    intervening acts that interrupted the chain of causation. To say that the exact sequence of
    the events leading to the harm need not be foreseeable does not change this. I cannot say
    that but for the school district's alleged negligence, N.L. would not have been assaulted.
    12
    . f.   .                                                                                     .   .. .
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    I would also hold that, as a matter of law, there is no legal causation. 6 "The focus
    in a legal causation analysis is on 'whether, as a matter of policy, the connection between
    the ultimate result and the act of the defendant is too remote or insubstantial to impose
    liability."' Tyner v. Dep 't of Soc. & Health Servs., 
    141 Wash. 2d 68
    , 82, 
    1 P.3d 1148
    (2000)
    (quoting Schooley v. Pinch's Deli Mkt., Inc., 134 Wn.2d 468,478-79, 
    951 P.2d 749
    (1998) ). We do so because "a negligent act should have some end to its legal
    consequences." Hunsley v. Giard, 
    87 Wash. 2d 424
    , 435, 
    553 P.2d 1096
    (1976). Because
    "analyses of duty and proximate cause often overlap and are always subject to policy
    considerations," the arguments regarding foreseeability and policy considerations set
    forth in the duty analysis apply equally here. Travis v. Bohannon, 
    128 Wash. App. 231
    ,
    242, 
    115 P.3d 342
    (2005) (citing Hartley v. State, 
    103 Wash. 2d 768
    , 779, 
    698 P.2d 77
    (1985)). Additionally, we do not have a "'direct unbroken sequence"' of events. Kim v.
    Budget Rent A Car Sys., Inc., 
    143 Wash. 2d 190
    , 203, 
    15 P.3d 1283
    (2001) (quoting 
    Hertog, 138 Wash. 2d at 282
    ). This case is most similar to Scott, in which "the responsibility for
    supervision at the time of the alleged activities had shifted away from the 
    school." 50 Wash. App. at 45
    (emphasis added). To allow causation to run from a school district's
    alleged on-campus breach of duty-essentially allowing a mutual friend to introduce two
    students-to an injury that occurred the following day, off-campus, and at a private
    6
    The majority's legal causation analysis rests on the fact that given the background of the
    community protection act and the principles set down in McLeod, they cannot say as a matter of
    law that the school district's negligence was not a legal cause ofN.L.'s injury. Had the injury
    occurred while N.L. was in the custody of the school, I would agree.
    13
    .   '.   .                                                                                         .   ..   ~
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J. dissenting
    residence, would create open-ended liability and impose an "enormous burden ... [on]
    school districts." Stoddart v. Pocatello Sch. Dist. #25, 
    239 P.3d 784
    , 791 (Idaho 2010). 7
    Therefore, I would hold that the injury in this case was too attenuated as a matter of law.
    Because a school district does not owe a duty of care to students who are injured
    by the criminal conduct of other students while not in the custody of the school district,
    and because the plaintiff has failed to establish proximate cause as a matter of law, I
    would affirm the trial court. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
    7
    The majority cites to this case for the proposition that "[A] school district may owe a duty to its
    students, despite the fact that injury occurred off of school grounds and outside of school hours."
    Majority at 14 (alteration in original) (quoting 
    Stoddart, 239 P.3d at 789
    ). While the Idaho
    Supreme Court did say this, it declined to extend the scope of a school district's general duty "to
    require that a school district take reasonable steps to prevent a violent criminal act against a
    student by a fellow student away from school grounds and not in connection with a school-
    sponsored activity." 
    Stoddart, 239 P.3d at 790-91
    .
    14
    ' '   .                           .   ..   '
    No. 91775-2
    Madsen, C.J.   dissenting
    15