Section 9.28 Public Duty Doctrine

• Library: Local Government Deskbook (2017 Ed.)

A. (§9.28) Public Duty Doctrine

The public duty doctrine protects public employees and, except when sovereign immunity has been waived (see §9.30, infra), the government that employs them from liability for breach of a duty owed to the general public, as distinguished from a duty owed to particular individuals. See:

· Heins Implement Co. v. Mo. Highway & Transp. Comm’n, 859 S.W.2d 681 (Mo. banc 1993)

· State ex rel. Howenstine v. Roper, 155 S.W.3d 747 (Mo. banc 2005)

· Southers v. City of Farmington, 263 S.W.3d 603 (Mo. banc 2008)

Both Heins and Howenstine were partially abrogated by Southers.

Unlike sovereign immunity and official immunity, there were few public duty doctrine cases decided before the 1980s. In Jungerman v. City of Raytown, 925 S.W.2d 202 (Mo. banc 1996), the Supreme Court stated that the doctrine was first adopted in Missouri by Parker v. Sherman, 456 S.W.2d 577 (Mo. 1970). The doctrine, however, had been at least recognized earlier. In Lowery v. Kansas City, 85 S.W.2d 104, 111 (Mo. 1935), in dictum...