John Doe I v. Fred Garcia and Christy

LANSING, Judge John Doe I, a minor child (""Doe""), and his father brought this action alleging that Sisters of the Holy Cross, doing business as St. Alphonsus Hospital (""the hospital""), is liable for sexual abuse of Doe inflicted by a former employee of the hospital. Summary judgment was entered in favor of the hospital on the ground that the plaintiffs' damages were not proximately caused by the alleged negligence of the hospital. On appeal the plaintiffs argue that summary judgment was improper because they were prevented from completing discovery necessary for their response to the motion and because there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether the hospital's negligence was the proximate cause of Doe's injuries. We conclude that the district court should have allowed plaintiffs the opportunity to conduct further discovery relative to the proximate cause issue before acting upon the hospital's summary judgment motion. Therefore, we vacate the judgment and remand this case for further proceedings. The uncontroverted evidence presented on the summary judgment motion established the following. Doe, who was then thirteen years old, was admitted to St. Alphonsus Medical Center following an accident in which he was seriously injured. While there he became acquainted with Fred Garcia, a respiratory therapist employed by the hospital. Shortly before Doe was discharged from the hospital, Garcia gave the boy Garcia's home telephone number and asked him to call sometime. About a month after his release from the hospital, Doe contacted Garcia and began seeing him. With his parents' permission, Doe visited with Garcia regularly and often spent the night at Garcia's residence. Garcia took the boy on numerous outings and in general appeared to befriend the boy.