Wagner v. Nova Univ., Inc.

LETTS, Judge.

In this case, the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of a residential rehabilitation center for emotionally disturbed and ungovernable children, holding that the center was not liable for the intentional torts of its residents and “owed no duty ... as a matter of law” to the plaintiffs. We reverse.

The facts are so appalling that we are immediately on guard against the maxim that hard cases make bad law. Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197, 400, 24 S.Ct. 436, 486, 48 L.Ed. 679 (1904) (Holmes, J., dissenting). Two adolescent male inmates of the center…