Hurst v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

By its sole proposition of law, the department argues that it is immune from liability by operation of the public duty rule and that the court of appeals incorrectly concluded that the department could be found to be negligent per se. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals.

The public duty rule was adopted by this court in Sawicki v. Ottawa Hills (1988), 37 Ohio St.3d 222, 525 N.E.2d 468. In paragraph two of the syllabus, we held, “[wjhen a duty which the law imposes upon a public official is a duty to the public, a failure to perform it, or an inadequate…