State Ex Rel. Barthelette v. Sanders

RENDLEN, Judge.

This case, presenting issues of “official immunity” and the “public duty” doctrine, arises from the drowning death of Michael J. Brenneisen, a sixteen-year-old boy, while swimming on a Boy Scout expedition in August 1985 at Johnson Shut-Ins State Park. The Black River was swollen during a flash flood and as he swam in the river, Michael was caught by the current and swept to his death. His body was later found caught in a submerged ball of tree roots, and Michael’s father, joined by his mother as an intervenor plaintiff, brought a wrongful death action naming the Boy Scouts,…