By R. Allyce Bailey, Esq.*
The construction and administration of governmental entities is complex. Our local municipalities, counties, and state agencies are made up of innumerous departments that work together to keep the communities in which we all live operating as efficiently as possible. Efficiency is achieved working successfully at the service of the people, yet efficiency is not always flawless. Because the administration of governmental entities’ duties is often not carried out without fail, they are subject to tort litigation. But what standard should the law hold governmental entities to? The same, a lesser, or a higher standard of liability as any other potential tortfeasor? That question led to the Public Duty Rule’s conception. In order to ensure governmental entities can successfully be held liable for breaches, legislators developed the Rule to hold governmental entities to the same standard of liability as any other potential tortfeasor. Under the Public Duty Rule, claimants are required to prove the damage was a result of government entities’ breach of a special duty. This special duty must be specific to both the claimant and the claimant’s harm rather than the public at large. Proper application of the novel construction of the Public Duty Rule can be perplexing for governmental entities seeking to invoke it and claimants seeking to overcome a Public Duty Rule assertion by a governmental entity. This Article will serve as a primer on the Public Duty Rule for both governmental entities and claimants facing a Public Duty Rule defense.