Richard S. Hartley, as Personal Representative, Respondents v. the State of Washington, Petitioners

Summary

On certified interlocutory review of a denied summary judgment motion, the Washington Supreme Court held the appeal was properly accepted because it turned on construction of the then-new Habitual Traffic Offenders Act (HTOA) and a ruling for defendants would avert a useless trial. The court held that Eugene Johnson's affidavit swearing he would not have driven had his license been revoked, though it strains credulity, presents a genuine issue of material fact on cause in fact. Even assuming the affidavit true, however, the failure of the State or Pierce County to revoke Johnson's license under the HTOA was too remote and insubstantial to be a legal cause of Janet Hartley's death: no special relationship or privity existed, and the HTOA protects the public at large rather than a particular and circumscribed class. The court therefore reversed, directing that summary judgment dismiss the State and County, and found it unnecessary to reach the asserted governmental and prosecutorial immunities.