Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff’s children were playing in the Bingham County landfill when a wall collapsed and killed them. Plaintiffs sued the County under a negligence per se theory, arguing that the County’s failure to fence the boundaries of the landfill, as required by state statutes and federal regulations, caused the children’s deaths.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. To make a prima facie claim for negligence per se, the following elements must be met: (1) the statute must clearly define the required standard of conduct; (2) the statute must have been intended to prevent the type of harm the defendant’s acts or omissions caused; (3) the plaintiff must be a member of the class of persons the statute was designed to protect; and (4) the violation must have been the proximate cause of the injury.
The elements of a negligence claim are: (1) a duty, recognized by law, requiring the defendant to conform to a certain standard of conduct; (2) a breach of that duty; (3) a causal connection between the defendant's conduct and the resulting injury; and (4) actual loss or damage.
View Full Point of LawIssue.
Whether the O’Guins have an actionable claim for negligence per se against the County.
Held.  Yes. In order to replace the common law duty of care with that imposed by a statute, the following elements must be met: (1) the statute must clearly define the required standard of conduct; (2) the statute must have been intended to prevent the type of harm the defendant’s acts or omissions caused; (3) the plaintiff must be a member of the class of persons the statute was designed to protect; and (4) the violation must have been the proximate cause of the injury. In analyzing these requirements, the court held that the applicable statutes and regulations (1) clearly required boundaries on the landfill and that the County failed to meet that standard; (2) were intended to protect health and human safety; (3) were intended to protect against entry of unauthorized person such as the O’Guin children; and (4) that there was a disputed issue of fact as to whether the County’s violation proximately caused the children’s deaths. Accordingly the court reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the County.
Discussion. This decision introduces the theory of negligence per se. The effect of establishing negligence per se through a violation of a statute is to conclusively establish the first two elements of a cause of action in negligence: duty and breach. Negligence per se lessens the plaintiff’s burden only on the issue of the actor’s departure from the standard of conduct required of a reasonable person.