## Facts

- A Delta Western employee parked a company fuel truck in a driveway in Dillingham, Alaska.
- The truck weighed over 10,000 pounds, contained fuel, was left unlocked, and had keys in the ignition despite a company policy requiring key removal due to prior thefts and unauthorized entries.
- Joseph Coolidge, intoxicated, entered the truck, stole it, and drove recklessly at high speeds, endangering other vehicles.
- Brent Moody, Dillingham’s police chief, responded to reports of the stolen truck while riding as a passenger in a police van attempting to stop it.
- Coolidge rammed the police van, throwing Moody into the dashboard and windshield and causing permanent injuries.
- Moody sued Delta Western, alleging negligence for leaving the truck unsecured with keys accessible, enabling the theft and resulting harm.

## Issues

1. Whether Alaska should adopt the Firefighter’s Rule barring tort recovery by police officers and firefighters for injuries caused by the negligence that required their presence.
2. If adopted, whether the rule bars Moody’s negligence claim where the defendant’s alleged negligence enabled the emergency that prompted his official response.

## Decision

- The Alaska Supreme Court adopted the Firefighter’s Rule as a matter of Alaska common law.
- The court held the rule barred Moody’s negligence claim because his injuries arose from the same negligent conduct that created the need for police intervention.
- The court affirmed summary judgment for Delta Western.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Firefighter’s Rule, police officers and firefighters may not recover in tort for injuries attributable to the negligent conduct that created the occasion for their official response.
- The rule is limited to injuries arising from the initial negligence that necessitated the officer’s presence; it does not bar claims based on independent or subsequent negligence unrelated to the original hazard.
- Public-policy grounds support the rule: public safety officers are employed and compensated to confront risks created by negligence, and tort recovery for those risks would impose additional liability beyond public funding of wages and benefits.
- Adoption of the rule is a question of law reviewed de novo; where the causal link between the defendant’s initial negligence and the officer’s response is undisputed, the rule may support summary judgment.

## Conclusion

Alaska adopted the Firefighter’s Rule and held that a police chief injured while responding to a stolen, recklessly driven truck could not sue the truck owner for negligence in leaving the vehicle unsecured with keys in the ignition, because that negligence created the emergency requiring his response.


Moody v. Delta W. Inc., 38 P.3d 1139 (Alaska 2002)