State Court Affirms Dispatchers’ Lawsuit Immunity

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that Jersey City (NJ) dispatchers are immune from a civil lawsuit filed by the family of a woman and her two children who were murdered in 2005. The ruling overturned an lower court ruling, and established that the state law provides immunity for public employees who are dispatching public safety incidents. Marcia Wilson and her three children were stabbed by Wilson’s brother in an apartment at 207 Wegman Street in Jersey City. A neighbor tenant dialed 911 to say he’d heard a disturbance, but gave the incorrect addresses of 277 Wegman to the state police dispatcher who answered his cellular call, and 185 Wegman to the Jersey City dispatcher after the call was transferred. About 22 hours later the original caller dialed 911 again to say he could hear noises inside the apartment, and to report no officers arrived in response to his previous call. The Jersey City dispatcher chastised the caller for dialing 911, and the caller hung up. The next day one of the stabbed children managed to dial 911 himself, and police responded—they found Marcia Wilson and two children dead, but a nine year-old survived.  The family filed a lawsuit, claiming the family might have survived if the handling dispatchers had correctly handled the 911 calls. But the trial court dismissed the lawsuit, saying the defendant dispatchers were immune under state law. An appeals court reversed that ruling, but now the Supreme Court has affirmed that public safety dispatchers are immune for any negligence in delivering 911 services.

The court explained that the Legislature mandated the participation of telecommunications companies and governmental entities when they originally created the statewide 911 system. “In exchange for this compelled cooperation, the Legislature apparently devised a statute…to shield public and private entities, and their personnel, from civil liability for certain acts of ordinary negligence arising from the operation of the 9- 1-1 system,” the court wrote in it decision.

The court did send the case back to the lower court to determine if the dispatchers’ conduct was “wanton and willful,” which is not covered by the state’s immunity law.

Download (pdf) the court’s decision for more information.