Inmate’s estate brought wrongful-death action against county, alleging the county was negligent in failing to adequately search and prevent another inmate from smuggling into county jail heroin that caused inmate to die of an overdose.
The Superior Court denied county’s motion for summary judgment. The parties filed joint motions for discretionary review, which were granted. The Court of Appeals affirmed. County petitioned for review, which was granted. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded.
On remand, the Court of Appeals held that:
- Statutory amendments providing for complete defense to personal injury or wrongful death actions where victim’s felony proximately caused injury or death, with stricter proof for law enforcement cases, did not apply retroactively, and
- As an issue of first impression, inmate’s possession and ingestion of heroin was the “occurrence causing injury or death” that provided county a complete defense to estate’s wrongful-death action.