Utah Supreme Court rules state had a duty to protect boy killed by bear

A long legal battle over a boy who died in a bear mauling moved forward Friday when the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the state should have protected him. In a 19-page decision, the court ruled that the state had an obligation to protect Sam Ives when he and his family went camping at Timpooneke campgrounds in 2007. A bear dragged Ives, 11, out of his tent and killed him while he and his family were in the mountains near American Fork to celebrate Father’s Day. Ives’ family subsequently sued the Division of Wildlife Resources, saying the agency knew about the dangerous bear and therefore had a duty to protect campers. State attorneys disagreed. They said state officials didn’t have a duty to Ives’ family and that Utah law prevented lawsuits against the DWR for "natural conditions" on the land. Friday’s Supreme Court decision settles both arguments and reverses an earlier lower-court decision that sided with the state. First, the decision concludes that officials did actually have a duty to protect the family. And second, it points out that "a bear is not a ‘natural condition on publicly owned or controlled lands.’" Assistant Attorney General Peggy Stone said the case will now go back to the lower court, where a jury will decide if the state was at fault for Ives’ death. "Now it comes down to the facts," Stone said. "Did the DWR breach that duty?"...more