BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of a Canyon County woman suing the Idaho State Police over its investigation of a crash that killed her father.
Jackie Raymond’s father, Barry Johnson, who lived near New Plymouth, was killed in a crash while turning left into his driveway off State Highway 30 on Oct. 18, 2011. His Jeep was hit mid-turn by then Deputy Scott Sloan with the Payette County Sheriff’s Office. Sloan, responding to a 911 call, was trying to pass Johnson on the left at a speed as high as 115 mph, according to the Idaho State Police.
FROM 2011: Deputy driving 115 mph in deadly crash
A district court previously dismissed Raymond’s claim of “tortious interference” by ISP in the crash investigation. The Supreme Court’s ruling reverses that, and the case will now go back to trial court.
“We’re very pleased with the decision,” Nathan Olsen, Raymond’s attorney, told the Idaho Press Monday. “It was a well-thought-out analysis by the Idaho Supreme Court, and we look forward to pursuing Raymond’s claims finally. … At the end of this we hope to not only obtain justice for Ms. Raymond, but we hope this will lead to some reforms, so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”
The Idaho State Police is still reviewing the ruling and did not have a comment about the decision Monday, according to an ISP spokeswoman.
AFTER THE CRASH
Sloan, the deputy involved in the crash, was initially charged with vehicular manslaughter. The case was eventually dismissed though, after the Payette prosecutor on the case said there were too many discrepancies to prosecute the case.
Raymond then sued both ISP and Payette County for wrongful death and tortious interference, according to the Idaho Statesman. A judge dismissed ISP from the lawsuit while allowing the case against Payette County to go forward. Raymond was awarded $150,000 last year from the county in that lawsuit.
Raymond asked the Idaho Supreme Court in August 2018 to bring back her claim that the Idaho State Police interfered with the crash investigation, as initially reported by the Idaho Statesman.
A district court judge had ruled that Idaho does not recognize the tort and that the facts were too speculative to establish such a claim, according to the opinion.
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled Friday that Raymond could bring that claim forth.
“When all inferences from the facts alleged are drawn in Raymond’s favor and considered true, a reasonable trier of fact could conclude that but for ISP’s alleged misconduct, Officer Sloan would have been convicted of manslaughter,” the opinion written by Idaho Supreme Court Justice G. Richard Bevan states.
Part of Raymond’s request to the court was to adopt a tort of intentional interference. ISP believed the court should not adopt a new tort because “adoption would lead to endless and burdensome litigation, other remedies are available to deter the destruction of evidence, and the facts, as alleged by Raymond, do not merit the tort’s adoption,” according to the opinion.
But the Supreme Court found the adoption of the tort was warranted. “Idaho has recognized a cause of action for intentional interference with a prospective civil action by spoliation of evidence by a third party,” the opinion reads.
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