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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 9-240 / 08-1578 Filed June 17, 2009 QUYNH DANG, A Minor, by QUI DANG, Her Father and Next Friend, QUI DANG and TRANG BUI, Plaintiffs-Appellants, vs. DES MOINES COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL, MEREDITH MIDDLE SCHOOL and MELISSA BRINKMAN, Defendants-Appellees. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Douglas F. Staskal, Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal from a district court ruling granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants. AFFIRMED.

A. Zane Blessum, Winterset, and Catherine K. Levine, Des Moines, for appellants. Andrew J. Bracken and Jason M. Craig of Ahlers & Cooney, P.C., Des Moines, for appellees.

Heard by Sackett, C.J., and Vogel and Miller, JJ.

2 MILLER, J. Quynh Dang and her parents, Qui Dang and Trang Bui, appeal from a district court ruling granting summary judgment in favor of the Des Moines Community School District, Hoover High School, Meredith Middle School, and Melissa Brinkman. The plaintiffs claim the district court erred in finding Iowa Code section 670.4(12) (2007) exempted the defendants from liability. affirm. On January 13, 2006, eleven-year-old Quynh suffered permanent brain damage after nearly drowning in the Hoover High School swimming pool. She was at the pool for an annual pool party sponsored by the school district for Meredith Middle School sixth graders.1 The event was supervised by three We

teachers, including Melissa Brinkman, who also acted as a lifeguard for the event. Quynhs father, individually and on her behalf, and her mother sued the defendants, alleging the school district was grossly negligent in, among other things, "[f]ailing to properly supervise the children in the swimming pool." The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting Iowa Code section 670.4(12) exempted the school district and its employee from liability. The

district court agreed and entered summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The plaintiffs appeal. Where, as here, the only dispute in an appeal from a summary judgment ruling concerns legal consequences flowing from undisputed facts, our review is
1

Prior to Quynhs attendance at the party, one of her parents signed a permission slip stating, "I give my son/daughter permission to attend the pool party on January 13th."

3 limited to whether the district court correctly applied the law. Baker v. City of Ottumwa, 560 N.W.2d 578, 582 (Iowa 1997). We conclude it did. Iowa Code chapter 670 governs tort liability of governmental subdivisions, including school districts, subjecting them to liability for the torts of their officers and employees unless the tort falls within one of the exemptions spelled out in section 670.4. City of Cedar Falls v. Cedar Falls Cmty. Sch. Dist., 617 N.W.2d 11, 18 (Iowa 2000); see also Iowa Code

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