Missouri Firefighter\u27s Rule, The

Abstract

The firefighter\u27s rule bars injured firefighters and police officers from recovering against individuals whose ordinary negligence created the situation that required the presence of the officer or firefighter. In Missouri, the firefighter\u27s rule originated as a landowner liability rule and as an exception to the rescue doctrine More recently, however, the rule has been influenced by the doctrine of assumption of risk and by public policy concerns. The result has been a hodgepodge of old and new rationales that form the basis for an inconsistent rule that relies on superfluous analysis. In Gray v. Russell, the Missouri Supreme Court reasserted the firefighter\u27s rule\u27s basis in the rescue doctrine, and thereby prevented a beneficial change in analysis