Bryant v. Morley
Bryant v. Morley
Opinion
Plaintiff Clifton Bryant, Jr., on behalf of himself and his fourteen-year-old son, Joseph Allen Bryant (Joey), appeals from the grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant, Jo Ann Morley. Bryant's action consists of two counts based on negligence. We affirm
On July 10, 1980 Joey sustained serious injuries when he dived into the shallow end of defendant's swimming pool. The complaint alleges that defendant "negligently supervised or negligently failed to supervise the conduct of "Joseph" while he was upon the defendant's premises by negligently failing to instruct or warn him not to dive into the swimming pool at points where the water was shallow. The trial court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment based upon the pleadings, the depositions of Joey, his mother Martha Bryant, and defendant Jo Ann Morley, in addition to the affidavits of Joey and Clifton Bryant, Jr
Under Rule 56, ARCP, summary judgment is appropriate only when the moving party has demonstrated that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Whatley v. Cardinal Pest Control, Ala.,
The question on this appeal is whether the evidence, when considered in a light most favorable to plaintiffs, would support their contention that defendant had a duty to supervise Joey, and thus defeat summary judgment. Plaintiffs concede that Joey was a social guest at the time of his injury. In Alabama an invited social guest is a licensee of the landowner. Morganv. Kirkpatrick,
The facts in the present case are similar to those inMcMullan v. Butler, Ala.,
The record discloses that Joey was on defendant's premises at the invitation of her son. Defendant herself possessed no actual knowledge that Joey was shallow diving in her pool on the date of his injury or actual knowledge that Joey had ever on any previous occasion engaged in shallow diving while swimming in her pool. There is no evidence of intentional injury, nor of knowledge on the part of defendant of Joey's peril. Based upon these facts alone, summary judgment was proper
However, plaintiffs claim that this case falls under an exception to the standard of care for licensees approved inAutrey v. Roebuck Park Baptist Church, supra. The exception is found in Standifer v. Pate,
Plaintiffs contend that, even if defendant did not undertake the supervision of Joey on the date of his injury, she at leastreserved the right to supervise him and, therefore, had a duty to take reasonable precautions to prevent Joey and other minors from injuring themselves. That argument is based upon the premise that because of defendant's previous supervision of children she retained the right to supervise them in the future and failure to exercise that right could lead to liability for resulting injuries
Regardless of whether defendant had a "reserved right to supervise" Joey based upon his licensee status, we are not impressed with plaintiffs' argument that defendant had a duty to attempt to prevent Joey from injuring himself. In LanganConstruction Co., Inc. v. Dauphin Island Marina, Inc.,
"that a volunteer is under a duty, once he has acted or assumed the duty, to execute the tasks undertaken with reasonable care," Standifer, supra; but this rule falls short of holding that, because one has voluntarily undertaken a task in the past, he is therefore under a duty to repeat such tasks in similar situations in the future. . . . [Emphasis added.] [Id. at 328; 316 So.2d at 684.]
In the case at bar, the duty owed by defendant to Joey was not dependent upon her previous supervision of him or other children, but upon the landowner-licensee relationship which existed between them at the time of the accident
Because of the nature of negligence actions, with their questions of reasonableness and proximate causation, summary judgment will not ordinarily be granted in such cases. Tolbertv. Gulsby, Ala.,
AFFIRMED
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX, JONES and SHORES, JJ., concur
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Joseph Allen Bryant, Etc. v. Jo Ann B. Morley.
- Cited By
- 33 cases
- Status
- Published