Long v. Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Long v. Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co.
Opinion of the Court
Appellant concedes in his brief there is no issue of material fact. Appellant argues, nevertheless, that only in the exceptional case is summary judgment granted in actions involving negligence and that summary judgment was inappropriate in this case. We agree that summary judgment is generally not feasible in negligence actions where the standard of the prudent man must be applied, but, nevertheless, find summary judgment to be proper where it appears there can be no recovery even if the facts as claimed by plaintiff are true. McNair v. Boyette, 15 N.C. App. 69, 71, 189 S.E. 2d 590 (1972), citing Pridgen v. Hughes, 9 N.C. App. 635, 177 S.E. 2d 425 (1970).
Southern Bell did not inform the law officers that plaintiff made the bomb threat call. Defendant company merely told the officers that a call was made from plaintiffs telephone to the university at 8:35 a.m. and that this was the call most proximate in time to 8:36 a.m. when the reverter card indicated that the bomb threat was made. Any negligence, if negligence there be, was on the part of the university in failing to accurately report the time of the bomb threat or on the part of the law enforcement officers in failing to fully investigate other calls that were made proximate in time to the bomb threat. Such negligence cannot be imputed to Southern Bell. Weavil v. Myers, 243 N.C. 386, 391, 90 S.E. 2d 733 (1953).
The order allowing summary judgment is
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.