Case Title: Long Term Care, Inc. v. Jesco, Inc.

Citation: 560 So. 2d 717

Docket Number: 07-CA-58825

State: mississippi

Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Date: 1990-04-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
560 So. 2d 717 (1990) LONG TERM CARE, INC., d/b/a Senatobia Convalescent Center and Empire Fire & Marine Company v. JESCO, INC. No. 07-CA-58825. Supreme Court of Mississippi. April 11, 1990. Rehearing Denied May 16, 1990. *718 Cynthia I. Mitchell, Merkel & Cocke, Clarksdale, for appellants. L.F. Sams, Jr., Michael D. Greer, Mitchell McNutt Bush Lagrone & Sams, Tupelo, for appellee. Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and PRATHER and PITTMAN, JJ. ROY NOBLE LEE, Chief Justice, for the Court: Long Term Care, Inc. d/b/a Senatobia Convalescent Center (Long Term) and its liability insurance carrier, Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company (Empire) filed suit in the Circuit Court of Tate County seeking to recover from the building contractor, Jesco, Inc. (Jesco) the sums which Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company, had paid to Hattie Raggett, who had suffered injuries in a fall on a sidewalk constructed by Jesco, Inc. on premises leased by Long Term. The trial court, Honorable Andrew C. Baker, presiding, granted summary judgment in favor of Jesco, Inc. for the reason that Long Term was not entitled to contribution or indemnity because Long Term's payment to Raggett represented either (1) a settlement for Long Term's active negligence based on its knowledge of the potentially dangerous condition of the sidewalk, or (2) a voluntary payment not made under compulsion of law, if Long Term had no notice of any dangerous condition. Long Term and Empire appeal and assign three errors in the proceedings below. The summary judgment granted by the lower court adequately sets forth the facts of the case upon which the court arrived at its conclusions. The judgment follows: The assigned errors of the appellant present three questions, i.e., (1) whether there were genuine issues of material fact as to passive negligence of Long Term; (2) whether Long Term was guilty of no negligence and was therefore a volunteer in paying the $75,000 settlement to Hattie Raggett and (3) whether Long Term was precluded from indemnity from Jesco because Long Term did not obtain a release for Jesco in paying the settlement figure of $75,000. In Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association v. Harragill, 254 Miss. 460, 182 So. 2d 220 (1966), Colonial Chevrolet had engaged O.K. Welding to fit a truck with special brakes to meet the specification of the purchaser, Southwest. When the brakes failed, causing injury to another vehicle driver, the injured woman filed suit against Southwest and its driver. Southwest denied all negligence, asserted as affirmative defense that the welding company had used improper fittings and had improperly assembled the fittings, and averred that it had been unable, in the exercise of reasonable care and caution, to discover the defective fittings and assembly. Southwest settled the suit before trial and then filed an action seeking common law indemnity from the welding company and the truck dealer. The trial court sustained the demurrers of the defendants and, in affirming the holding that Southwest had volunteered payment to the plaintiff and was not entitled to indemnity, this court said: Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association v. Harragill, 254 Miss. 460, 466-67, 182 So. 2d 220, 222-23 (1966) (footnote omitted) The Court further stated that the driver of a vehicle is liable for injuries caused by defective brakes only if he was negligent in failing to discover the defect. The Court accepted Southwest's allegations that it had been unable, in the exercise of reasonable care, to discover the faulty fittings and concluded that the facts did not show that Southwest was liable. In the case at bar, Long Term admitted that it denied negligence on its part in the Raggett suit against Long Term, but that Long Term had negotiated a reasonable settlement of Raggett's claim and paid $75,000 therefor. In the case at bar, Long Term cites Bush v. City of Laurel, 215 So. 2d 256, 260 (Miss. 1968). However, it receives no help from Bush because there the Court held that the City of Laurel could not be considered a volunteer since its liability had been clearly established in another case (City of Laurel v. Upton, 253 Miss. 380, 175 So. 2d 621 (1965)) and only the amount of damages remained in question. The Bush Court further *721 discussed Mississippi law prohibiting contribution among joint tort feasors and invoked an exception to this rule which permits a "passive wrongdoer" to claim a right to indemnity from an "active wrongdoer": Bush v. City of Laurel, 215 So. 2d 256, 260 (Miss. 1968). In Alabama Great Southern Railroad v. Allied Chemical Corporation, 501 F.2d 94 (5th Cir.1974), the railroad company paid over seven million dollars in settling claims for injuries caused by a derailment and explosion and then sought indemnity from the manufacturer and seller of a defective wheel that had caused the derailment and from the company which owned the car on which the defective wheel had been placed. The railroad company sought to be labeled "passively" negligent so as to qualify itself for indemnity just as Long Term does here. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the trial courts grant of summary judgment for the railroad stating: Id. at 100. Id. at 101. Id. at 102. Under the facts of this case, we are of the opinion that Raggett was an invitee of Long Term, which was under the duty to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition and to warn Raggett of dangerous conditions not readily apparent, of which Long Term knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known. Waller v. Dixieland Food Stores, Inc., 492 So. 2d 283 (Miss. 1986). See also Biloxi Regional Medical Center v. David, 555 So. 2d 53 (Miss. 1989); E.A. Lumbley v. Ten Point Club, 556 So. 2d 1026 (Miss. 1989). Long Term, in the lease contract, assumed the duty to maintain the premises, which included the walk where Hattie Raggett was injured. After discovery in Raggett's case against Long Term, it was established that expansion joint material, protruding above the sidewalk and creating a hazard, had been there for a long period of time, despite the duty of Long Term. Then *722 it was that Long Term settled with Hattie Raggett for the sum of $75,000. We are of the opinion that Long Term, on the facts of this case, did not follow a course such as to avoid both Charybdis and Scylla; that it was not guilty of passive negligence by which it sought to avoid those pitfalls; and that it was guilty of active negligence and was a joint tort feasor with Jesco. Further, we are of the opinion that the lower court did not err in granting summary judgment for Jesco. Therefore, the judgment of the lower court is affirmed. AFFIRMED. HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, ANDERSON, PITTMAN and BLASS, JJ., concur.