Title: USA Petroleum Corp. v. Hines

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

770 So. 2d 589 (1999)
USA PETROLEUM CORPORATION
v.
Harold HINES.
1980028.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 17, 1999.
Rehearing Denied May 12, 2000.
*590 Richard E. Broughton and George R. Parker of Ball, Ball, Matthews & Novak, P.A., Montgomery, for appellant.
Sam E. Loftin of Loftin, Herndon, Loftin & Miller, Phenix City, for appellee.
COOK, Justice.
The plaintiff, Harold Hines, sued James U. Davis and USA Petroleum Corporation, claiming damages based on injuries he had suffered as a result of an assault and battery committed upon him at a gasoline station operated by the corporate defendant in Phenix City. The defendant Davis was an employee of the corporate defendant. The case was tried before a jury. At the close of the evidence, the plaintiff moved to dismiss the defendant Davis and all claims against USA Petroleum except the claim seeking to impose on that defendant vicarious liability for the assault and battery. The court granted the plaintiffs motion. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, awarding him $200,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages. The court entered a judgment on that verdict. USA Petroleum filed a "Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law/Motion for New Trial/Motion for Remittitur," which the court denied. USA Petroleum appeals; we affirm.
The facts of the case are set out in the trial judge's "Order on the Defendant's Post-Trial Motions," issued pursuant to Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So. 2d 1374 (Ala.1986):
USA Petroleum first argues that it is not liable to Hines, because, it argues, its employee Davis injured Hines while acting outside the line and scope of his employment. The trial judge concluded that the jury heard substantial evidence from which it could find that Davis was acting within the line and scope of his employment when he committed the assault and battery. He stated in his Order on the Defendant's Post-Trial Motions:
This Court has written:
Lawler Mobile Homes, Inc. v. Tarver, 492 So. 2d 297, 305 (Ala.1986). The jury heard substantial evidence from which it could conclude that Davis was acting within the line and scope of his employment when he assaulted Hines.
USA Petroleum next contends that the court should have dismissed all claims against it after it had dismissed the claims against Davis. At the close of all the evidence, Hines moved to dismiss his claims against the employee, Davis, and all claims against USA Petroleum except one, and to present to the jury only that one remaining claimhis vicarious-liability claim against the employer. This Court has sanctioned this tactic. See Big B, Inc. v. Cottingham, 634 So. 2d 999 (Ala.1993), wherein Justice Houston observed:
Id. at 1005.
USA Petroleum relies on Barlow v. Liberty National Life Insurance Co., 708 So. 2d 168 (Ala.Civ.App.1997), a tort action against a principal and its agent. In Barlow the agent was held to be entitled to a directed verdict; thus, the principal was entitled to have the verdict against the principal set aside. The Barlow case presents a fact situation completely different from the one before us, because the agent in this case, Davis, was not held to be entitled to a directed verdict. Also, in Barlow the employee was dismissed "with prejudice." Id. at 173. In the case before us, the court's order dismissing the claims against Davis is silent as to whether the dismissal was with prejudice; thus, we must presume that the dismissal was without prejudice and that it would have no res judicata effect. Hope Developers, Inc. v. Vandiver, 582 So. 2d 1073, 1074 (Ala.1991); *592 McKenzie v. Davenport-Harris Funeral Home, 834 F.2d 930 (11th Cir.1987).
USA Petroleum argues that the record contains no evidence to support a punitive-damages award against it, and, further, that if the evidence did support a punitive award, the award of $200,000 was excessive. The trial judge spoke to these issues in his Order on the Defendant's Post-Trial Motions:
Thus, the trial judge reviewed the jury verdict, using not only the three guide-posts set out by the United States Supreme Court in BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559, 116 S. Ct. 1589, 134 L. Ed. 2d 809 (1996), but also applying the factors set out by this Court in BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 701 So. 2d 507 (Ala.1997); Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So. 2d 218, 223-24 (Ala.1989); and Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So. 2d 1374 (Ala.1986). We have carefully studied the record and the trial judge's well-reasoned and thorough analysis of the punitive-damages award. We agree with his conclusion that the award is not excessive.
USA Petroleum contends that it is entitled to a new trial, because, it argues, the trial court erroneously sustained Hines's objection to the admission of Defendant's Exhibit 6, a photograph showing Hines using his right arm and shoulder to carry a grocery bag. USA Petroleum contends that the photograph was relevant and was admissible for impeachment purposes. The record reflects that before the trial the judge entered a "Scheduling/Pre-Trial Order" that provided in pertinent part:
Under Rule 16, Ala. R. Civ. P., such an order controls the subsequent course of the action. The parties are bound by the pretrial order; the photograph USA Petroleum sought to introduce had not been furnished to the plaintiff in accordance with the pretrial order. Thus, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in refusing to allow it into evidence. Rule 16, Ala. R. Civ. P.; Electrolux Motor AB v. Chancellor, 486 So. 2d 414, (Ala.1986); Super Valu Stores, Inc. v. Peterson, 506 So. 2d 317 (Ala.1987).
USA Petroleum argues that the trial court erred to reversal in refusing to give jury charges on the doctrines of contributory negligence and assumption of the risk. USA Petroleum argues that after the first confrontation with Davis, the plaintiff knew that Davis was angry and that Davis had threatened him with physical harm, and, therefore, that the plaintiffs failure to leave the scene constituted contributory negligence or assumption of the risk. Assault and battery are intentional torts; contributory negligence and assumption of the risk are not defenses to intentional torts. USA Petroleum injected the question of negligence into the case by requesting certain jury charges; in doing so, it invited error. It is well established that a party may not avail himself of error into which he has led the court. Phillips v. Anesthesia Services, P.C., 565 So. 2d 127, 129 (Ala.1990), citing Osborn v. Johns, 468 So. 2d 102, 110 (Ala.1985), in turn citing Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Beasley, 272 Ala. 153, 157, 130 So. 2d 178, 182 (1961). The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in refusing to charge the jury as to these defenses.
The judgment of the trial court is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
MADDOX, HOUSTON, SEE, LYONS, BROWN, JOHNSTONE, and ENGLAND, JJ., concur.
HOOPER, C.J., dissents.
HOOPER, Chief Justice (dissenting).
I must respectfully dissent. I do not believe USA Petroleum Corporation should be held vicariously liable for the acts of its employee, James Davis. Mr. Hines, the plaintiff, did not present substantial evidence indicating that Davis was *596 acting within the line and scope of his employment when he assaulted Hines.
The trial court stated in its "Order on Defendant's Post-Trial Motions" that the jury had heard evidence indicating that Davis was following company policy when he committed the assault and battery. I disagree. Davis indicated that he had been told by his supervisor at USA Petroleum that he should "repel intruders" who try to enter the cashier's booth. Hines went to USA Petroleum's gasoline station to complain about the way Davis had talked to Hines's wife earlier in the day. Hines's wife had been at the station earlier that day, and on that earlier visit she had driven her automobile through the station in the wrong direction. The station was a "one-way" service station, set up so that drivers proceed through in one direction, pump their gasoline, and then stop by the booth to pay the attendant. Davis told Hines's wife that she could not pump gasoline with her car facing in the wrong direction and that the police could give her a ticket.
Hines did not go to the station to purchase gasoline. He went there to confront Davis about the way Davis had spoken to his wife. Davis became angry and lost his temper after Hines provoked him. He first pushed Hines toward his automobile and said he was going to telephone the police. It is possible that this action could be construed as "repelling intruders," which would have been within the line and scope of Davis's employment. However, when Hines got back into his car and pulled it over to the side of the booth, Davis began beating on the car with his fists and with a broom handle. Hines sustained injuries to a shoulder when he got out of the car and Davis shoved him back into the car. Given this further action, I cannot agree that the evidence could support a verdict finding that Davis was "repelling intruders" from the cashier's booth, as USA Petroleum's company policy required.
The majority indicates that there was substantial evidence from which the jury could conclude that Davis was acting within the line and scope of his employment, but it does not indicate what that evidence was. In determining that the punitive award against USA Petroleum was warranted, the trial court stated: "There was also evidence presented that USA knew or should have known of Davis' unfitness for employment." See 770 So. 2d  at 592. However, the evidence referred to should not even be considered until it is determined that Davis was in fact acting within the line and scope of his employment. Evidence indicating that Davis had been fired from two jobs for misconduct, that he had been arrested (and exonerated) on charges of sexual misconduct, and that he had received psychiatric treatment for a violent outburst while he was in high school has no bearing on whether USA Petroleum should be held vicariously liable. This evidence would be relevant if Hines were claiming negligent or wanton hiring, training, or supervision. Hines had made such claims, but he voluntarily dismissed them before the case was submitted to the jury. I do not believe the jury had before it substantial evidence indicating that Davis committed the assault on Hines while acting within the line and scope of his employment; therefore, I conclude that USA Petroleum should not be held vicariously liable.