Title: Whitehead v. USA-One, Inc.

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

595 So. 2d 867 (1992)
Beverly Jean WHITEHEAD, et al.
v.
USA-ONE, INC.
1901870.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
March 6, 1992.
*868 David Cromwell Johnson and Susan J. Walker of Johnson & Cory, Birmingham, for appellants.
George G. Lynn and Cynthia G. Lamar of Maynard, Cooper, Frierson & Gale, Birmingham, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Beverly Jean Whitehead, Carla Prewett, and Blair Marques were all tenants at Sharpsburg Manor apartments in Birmingham in 1988. In April and May of that year, a man broke into each of their apartments and sexually assaulted them. On June 11, 1988, the same man who had previously assaulted Whitehead broke into Whitehead's apartment again and raped her. Alfred Zene was apprehended that evening, and he later pleaded guilty to second degree burglary for the June 11 break-in; he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Whitehead, Prewett, and Marques all sued USA-One, Inc., the company hired to provide gate attendants at Sharpsburg Manor; Rime, Inc., the owner of Sharpsburg Manor; and Regal Development Company, the manager of the apartment complex, alleging negligence, wantonness, and breach of contract. They also sued Zene, alleging assault. Whitehead, Prewett, and Marques reached a pro tanto settlement with Rime and Regal Development Company, and the trial court entered a summary judgment for USA-One and made that judgment final pursuant to Rule 54(b), A.R.Civ.P.
Whitehead, Prewett, and Marques appeal from that judgment, arguing that USA-One voluntarily assumed a duty to protect them from the criminal acts of a third party. They rely on Gardner v. Vinson Guard Service, Inc., 538 So. 2d 13 (Ala. 1988), in support of that argument.
In Gardner, Vinson Guard Service had an oral contract with Van's Photo, Inc., to provide security guards at one of its facilities. Specifically, Vinson Guard Service was to "provide protection for vehicles in the parking lot of Van's Photo and to protect employees traveling to and from their vehicles" and to "patrol the perimeter around the facility and to make their presence evident." 538 So. 2d  at 14. A Van's Photo employee arrived for work one morning after a burglary had occurred and was told by the security guard on duty that it was safe to go in the building because the burglar had fled. Approximately 15 minutes after the employee went inside, she was attacked by a second burglar. In reversing the summary judgment for Vinson Guard Service on the plaintiff's negligence claim, this Court held that there was a jury question as to whether Vinson Guard Service had assumed a duty to protect the Van's Photo employees while they were inside the building. We also held that, although a breach of contract cause of action might exist for a third-party beneficiary, *869 no such cause of action existed in that case.
We find no evidence here that USA-One had a contractual duty to protect Whitehead, Prewett, and Marques or that it assumed a duty to protect them. The contract between Rime and Shelby Securities, Inc., USA-One's predecessor in interest, states at paragraph nine: "It is expressly understood and agreed that this contract is entered into solely for the mutual benefit of the parties herein and that no benefits, rights, duties, or obligations are intended or created by this contract as to third parties not a signatory hereto."
Although USA-One's duties were not expressly stated in the contract, Dorothy Holland, the manager of Sharpsburg Manor, and Barrell Lamar Walker, a former employee of USA-One, described in their depositions the extent of USA-One's responsibilities. Walker said that the gate attendants primarily checked cars entering and exiting the complex, that they kept daily logs, and that they made periodic "rounds" of the premises. Holland said that the attendants served as an after-hours answering service, i.e., that they had the telephone numbers of the maintenance person and the manager on duty in case a resident called the gate with a problem the attendant could not handle. Holland stated more specifically regarding the attendants' duties:
(Emphasis added.)
As opposed to the duties of the security company in Gardner v. Vinson Guard Service, supra, it is clear both from the contract here as well as from the deposition testimony of Walker and Holland that the employees of USA-One were at Sharpsburg Manor for the benefit of Rime. We are unpersuaded by the plaintiffs' reliance *871 on Nail v. Jefferson County Truck Growers Ass'n, Inc., 542 So. 2d 1208 (Ala.1988), to show that USA-One voluntarily assumed a duty to protect them.
Nail involved a shootout between competing produce retailers at the Jefferson County Farmers' Market over leased space at the market. The retailers sued the owner and manager of the market, alleging a negligent failure to prevent injuries caused by the intentional tort of a third person. The trial court entered a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, for the owner and manager of the Market, and the retailers appealed, arguing that the Market had voluntarily assumed a duty to protect them because, three days before the shootout, the Market had hired a third security guard to patrol the area where the violence occurred. On the day of the shooting, however, only two guards were present, because one guard was sick. The retailers produced evidence that a replacement guard was usually called in when a guard was absent and that, on the day in question, the Market did not provide a replacement guard even though it had knowledge of the "growing rancor" between the retailers. In reversing the J.N.O.V. with regard to one of the retailers, this Court stated, "[T]he hostility in this case fermented over a period of several weeks before the shootout, and the Market was apprised of the growing animosity. We hold that this evidence was sufficient for the jury reasonably to conclude that violence in Shed One was foreseeable." 542 So. 2d  at 1212.
Here, the fact that the gate attendants patrolled the grounds of Sharpsburg Manor "more frequently" after the second assault is insufficient to establish that USA-One undertook to protect the residents of the apartment complex. We hold, therefore, that the summary judgment for USA-One was correct, and it is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
MADDOX, ALMON, SHORES, HOUSTON and STEAGALL, JJ., concur.