Title: Latham v. Aronov Realty Co.

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

435 So. 2d 209 (1983)
Woodrow Wilson LATHAM
v.
ARONOV REALTY COMPANY, et al.; National Security of Alabama, Inc.
82-86.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
July 8, 1983.
C. Delaine Mountain and Herbert M. Newell, III, Tuscaloosa, for appellant.
Wilbur J. Hust, Jr. of Zeanah, Donald & Hust, Tuscaloosa, for appellees Aronov Realty Co., et al.
John T. Kirk of Kirk & Manasco, Montgomery, for appellee National Security of Alabama, Inc.
MADDOX, Justice.
Plaintiff/appellant was criminally assaulted in the parking lot of a shopping *210 mall by third parties. He sued the owners of the mall, the rental agent and the security service hired to guard the mall. The trial judge granted a motion for a directed verdict as to all defendants except those who assaulted the plaintiff/appellant. The sole issue for this Court's consideration is whether the other defendants had a duty to protect the plaintiff from the criminal assault by third parties.
Plaintiff/appellant, Woodrow Wilson Latham, worked at Giovanni's, a restaurant at University Mall in Tuscaloosa. After working until around 1:00 a.m. on the morning of July 22, 1981, he left the restaurant with three friends and they went to their cars parked in the lot adjacent to the mall. Once outside, Latham and his friends engaged in an exchange of words with two of the defendants, Horace Hallman and Lonnie Stone. The exchange led to a fight, during which, the evidence showed, Stone struck Latham with a tire tool. Latham sued Hallman and Stone, but also named as defendants, the owners of University Mall; Aronov Realty Co., the agent of University Mall; and National Security, a security agency which had contracted to provide protection at the mall.
Latham alleged that (1) the owners and Aronov Realty, as rental agent, were negligent in failing to maintain proper security on the mall premises; (2) that the negligence was willful and wanton, because the defendants had knowledge of the danger to him; (3) that Aronov, National Security, and the owners breached their contract with Giovanni's, Latham's employer, to provide security; and (4) that National Security negligently provided security for the mall.
At the close of the plaintiff's case, the owners and Aronov Realty, Inc. each filed motion for a directed verdict. The trial court granted both motions. Latham appeals, claiming the court erred in granting these two motions.
The jury ultimately returned a verdict in favor of Latham for $35,000 against Stone and Hallman. The judgment based on that verdict is not a subject of this appeal.
The issue we address can be stated thusly: What duty does a storekeeper owe to invitees lawfully on the premises? In Alabama, the law clearly imposes a duty upon storekeepers to exercise reasonable care in providing and maintaining reasonably safe premises for the use of their invitees. Winn-Dixie Store No. 1501 v. Brown, 394 So. 2d 49 (Ala.Civ.App.1981); Quillen v. Quillen, 388 So. 2d 985 (Ala.1980). Latham, as an employee of a tenant, was an invitee, because the law states that an employee of a tenant is considered an invitee of the landowner. See Coggin v. Starke Bros. Realty Co., Inc., 391 So. 2d 111, 112 (Ala.1980); Mudd v. Gray, 200 Ala. 92, 75 So. 468 (1917).
Latham urges this Court to adopt the rule of law that the landlord's duty to protect invitees on its premises includes a duty to protect against a criminal assault by a third party.
What is the Alabama rule of law relating to liability of a landlord for the unlawful acts of third parties?
In Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Keltner, 29 Ala.App. 5, 8, 191 So. 633, cert. denied, 238 Ala. 462, 191 So. 640 (1939), plaintiff's wife was an invitee in defendant's store when she was struck by a rock thrown by a boy who had been forcibly removed by the storekeeper. The Court stated the rule of law, as follows:
*211 In a subsequent decision, this Court has pointed to "foreseeability" as the key:
Vines v. Plantation Motor Lodge, 336 So. 2d 1338, 1339 (Ala.1976).
In City of Mobile v. Largay, 346 So. 2d 393 (Ala.1977), this Court determined that there was no liability because the criminal act by a third party was not reasonably foreseeable. See also, Berdeaux v. City National Bank of Birmingham, 424 So. 2d 594 (Ala. 1982).
Latham contends that this Court should adopt as a rule of law the provisions of the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 344 (1965), specifically subsection (f) thereof:
In other jurisdictions there has been a divergence of opinion on the proper rule to apply when the criminal act of a third person injures an invitee. See Annotation: Comment NotePrivate Person's Duty and Liability for Failure to Protect Another Against Criminal Attack by Third Persons, 10 A.L.R.3d 619 (1966).
Latham cites to us several cases from other jurisdictions which he says should be followed in his case. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Johnstoneaux, 395 So. 2d 599 (Fla. Dist.Ct.App.1981); Medina v. 187th St. Apartments Ltd., 405 So. 2d 485 (Fla.Dist.Ct. App.1981); Taylor v. Centennial Bowl, Inc., 65 Cal. 2d 114, 52 Cal. Rptr. 561, 416 P.2d 793 (1966); Morgan v. Bucks Associates, 428 F. Supp. 546 (E.D.Pa.1977); Butler v. Acme Markets, Inc., 89 N.J. 270, 445 A.2d 1141 (1982).
*212 The appellees take each case cited by Latham and argue, as follows:
"In Medina v. 187th Street Apartments Ltd., 405 So. 2d 485 (Fla.App.1981), the plaintiff was assaulted in a parking lot of an apartment complex. A directed verdict was reversed because the evidence showed the following:
Latham, on the other hand, argues that there was more than sufficient evidence before the trial court to allow one to reasonably draw an adverse inference on the issue of notice on the part of the defendants and thus, that the granting of the motions for directed verdict was error. He contends that the act of hiring security personnel itself gave rise to an inference that the defendants foresaw the possibility of activity on the part of third persons. He also directs our attention to testimony of the mall manager which he claims shows that the defendants were aware of a previous theft of property as well as the abduction of another mall employee from the mall parking lot on a previous occasion. Latham also contends that whether or not the providing of one security guard to protect against such acts was sufficient to discharge the duty owed an invitee would, according to the restatement view, be a question of fact for the jury.
Further, Latham contends that he introduced evidence that the defendants had actual notice of the existence of a potentially dangerous situation in that a crowd of people *213 was present in the parking lot at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of the incident, and yet the security guard failed to take any action to reduce the danger. He contends that the security guard, on prior occasions, had called the Tuscaloosa police department to disperse unruly crowds in the parking lot. Latham asserts that these facts would reasonably give rise to an inference that the security guard was negligent in not doing so on the occasion when he was injured.
Latham further contends that the facts that Ruby Tuesday's was the only shop open at the hour that he was injured, and that Tuesday night is a special night for that tavern, with larger crowds attending than usual, both give rise to the inference that the security guard's attention should have been focused primarily on that particular area of the mall and the adjacent parking lot. He sums up his argument thusly:
The trial judge, in ruling on the motions for directed verdict, stated for the record his view of the development of the Alabama law in this area. He was convinced that a directed verdict was appropriate. It appears that the trial judge relied heavily on a decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Cornpropst v. Sloan, 528 S.W.2d 188 (Tenn. 1975). The facts in that case are strikingly similar to those in this case. In Cornpropst, an assailant attacked a woman shopper in the parking lot of a shopping mall. The attack occurred at night and there were no security guards posted in the lot. Prior to this attack, there had been various other assaults and acts of violence either on the premises or in the general vicinity. She sued the mall owner and the owners of the stores in the mall for a failure to provide adequate protection from the criminal acts of third parties.
The Tennessee court noted that under the common law there was no duty whatsoever to protect others from criminal acts of third parties. The court noted that in establishing such a duty, it would be very hard to determine when the duty arose, what measures would discharge the duty, and whether acts of the defendants would be the proximate cause of the injury. The Court opined:
The key to this appeal is: "Was the criminal conduct foreseeable"?
The trial judge was of the opinion that Latham failed to introduce evidence to show that the defendants knew, or had reason to know from past experience, that there was a likelihood of conduct on the part of a third person such as Stone or Hallman which would endanger the invitee. After reviewing the facts in the record, we uphold his decision in this case.
We hold as a matter of law that under the facts of this case, the criminal assault upon Latham in the parking lot was not reasonably foreseeable.
Consequently, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and SHORES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.
JONES, J., concurs specially.
JONES, Justice (concurring specially).
I would not hesitate, in an appropriate case, to adopt the Restatement of Torts (Second), § 344. I agree with the trial judge that the strongest inference of the plaintiff's evidence, in the instant case, did not invoke § 344.