Title: Prairie Livestock Company, Inc. v. Chandler

State: mississippi

Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court

Document:

325 So. 2d 908 (1976) PRAIRIE LIVESTOCK COMPANY, INC. v. H.T. CHANDLER. No. 48452. Supreme Court of Mississippi. January 27, 1976. Williams, Gunn, Eppes & Crenshaw, Robert D. Jones, Meridian, for appellant. Warner & Ray, Meridian, Coleman & Cothren, Jackson, for appellee. Before RODGERS, INZER and SMITH, JJ. SMITH, Justice: In a suit for damages for personal injuries tried in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County, H.T. Chandler Jr., recovered a judgment against Prairie Livestock Company, Inc., in the amount of $10,000, and the latter appeals. *909 The episode, out of which the action arose, is correctly described in the briefs as bizarre. It took place at a public cattle sale and involved three individuals who were cattle buyers, one of whom was Boyce Davis, a buyer for appellant, Prairie. When Boyce Davis entered the stands which surrounded the arena, the other two buyers, James Crenshaw and Willie Jim Mitchell, with neither of whom Boyce or Prairie had any connection whatever, were already seated. Mitchell was sitting in the row back of Crenshaw, and was occupying a seat behind that occupied by Crenshaw. Davis thought there was a vacant seat in the row in which Crenshaw was sitting and started to enter the row. This required him to get by the seated Crenshaw. Davis was mistaken or the seat he had in mind was filled before he could get to it. When he observed this, he jokingly requested Crenshaw (with whom he was acquainted), to give him, Davis, his seat and playfully sat down on Crenshaw's lap for a moment. Mitchell, sitting behind Crenshaw, immediately then and without warning, "goosed" Crenshaw from behind. This caused Crenshaw to react violently by suddenly jumping up and hurling Davis bodily down the aisle steps which descended between the sections of seats. The body of the falling Davis, in the course of his fall, struck Chandler, who was sitting on the steps in the aisle a few rows down. Prairie's request for peremptory instruction was denied and the facts were submitted to a jury which returned a verdict for Crenshaw against Prairie in the amount of $10,000. The principal grounds assigned for reversal will be discussed in the order following and are that Prairie was not liable because: (1) The act of Davis was not within the scope of Davis' employment by Prairie or in furtherance of Prairie's business. (2) Davis' action was mere horseplay and was such a complete departure from the scope of his employment by Prairie and from any business of Prairie that it imposed no liability on Prairie therefor. (3) The act of Mitchell in suddenly "goosing" Crenshaw, without warning, could not reasonably have been foreseen or anticipated by Davis, and was the independent, intervening and efficient proximate cause of Chandler's injury and, therefore, if Davis' action in sitting momentarily on the lap of Crenshaw was negligence, it was only a remote cause of Chandler's injury and was superseded and insulated by the intervening act of Mitchell. (1) In Grier v. Thomasson, 254 Miss. 491, 495, 182 So. 2d 398, 399 (1966), it is stated: In Lovett Motor Co., Et al. v. Walley, 217 Miss. 384, 390, 64 So. 2d 370, 372 (1953), this Court stated: In Stovall v. Jepsen, 195 Miss. 115, 122, 13 So. 2d 229, 230 (1943), this Court said: *910 In Canton Cotton Warehouse Co. v. Pool, 78 Miss. 147, 157, 28 So. 823, 824 (1900), the rule was stated thus: (2) In Thomas-Kincannon-Elkin Drug Co. v. Hendrix, 175 Miss. 767, 771, 168 So. 287, 288 (1936), the plaintiff was given a drink containing a large quantity of Ex-Lax by an employee at a soda fountain. In reversing the lower court and entering judgment for the defendant, this Court stated: This rule is in keeping with the authorities generally. In 57 C.J.S., Master and Servant § 574c (1948), the text writer states as follows: (3) The rule is stated in Mississippi City Lines v. Bullock, 194 Miss. 630, 639-640, 13 So. 2d 34, 36 (1943): In Sturdivant v. Crosby Lumber & Manufacturing Co., 218 Miss. 91, 100-101, 65 So. 2d 291, 295 (1953), the Court had this to say: Milam v. Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad Co., 284 So. 2d 309 (Miss. 1973), approves language contained in Robison v. McDowell, 247 So. 2d 686, 689 (Miss. 1971): The facts in the present case are undisputed in the record. The testimony that Crenshaw's involuntary action in throwing Davis down the steps resulted solely from Crenshaw's involuntary reaction when he was, without warning, unexpectedly goosed by Mitchell is uncontradicted. Crenshaw himself testified: Davis, Mitchell and Crenshaw were not made defendants to the suit. Neither Prairie nor Davis had any connection with Mitchell or Crenshaw. Liability of Prairie must rest upon a theory of agency or respondeat superior and required that it be shown that Davis was acting within the scope of his employment or in the furtherance of Prairie's business. This clearly was not the case. Davis' entire contribution to the events which resulted in the injury of Chandler was restricted to his jokingly requesting Crenshaw to give him his seat and in playfully sitting down on Crenshaw's lap. This personal prank on the part of Davis in no way furthered Prairie's business and was not within the scope of Davis' employment by Prairie. The "goosing" of Crenshaw by Mitchell, was exclusively Mitchell's idea and act, and Davis was associated with neither. The precipitating act was done by Mitchell, entirely without warning, and could not reasonably have been foreseen by Davis. The peremptory instruction requested by Prairie should have been granted. The case was considered by a conference of the Judges en banc. Reversed and judgment here for appellant. All Justices concur except RODGERS, P.J., and INZER, J., who dissent.