Title: Bunch v. Shaw
Citation: 355 So. 2d 1383
Docket Number: 50013
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: March 15, 1978

355 So. 2d 1383 (1978) Carol Sue BUNCH, mother and next friend of Dell Ann Robinson v. Arthur SHAW, d/b/a Vicksburg Lanes, and Thomas Golding. No. 50013. Supreme Court of Mississippi. March 15, 1978. *1384 Ward, Martin, Terry &amp; Way, W.C. Way, Vicksburg, for appellant. Nutt &amp; Hancock, David H. Nutt, Jackson, W.B. Duggins, Vicksburg, Shell, Buford, Bufkin, Callicutt &amp; Perry, Richard S. Bush, Jackson, for appellees. Before SMITH, ROBERTSON and LEE, JJ. ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court: Dell Ann Robinson, a 6-year-old girl, was injured when lockers at Vicksburg Lanes, a public bowling facility in Vicksburg, Mississippi, fell on her. The minor, by Carol Sue Bunch, her mother and next friend, brought suit in the Circuit Court of Warren County against Arthur Shaw, the lessee of Vicksburg Lanes, and Thomas Golding, the lessor of the building containing the public bowling facility. At the close of the evidence, the court granted a peremptory instruction for the defendant, Thomas Golding, the owner and lessor of the building containing the bowling alleys. The jury returned a verdict for defendant Shaw, the lessee. Appellant contends on appeal that: Dell Ann Robinson, a 6-year-old child, accompanied her parents and two brothers to Vicksburg Lanes, a 16-lane bowling alley, on the night of January 30, 1970. The bowling alley was crowded that night. Children were not allowed in the bowling pits with their parents, so while her parents bowled she and her two brothers played with other children in other parts of the *1385 building, including the locker area. These lockers were provided for the convenience of the bowlers. A few minutes before the accident, two young boys were walking on the tops of the lockers and were ordered to get away from the locker area by Ed Goodman, the maintenance man. The boys were asked to leave, and they left. A few minutes later a section of the lockers toppled over on Dell Ann Robinson, injuring her. We are of the opinion that the peremptory instruction was properly granted to defendant Thomas Golding, the owner and lessor of the bowling facility. The testimony was that these were standard AMF lockers for bowlers, were properly installed in 1963, and were found to be in good condition by Golding and Shaw when they entered into an oral lease on July 1, 1969. Under the terms of the lease, the lessor was responsible for the roof and outside of the building, and the lessee, Shaw, was responsible for the inside of the building including the bowling alleys and lockers. As was said in 52 C.J.S. Landlord &amp; Tenant § 422(2)a, page 155 (1968): The appellant contends that the granting of the following instruction was error: While there is some evidence that the parents of Dell Ann Robinson were negligent and did not properly supervise her activities, this evidence is not incorporated in this instruction. It is an abstract instruction. In Freeze v. Taylor, 257 So. 2d 509 (Miss. 1972), this Court said: We think that this instruction would tend to confuse and mislead the jury, and for that reason alone would be reversible error. The granting of this instruction constitutes fatal error for another reason. It allows the jury to impute the parents' negligence to a six-year-old child. In Westbrook v. Mobile and Ohio R.R. Co., 66 Miss. 560, 6 So. 321 (1889), this Court said: The same conclusion was reached in the later case of Louisville, N.O. and T. Ry. Co. v. Hirsch, 69 Miss. 126, 13 So. 244 (1891). In St. Louis &amp; S.F.R. Co. v. Underwood, 194 F. 363 (5th Cir.1912), a six-year-old girl *1386 was badly injured when a pile of lumber, around which she was playing, toppled over on her. In affirming a verdict for the minor child, the Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, said: For these reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed as to defendant Golding, but reversed and remanded for a new trial as to defendant Shaw. AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED. PATTERSON, C.J., SMITH, P.J., and SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE and BOWLING, JJ., concur.