Opinion ID: 1916424
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the unincorporated association

Text: The officers of the VFW assert that the trial justice committed reversible error in denying their motion for a directed verdict. We agree. In reviewing the denial of a motion for a directed verdict, we are required, like the trial justice, to examine all the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, giving no consideration to the weight of the evidence or the credibility of the witnesses, and to draw from the evidence only those reasonable inferences that support the position of the nonmoving party. The motion should be denied if our examination reveals evidence upon which reasonable minds can differ. See Menard & Co. Masonry Building Contractors v. Marshall Building Systems, Inc., 539 A.2d 523 (R.I. 1988) (citing D'Arezzo v. Bowden, 512 A.2d 843 (R.I. 1986)). However, where the undisputed evidence results in a verdict that is totally devoid of legal support, the direction of a verdict on appeal is an appropriate remedy. See Aitken v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., 122 N.J.L. 436, 437-39, 6 A.2d 133, 134 (1939), rev'd on other grounds, 124 N.J.L. 58, 10 A.2d 745 (1940). Although the evidence that plaintiff was acting in the capacity of an independent contractor when he sustained his injury is highly dubious at best, we assume it to be true for purposes of determining whether the trial justice correctly denied the motion for a directed verdict. Thus we assume that plaintiff was on the walkway as a contractor, inspecting a lighting fixture. At the moment plaintiff stepped onto said walkway, he was also a member of the VFW. As mentioned earlier, the VFW is an unincorporated association. The members of such an association are engaged in a joint enterprise. That is to say, the members become associated in the pursuit of a common purpose in such circumstances that each has the authority to act for all with regard to the means or agencies employed to execute such common purpose. Farrar v. Edgewood Yacht Club, 111 R.I. 376, 380, 302 A.2d 782, 784 (1973). As a result, when adverse parties are members of a joint enterprise, the negligence of the defendant is imputed to the plaintiff and acts as a bar to recovery. Id. The plaintiff asks us to view him as a contractor rather than as a member of a joint enterprise, to whom the negligence of other members of said joint enterprise is imputable. This we cannot do. It is undisputed that plaintiff was a member of the VFW at the time of his injury. It is likewise undisputed that the VFW is an unincorporated association engaged in a joint enterprise. All members of a joint enterprise are chargeable with the negligence of a member of the joint enterprise when such member acts within the scope of the agency created by said joint enterprise. See Farrar, 111 R.I. at 380, 302 A.2d at 784. Simply put, this means that plaintiff is himself chargeable with the negligence that caused his own injury. Were we to allow recovery in these circumstances we would, in effect, countenance a situation in which a party would be both plaintiff and defendant. Such a holding would place in disarray long-settled case law in this jurisdiction, Farrar, 111 R.I. at 380, 302 A.2d at 784; Lucey v. John Hope & Sons, 45 R.I. 103, 120 A. 62 (1923), and does not accord with the dictates of logic and common sense. Thus we hold as a matter of law that the trial justice should have granted a directed verdict to the officers of the VFW. In failing to do so, he committed reversible error.