Opinion ID: 1884282
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Violent Nature.

Text: ¶ 72. Glover argues that she provided enough evidence that JSU had actual knowledge of Cannada's and Chase's propensity for violence. Glover cites to Cannada's and Chase's deposition and affidavit evidence. Both of these young men acknowledged that they participated in the program and had several fights with other participants in past years. ¶ 73. In In re Minor Child, 941 So.2d 820, 828 (Miss.Ct.App.2006), cert. denied, 942 So.2d 164 (Miss.2006), the Court of Appeals upheld a premises-liability claim for the rape of a young girl at an apartment complex based on the complex's alleged knowledge of the perpetrator's violent nature. ¶ 74. Here, Glover's case is easily distinguished from the factual situation in In re Minor Child. Glover claims that JSU had actual knowledge of the two boys' prior violent acts, i.e. fighting, because the supervising adults knew of the fights. However, W.C. Gordon, the program administrator, stated in an affidavit that he was not aware of the young men's violent propensities. ¶ 75. In In re Minor Child, the assailant, Tony Kelly, trespassed on the premises of Federation Towers Apartments over the course of months and raped K.D. as many as six times. In re Minor Child, 941 So.2d at 824. K.D. asserted that the apartment management knew of Kelly's violent nature because James Gray, the night manager, heard K.D. call to him and ask for help to no avail. Id. Gray claimed that K.D. did not call out to him. Id. However, Gray did state that he narrowly missed witnessing a sexual encounter involving K.D. Id. Gray claimed that he heard someone run away as he walked down a hallway and saw K.D. adjusting her clothes. Id. at 824-25. The Court of Appeals reasoned that it is better to err on the side of denying summary judgment and found that viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to K.D., Federation Towers had actual or constructive knowledge of Kelly's violent nature after the first rape. Id. at 828. In other words, the Court of Appeals found that Federation Towers did not have actual or constructive knowledge of Kelly's violent nature the first time that K.D. was raped, however, it had actual or constructive knowledge at the times of the five subsequent rapes. Id. ¶ 76. Here, JSU had no actual or constructive knowledge of Cannada's or Chase's violent tendencies toward rape. While there is conflicting evidence as to whether JSU knew of the boys' propensities to fight, there is no evidence of any prior acts of rape by them. Unlike In re Minor Child, there was no allegation that any JSU employee saw any portion of Glover's rape. Also, in In re Minor Child, Kelly, a trespasser to the Federation Towers premises, entered the property and committed the same violent act at least six times. Here, the boys were participants in an athletic program over the course of a few years and committed rape on only one occasion. Prior to this incident reported by Glover, JSU had no knowledge of Cannada's and Chase's propensity to rape. ¶ 77. The circuit court found that the boys' fighting amounted to adolescent horseplay which was insufficient notice to JSU that the boys had a propensity to rape. More specifically, the trial court stated: While the plaintiff offers deposition testimony from the alleged assailants that they had been previously disciplined in the program, their acts can best be described as adolescent horseplay between 13 year old boys. Being on notice that young teenage boys occasionally fight amongst themselves is hardly notice of a propensity to rape. Without such knowledge, it is impossible for JSU and its employees to forsee that a rape would occur in the event that these youths were dropped off at the wrong location. Here, Glover's alleged rape was outside the circle of foreseeability and the trier of fact could not reasonably find otherwise because the rape was the product of intervening criminal acts of third parties. (Emphasis added). ¶ 78. The violent act at issue before this Court is the rape of a young girl, not simple school-boy antics. Adolescent fights are not uncommon actions for teenage boys. Rape, however, has a heightened degree of violence that cannot reasonably be compared to adolescent fighting by any measure. Fighting with other adolescents does not equate to a propensity for violence or for raping another individual, and to find otherwise simply defies a reasonable-foreseeability standard. Accordingly, Glover failed to demonstrate that JSU had active or constructive knowledge of Cannada's and Chase's violent tendencies toward rape.