Opinion ID: 1600170
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: It was proper for the trial court to grant Boyd's motion

Text: There are several reasons why the trial court acted properly in granting summary judgment in Boyd's favor. After Boyd moved for summary judgment and presented its evidence, it was McKay's duty to rebut by providing significant and probative evidence, which demonstrated that there were genuine issues of material fact that necessitated a trial. He chose to provide two affidavits for this purpose. One of the affidavits asserts that the bridge was improperly constructed because there were no guardrails. The other affidavit insists that the bridge was improperly constructed because it only had a twenty-three inch clearance. Notwithstanding the fact that Boyd had nothing to do with the design, planning or specification of the project, its work was approved and accepted by the highway commission. Moreover, based upon its inspections, the highway commission provided a full and final release from liability to Boyd. [7] Although McKay asserts that the paved portion around the bridge was done in a negligent manner, this is not a consequential fact because Boyd was not responsible for the paving work. There was a second contract for paving the surface, and Boyd was not hired to do this work. In addition, the paving was not completed and made ready for traffic until two years after Boyd had been released by the Mississippi Highway Commission. And, finally McKay's second affidavit indicates that the bridge was negligently constructed because there were no guardrails. Here again the affidavit does not deal with a material fact. Whether the bridge had the guardrails is inconsequential because Boyd completed the work it was hired to do, and it completed them according to the specifications. As this Court stated in Holmes v. T.M. Strider & Co., 186 Miss. 380, 189 So. 518 (1939): [A]fter the contractor has turned the work over and it has been accepted by a public board or a commission as satisfactory, the contractor incurs no further liability to third parties, by reason of the condition of the work, and that the responsibility, if any, for maintaining or using it in its defective condition, is shifted to the public board or commission, This rule, however, is subject to some qualifications, among them the cases where the work is a nuisance per se, or where it is turned over by the contractor in a manner so negligently defective as to be imminently dangerous to third persons. Id. at 397, 189 So. 518. (emphasis in original). In the case sub judice there is no indication that Boyd turned over its work in a negligent manner. Because Boyd followed the guidelines and specifications provided by the highway commission it is entitled to immunity so long as it did its job in an non-negligent manner. See generally Annotation, Right of Contractor with Federal, State, or Local Public Body to Latter's Immunity from Tort Liability, 9 A.L.R.3d 382. [8] After reviewing the facts that are on the table in the case sub judice, we find that the trial court properly found that there was no genuine issue of material fact and Boyd was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See, Palmer, 564 So.2d at 1355. Boyd completed the work according to specifications provided by the government. Moreover, its work passed state and federal inspections. And, finally, Boyd obtained a full and final release from the Highway Commission. Based on the facts in this case, Boyd was entitled to the same protection given to the Highway Commission in this suit for negligence and the creation of a nuisance. We, therefore, affirm. AFFIRMED. ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS, P.J., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and BLASS, JJ., concur. DAN M. LEE, P.J., concurs in part and dissents in part. PITTMAN, J., not participating.