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

Heading: Atmosphere of Violence.

Text: ¶ 79. Glover argues that she presented sufficient evidence of violent crimes that occurred at JSU prior to her rape, relying on Gatewood v. Sampson, 812 So.2d 212 (Miss.2002). In Gatewood, Roy Sampson entered the parking lot of the Ellis Isle Exxon to buy gas and used the pay telephone. He was shot by other individuals who entered the premises owned by Gatewood. Gatewood, 812 So.2d at 216. Sampson provided a list of crimes committed in the vicinity of the gas station. Id. at 220. Here, Glover also introduced records of crimes committed within the vicinity of JSU. Rape and sexual battery were among the reported crimes on the JSU campus. ¶ 80. The trial court found that Glover's evidence of an atmosphere of violence in the vicinity of JSU was irrelevant. The trial court reasoned that no one from the neighboring vicinity wandered onto the campus and raped Glover. Instead, the trial court found that the rape was caused by other participants in the program. Further, the trial court found that the mere fact that JSU is situated in a high crime area does not alone serve to make the sexual activity of Glover, Canada (sic), Chase or Pugh foreseeable. Therefore, the trial court clearly based its ruling on Glover's failure to adequately demonstrate foreseeability. I agree with the trial court's reasoning in this case. ¶ 81. Glover's case also is distinguishable from Gatewood based on the issue of foreseeability. As stated above, Sampson entered the gas station to use its pay phone and buy gas. Gatewood, 812 So.2d at 216. As Sampson used the telephone, a carload of people drove onto the site, and one person exited the vehicle. Id. Later, this person shoved Sampson, and the two men fought over a gun carried by the other man. Id. During this scuffle, Sampson was shot in the back of the head, and the other man was shot and killed by the other occupants in the car. Id. Here, Glover's assailants, Cannada and Chase, were participants in the NYSP program and not some unknown, random rapists who entered the JSU campus from the nearby vicinity. ¶ 82. In addition, this Court in Titus and Crain, as well as the Court of Appeals in Martin v. Rankin Circle Apartments, 941 So.2d 854 (Miss.Ct.App.2006), acknowledged the atmosphere of violence, yet decided the cases on the issue of foreseeability of the injury and looked to situations of intervening causes. [16] This Court clearly has stressed the importance of foreseeability as the linchpin of an injury, along with proximate cause, notwithstanding a potential showing of actual or constructive knowledge of an assailant's violent nature or an atmosphere of violence. See Crain, 641 So.2d at 1192; Grisham, 519 So.2d at 417. ¶ 83. In Corley, this Court held that [w]e said in Grisham, 519 So.2d at 416, that a tavern keeper can only be held liable where he had `cause to anticipate the wrongful or negligent act of [an] unruly patron.' Corley, 835 So.2d at 38. Furthermore, in Crain, this Court refused to impose a strict-liability standard on owners for injuries suffered as a result of criminal acts by third parties on their premises. Crain, 641 So.2d at 1191; see also Corley, 835 So.2d at 41; Martin, 941 So.2d at 864. ¶ 84. In Crain, this Court again considered evidence of an atmosphere of violence and found that the plaintiff, Crain, failed to demonstrate foreseeability and proximate cause for the criminal acts of a third party. Crain, 641 So.2d at 1192. As Crain exited his car in the lodge parking lot, he suffered significant head injuries from an unknown assailant. Id. at 1187. There was evidence of two crimes committed on the lodge premises within the two years prior to Crain's injury and numerous crimes within the vicinity within sixty months prior to Crain's attack; however, only eleven crimes involved assaults, robberies, and other violent crimes. Id. at 1192. This Court found that this evidence was not enough to foresee Crain's assault. Id. This Court's analysis, however, went even further. Giving Crain the benefit of doubt, the Court assumed that even if Crain adequately demonstrated the foreseeability of his assault, he still failed to show proximate cause. Id. This Court held that Crain failed to show that inadequate lighting in the lodge parking lot was the proximate cause of his attack and injuries. Id. Therefore, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of the lodge. Id. ¶ 85. The fact that JSU is located in a high-crime area does not satisfy the foreseeability requirement alone. Cannada and Chase were participants in the NYSP program, not unknown criminal rapists who wandered onto the JSU campus from the nearby vicinity and committed the crime. Cannada and Chase were part of the insular NYSP program and not part of a general population within the JSU area. Accordingly, I find that Glover failed to demonstrate foreseeability. B. Proximate Cause and Intervening Causes. ¶ 86. This Court also has considered intervening causes. In O'Cain v. Harvey Freeman & Sons, Inc., 603 So.2d 824, 830 (Miss.1991), this Court addressed the issue of intervening criminal acts and held: As a general rule of thumb, criminal acts can be intervening causes which break the causal connection with the defendant's negligent act, if the criminal act is not within the realm of reasonable foreseeability. Touche Ross v. Commercial Union Ins., 514 So.2d 315, 324 (Miss. 1987); Robinson v. Howard Brothers of Jackson, Inc., 372 So.2d 1074, 1076 (Miss.1979). ¶ 87. Furthermore, in Titus, a decision handed down after the Gatewood case, this Court acknowledged that the owner knew of an atmosphere of violence on the premises and failed to make the area safer. Titus, 844 So.2d at 466. However, this Court found that the plaintiffs failed to establish that Titus's death was proximately caused by the Flash Store or Williams, the owner. Id. at 464. Titus was shot and killed by a third party on the Flash Store premises. Id. The previous owners had employed a security guard to protect the premises. Id. This Court found that Titus's actions of confronting a known, dangerous person who possessed a gun was an intervening cause. Id. Therefore, the Flash Store's and Williams's knowledge of the atmosphere of violence was inconsequential, as Titus caused and contributed to his own demise. Id. ¶ 88. In Martin, Patrick Smith was shot and killed on the premises of the Rankin Circle Apartments by a third party. Martin, 941 So.2d at 856. Evidence was presented showing that the apartment manager was aware of dangerous conditions at the complex. Id. at 857-58. The Court of Appeals' analysis considered the atmosphere of violence at the complex, but it found that the shooter's appearance at the complex was an intervening cause. Id. at 864. The Court of Appeals found that the apartment complex, at most, `furnished the condition' in which the shooting occurred but did not `put in motion' the shooting itself. Id. (citing Titus, 844 So.2d at 466). ¶ 89. Furthermore, Glover's case has a long history before this Court and the federal courts. See Glover I, 755 So.2d 395; National Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Epps, et al., No. 3:96cv176BN (S.D.Miss.), aff'd mem., 127 F.3d 35 (5th Cir.1997). All defendants, except JSU, have been determined to have no liability to Glover by either this Court or the federal courts. ¶ 90. In Glover I, this Court set forth the history of a federal court case initiated by the insurance carrier of the bus company that drove the children to the NYSP program. This Court found: Epps' liability insurance carrier, National Fire & Marine Insurance Company, filed a declaratory judgment action (Civil Action No. 3:96cv176BN) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson Division, against Epps d/b/a Ace Rental Service, Luster and Glover. National Fire claimed that its policy did not provide coverage to Epps for the payment or defense of Glover's claims in state court. United States District Judge William H. Barbour, Jr., granted National Fire's motion for summary judgment, ruling that National Fire was not liable to Glover and had no duty to defend Epps and Luster in the state actions. Judge Barbour stated, Glover has submitted no evidence that the bus driver could have foreseen that the male students on the bus would rape Glover when he transported the youths to the wrong location. In the present case, the Court finds that no jury could reasonably find that the intervening criminal act was foreseeable. National Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Epps, et al., No. 3:96cv176BN (S.D.Miss.), aff'd mem., 127 F.3d 35 (5th Cir.1997). After the federal court made its ruling, Epps and Luster added res judicata and/or collateral estoppel claims to their motions for summary judgment pending in state court. Judge Hilburn granted all the defendants' motions for summary judgment, from which ruling Glover appeals. Glover I, 755 So.2d at 397 (emphasis added). ¶ 91. In the federal district court declaratory judgment action, Judge William H. Barbour, Jr. found that National Fire, the insurance carrier for the bus, had no duty to defend the bus company, C.H. Epps (formerly Ace Rental), or the bus driver, Douglas Luster, and no liability to Glover since Glover failed to prove that the bus driver could have foreseen the boys would rape Glover, and no jury could reasonably find that the intervening criminal act was foreseeable. Glover I, 755 So.2d at 397. This Court in Glover I held that Glover was collaterally estopped from pursing her claim against Epps and Luster based on the federal action, and the trial court did not err by granting summary judgment to Epps and Luster. Id. at 400. In addition, in Glover I, this Court also held that the trial court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of NYSP. Id. This Court stated: [f]unding a program, without more, does not create sufficient ownership or control to establish either a duty to supervise or a corresponding liability for failure to supervise. Id. ¶ 92. Accordingly, the intervening criminal act of rape was a third-party act for which JSU had no liability. The intervening criminal acts of the boys were the proximate cause and the intervening cause of her injuries.