Court Opinion

ID: 9462703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:47:54.251772+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:43.433659
License: Public Domain

ROSS, Circuit Judge
(concurring and dissenting).
I agree with Parts I and III of Judge Heaney’s opinion but I do not agree with Part II. The road was built by the defendant, Gifford-Hill solely for its own business operations. Large gates were installed at either end of the road to exclude the public but these gates were frequently left open in order that oil drilling operations could be conducted on the property. Because of *1320these operations the cable gate in question was installed. The decedent was aware of the cable, and he knew that access to this road was sometimes denied by raising the cable. It is not contended that the decedent was riding his motorcycle on the defendant’s property for the defendant’s benefit, or for any reason other than his own pleasure and convenience. He was on a camping trip.
Had defendant built this road as an accommodation to the public, it could be said that Gifford-Hill had impliedly invited the decedent on its property. Missouri Pacific Railroad v. English, 187 Ark. 557, 61 S.W.2d 445, 447 (1933); St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway v. Dooley, 77 Ark. 561, 92 S.W. 789, 790 (1906). On the other hand, Arkansas law is clear that where GiffordHill built and maintained the road for its own business purposes, its mere acquiescence in the use thereof by others does not constitute an implied invitation. Garrett v. Arkansas Power & Light Co., 218 Ark. 575, 237 S.W.2d 895, 901 (1951); Arkansas Short Line v. Bellars, 176 Ark. 53, 2 S.W.2d 683, 685, 687 (1928); see Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway v. Harrison, 204 Ark. 361, 162 S.W.2d 62, 63 (1942); Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway v. Payne, 103 Ark. 226, 146 S.W. 487, 488-489 (1912). The decedent knew of the cable gate in this case, having checked to see if it was closed within an hour of his death. The gates and cable and his admitted awareness thereof certainly negate any inference that there was an implied invitation to use the private road or that he could have logically considered that it was necessarily a safe passageway.
It was not possible that the decedent could have been misled into thinking that the private road was a public thoroughfare as in Alcoa v. Walden, 230 Ark. 337, 322 S.W.2d 696, 699 (1959). In Walden a motorist had apparently taken Alcoa’s private road in the mistaken belief he was continuing on the public way. The private road led to an abandoned bauxite mine filled with water, and the motorist drove into the pit and was drowned. The Arkansas Supreme Court noted that:
the private road, where it leaves the public road is of the same formation, description, and width as the public road. It is significant also that the continuation of the public road from [the intersection where Alcoa’s private road began] is of inferior construction and very narrow.
Alcoa v. Walden, supra, 322 S.W.2d at 700. Likewise, in Missouri Pacific Railroad v. English, supra, 61 S.W.2d at 446, the Arkansas Supreme Court noted:
Where one by his conduct has induced the public to use a way in the belief that it is a street or public way, which all have the right to use, and where they suppose they will be safe, his liability should be coextensive with the inducement or implied invitation. (Emphasis supplied.)
Here it cannot be said that the decedent was misled into believing that Gifford-Hill’s road was a public road or that he could reasonably assume he would be safe in using it. The road is dirt or gravel and serves as a short cut between two paved public roads. It is wider than the paved roads and branches off from them, rather than being a continuation of the public road. There are large gates at each end of the dirt road. And the decedent knew that the road was sometimes closed off by the cable gate since he had checked the cable shortly before the accident.
In my opinion this case should be reversed for a new trial with instructions to the jury on the standard of care owed to a trespasser or licensee. The deceased was not an implied invitee under Arkansas law.