Court Opinion

ID: 9845620
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:25:17.779313+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:16.393189
License: Public Domain

Harwell, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. In my opinion, the theory upon which the majority reverses was expressly waived below, and cannot now be asserted. See Gatewood v. Moses, 39 S.C.L. (5 Rich.) 244 (1852).
*491In her original pleadings, Hollins alleged that the School District had been grossly negligent in failing to ensure that she received notice that Geisla had been suspended from riding the bus. As facts developed during trial, however, it became apparent that notice to Hollins would have been immaterial had Geisla relied on her drama teacher for a ride home on the day of the accident. As I read the record, during argument against the School District’s motion for directed verdict Hollins conceded that Geisla had attended drama class. As a result, Hollins abandoned her original theory in order to argue that the School District had been grossly negligent because it had failed to inform the drama teacher of the dangerous highway nearby. According to Hollins’s trial counsel:
There’s evidence in the record that at least maybe two children left [the class] . .. [I]t’s certainly within the purview of the jury to come to the conclusion that [Geisla] left because she didn’t believe her teacher was coming or that the teacher was late and she didn’t know how she was going to get a ride home ... I don’t think [the drama teacher’s] lateness was gross negligence but I think what was gross negligence was the failure of the school to inform [the drama teacher] of the importance of that highway and the danger of that highway ... And I think the jury could find that if she had had that information she would have taken her duty to be on time more seriously and she would not have been late. (Emphasis added.)
Consequently, the trial judge granted a directed verdict in favor of the School District based on his determination that “making [the drama class teacher] aware of Highway 277 would not have kept Geisla from missing the scheduled drama practice and walking away from school.”
The theory pursued in trial court in regard to relief sought and grounds thereof must be adhered to in the reviewing court. Bramlett v. Young, 229 S.C. 519, 93 S.E. (2d) 873 (1956). In my view, there is no evidence to warrant submitting to the jury the question of whether the School District was grossly negligent in failing to inform the drama teacher of the highway. See Woodward v. Todd 270 S.C. 82, 240 S.E. (2d) 641 (1978). I would affirm.