Brewer v. Murray

2012 OK CIV APP 109, 292 P.3d 41, 2012 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 98, 2012 WL 6721063
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 14, 2012
DocketNo. 109,282
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 2012 OK CIV APP 109 (Brewer v. Murray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brewer v. Murray, 2012 OK CIV APP 109, 292 P.3d 41, 2012 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 98, 2012 WL 6721063 (Okla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

JOHN F. FISCHER, Chief Judge.

{1 Ashley Brewer appeals the district court's order granting the motion for summary judgment filed by Vicky Jackson in Brewer's negligence claim. The appeal has been assigned to the accelerated docket pursuant to Oklahoma Supreme Court Rule 1.36(b), 12 0.8.2011, ch. 15, app. 1, and the matter stands submitted without appellate briefing. Because we find that Jackson owed Brewer a duty of care and that there are disputed issues of fact concerning whether Jackson breached that duty and whether any breach caused Brewer's injury, we reverse the judgment entered in favor of Jackson and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

T2 Brewer was thirteen years old at the time the incident occurred on which her claim is based. Jackson's daughter was fourteen. Brewer was invited to spend the night in Jackson's home. Brewer's mother contacted Jackson to confirm the invitation and to provide certain rules that her daughter was to follow. From this conversation, Brewer's mother understood that Jackson agreed to those rules and would be at home to supervise the girls. After Brewer's father dropped her off at the Jackson home, Jackson went to the lake and decided to remain there overnight, leaving the two girls alone and unsupervised. Jackson did not inform Brewer's parents that she decided to leave the girls alone. Later in the evening, Jackson's daughter called her mother and confirmed that Jackson would not return home that night. The girls then drank alcohol that they found in Jackson's home and made plans to invite some older male acquaintances of Jackson's daughter to come over. The young men, who were in their late teens and early twenties, brought more aleohol to the home. .The girls became inebriated and had sexual intercourse with two of the men. Jerry Murray, the man with whom Brewer had intercourse, was nineteen at the time and was subsequently convicted of statutory rape.

{3 Within one year of turning eighteen, Brewer sued Murray and Jackson. Brewer alleged three theories of recovery against Murray based on the sexual assault. In her claim against Jackson, Brewer alleged that Jackson "was grossly negligent" in leaving Brewer and Jackson's daughter "completely unsupervised." She further alleged that Jackson's conduct "put [Brewer] at risk and was a direct cause of her sexual assault and resulting damages which could have been prevented by Jackson's timely intervention."

T 4 Jackson sought summary judgment arguing, in essence, that she did not have a duty to protect Brewer from criminal conduct and that Brewer's injuries were caused by her own intentional conduct and Murray's criminal conduct rather than by any of Jackson's acts or omissions. The district court found in favor of Jackson in both respects. [45]*45Brewer appeals that ruling.1

STANDARD OF REVIEW

15 Title 12 O.S.2011 § 2056 governs the procedure for summary judgment. A motion for summary judgment "should be rendered if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Id. We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Carmichael v. Beller, 1996 OK 48, ¶2, 914 P.2d 1051, 1053. On review, this Court bears "an affirmative duty to test all evidentiary material tendered in summary process for its legal sufficiency to support the relief sought by the movant." Copeland v. The Lodge Enters., Inc., 2000 OK 36, 18, 4 P.3d 695, 699. The evidence and the inferences to be drawn from the evidentiary material must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Hargrave v. Canadian Valley Elec. Co-op., Inc., 1990 OK 48, ¶ 14, 792 P.2d 50, 55. If the moving party has not addressed all material facts, or if one or more of such facts is not supported by acceptable evidentiary material, summary judgment is not proper. Spirgis v. Circle K Stores, Inc., 1987 OK CIV APP 45, 743 P.2d 682 (approved for publication by the Oklahoma Supreme Court). Consistent with the holding in Spirgis, section 2056 now provides in sub-paragraphs C and E that even absent dispute regarding the material facts, summary judgment may only be granted if "the mov-ant is entitiled to judgment as a matter of law" and "if appropriate." - "Only if the court should conclude that there is no material fact in dispute and the law favors the movant's claim or liability-defeating defense is the moving party entitled to summary judgment in its favor." Copeland, 2000 OK 836, 18, 4 P.3d at 699. "[T]o avoid trial for negligence, defendants must establish through unchallenged evidentiary materials that, even when viewed in a light most favorable to plaintiffs, no disputed material facts exist as to any material issues and that the law favors defendants." Iglehart v. Bd. of County Comm'rs of Rogers County, 2002 OK 76, ¶9, 60 P.3d 497, 501 (emphasis in original).

ANALYSIS

T6 Most of the material facts in this case are not disputed. Brewer was invited by Jackson's daughter to spend the night at Jackson's home. Jackson knew of and approved the invitation. Brewer's parents instructed her not to spend the night at a friend's house unless a parent was present, not to stay in a home where boys were present without adult supervision and not to drink alcohol. Brewer's parents had no knowledge of any prior incident when Brewer violated these rules. Brewer's mother conveyed these rules to Jackson, who agreed the rules would be followed while Brewer was in her custody. Prior to this incident, Jackson had no knowledge that her daughter had drunk alcohol or was sexually active. Prior to this incident, Jackson did not know her daughter had any interest in boys, other than a erush on a boy her age, and did not know her daughter knew any older men. Jackson was present when Brewer was dropped off but left later that evening and spent the night at her lake house without telling Brewer's parents that she was leaving the girls alone. Jackson was available by cell phone and could have called a neighbor or relative living nearby to check on the girls. There was alcohol in Jackson's liquor cabinet that the girls consumed, and as a result became intoxicated. During the evening, Jackson's daughter called to make sure Jackson would not be returning home and told Jackson everything was fine. After this call, Jackson's daughter called a twenty-year-old male she knew and invited him over. He and several friends arrived, including Murray, and provided the girls more alcohol. After drinking this alcohol, the girls went into the back yard and jumped on a trampoline while topless. Later, both girls had sexual intercourse.

[46]*46T7 In her motion for summary judgment, Jackson asserted that, as a general rule and absent some special relationship, she had no duty to protect Brewer from Murray's erimi-nal conduct. Jackson further asserted that there was no special relationship between herself and Brewer justifying an exeeption to the general rule. Based on these assertions Jackson concluded, and the district court found, that a special relationship did not exist and that she owed no duty to Brewer to protect her from Murray's criminal conduct.

T8 The dispositive issues in this case are whether a person who takes temporary custody of a child has any duty to protect that child from the wrongful conduct of third parties and, if so, the scope of that duty. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has not previously decided these issues.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2012 OK CIV APP 109, 292 P.3d 41, 2012 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 98, 2012 WL 6721063, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brewer-v-murray-oklacivapp-2012.