Cossaboom v. Lewis Restaurant & Grill, Inc.

6 Mass. L. Rptr. 338
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedDecember 24, 1996
DocketNo. 931425
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 338 (Cossaboom v. Lewis Restaurant & Grill, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cossaboom v. Lewis Restaurant & Grill, Inc., 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 338 (Mass. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

Cowin, J.

INTRODUCTION

On June 25, 1993, the plaintiff, Charles A. Cossaboom, by his mother and next friend Kelli A. Cossaboom, brought suit against the defendants, Lewis Restaurant and Grill, Inc., Charles B. Cossaboom, Jr., Town of Milton, Town of Norwood, South Suburban Police Softball League, John Doe, I, John Doe(s), II, and John Doe(s), III. This case was consolidated with Cossaboom v. Ready, Civil No. 91-646. On October 3, 1996, this matter came before the Court for hearing on the motion for summary judgment of the Town of Milton and the Town of Norwood (defendants). On October 6, 1995, the defendants’ motion for summary judgment was denied.4 (Cowin, J ) On November 12, [339]*3391996, this matter came before the Court for hearing on the defendants’ renewed motion for summary judgment. The renewed motion was filed because discovery had produced evidence to resolve the material fact that the Court had indicated had been in dispute. For the reasons discussed below, the defendants’ renewed motion for summary judgment is ALLOWED.

BACKGROUND

The undisputed facts in the summary judgment record establish the following. On May 27, 1990, Mr. Ready, a sergeant for the Norwood police department, was playing in a softball game with officers of the Norwood police department against officers of the Milton police department at a playing field in the town of Milton, Massachusetts. Alcohol was consumed at the playing field by Mr. Ready and other Milton and Norwood police officers. Later that day, Mr. Ready also consumed alcohol at a restaurant/bar known as the Lewis Restaurant and Grille. After leaving the Lewis Restaurant and Grille, Mr. Ready was driving on a public way in Foxborough, Massachusetts and was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle operated by Charles B. Cossaboom, Jr. Relli A. Cossaboom, who was twenty-eight (28) weeks pregnant with Charles A. Cossaboom, was a passenger in the Cossaboom motor vehicle at the time of the collision. Both Relli and baby Charles were injured as was baby Charles’s father, Charles B. Cossaboom, Jr.

On February 19, 1991, Mr. Ready was found guilty on charges of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and operating a motor vehicle negligently.

DISCUSSION

Summary judgment is granted when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction, 390 Mass. 419, 422 (1983); Community Nat’l Bank v. Dawes, 369 Mass. 550, 553 (1976); Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating the absence of a triable issue and of establishing “that the summary judgment record entitles the moving party to judgment as a matter of law.” Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 17 (1989). A party moving for summary judgment who does not bear the burden of proof at trial must demonstrate the absence of a triable issue either by submitting affirmative evidence negating an essential element of the nonmoving party’s case or by showing that the nonmoving party is unlikely to submit proof of that element at trial. Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp., 410 Mass. 805, 809 (1991); Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp., 410 Mass. 706, 716 (1991). The nonmoving party then must respond by articulating specific facts which establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 17 (1989).

The plaintiffs bring this action against both defendant municipalities pursuant to G.L.c. 258 (1994 ed.j, the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. General laws c. 258, §2 provides in material part that “(pjublic employees shall be liable for . . . personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any public employee while acting within the scope of his office or employment, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances ...” The plaintiffs claim that the defendant municipalities, by their employees, were negligent in supplying Intoxicating liquor at the softball field and allowing Mr. Ready to consume the intoxicating liquor at the softball field. In its by-laws, the town of Milton prohibits alcohol consumption at the field.

I. Acting Within the Scope of Employment

In support of their motion for summary judgment, the defendants argue, in part, that they are immune from liability because Mr. Ready and the unnamed officers of each town were not acting within the scope of their employment while at the softball field on the day of the stated accident between the plaintiffs and Mr. Ready.5 In opposition, the plaintiffs assert that the officers of the defendant municipalities were within the scope of their employment while they engaged in the softball game between the respective towns. Specifically, the plaintiffs state that the officers are officers twenty-four hours a day.

The Supreme Judicial Court has recently reiterated the factors that are relevant “(t]o scope of employment determinations bearing on the imposition of vicarious liability on employers for the tortious conduct of their employees.” Burroughs v. Commonwealth, 423 Mass. 874, 877 (1996). The following factors are to be considered:

[CJonduct of an agent is within the scope of employment if it is of the kind he is employed to perform, Douglas v. Holyoke Mach. Co., 233 Mass. 573, 576 (1919); if it occurs substantially within the authorized time and space limits, Vallavanti v. Armour & Co., 260 Mass. 417, 419-420 (1927); and if it is motivated, at least in part, by a purpose to serve the employer, Donahue v. Vorenberg, 227 Mass. 1, 5 (1917); McKeever v. Ratcliffe, 218 Mass. 17, 20 (1914). See Restatement (Second) of Agency §228 (1958).

Id. quoting, Wang Lab., Inc. v. Business Incentives, Inc., 398 Mass. 854, 859 (1986). “ ‘The scope of employment test asks the question: is this the kind of thing that in a general way employees of this kind do in employment of this kind’ (emphasis in original). ” Id., quoting Kansallis Fin. Ltd. v. Fern, 421 Mass. 659, 666 (1996).

The evidence in the summary judgment record would not warrant a finding that while participating at the softball game the police officers were carrying out a duty imposed on them by their employment. “For [340]*340all that appears in the evidence, [the officers’ softball playing and consumption of alcohol] was nothing other than a way of relaxing and socializing that [they] performed without compensation and that was neither explicitly nor implicitly ordered or even requested by [their] superiors.” Id,, slip op. at 6. Although it appears that both defendant municipalities were aware that their officers participated in softball games with officers from other towns and that the officers wore uniforms which identified their respective towns, neither of the defendant municipalities sponsored the softball game or knowingly permitted alcoholic beverages to be consumed at the softball game.

It is also relevant that the officers mentioned in the complaint were not on duly at the time of the softball game. Clickner v. Lowell; Waterman, 422 Mass. 539, 543 (1996).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pederson v. Time, Inc.
532 N.E.2d 1211 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1989)
Community National Bank v. Dawes
340 N.E.2d 877 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1976)
Commonwealth v. LeBlanc
551 N.E.2d 906 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1990)
Wang Laboratories, Inc. v. Business Incentives, Inc.
501 N.E.2d 1163 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1986)
Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp.
575 N.E.2d 734 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp.
575 N.E.2d 1107 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction
456 N.E.2d 1123 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1983)
Sherar v. B & E CONVALESCENT CENTER
49 Cal. App. 3d 227 (California Court of Appeal, 1975)
McKeever v. Ratcliffe
105 N.E. 552 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1914)
Donahue v. Vorenberg
116 N.E. 246 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1917)
Douglas v. Holyoke Machine Co.
233 Mass. 573 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1919)
Vallavanti v. Armour & Co.
157 N.E. 527 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1927)
Kansallis Finance Ltd. v. Fern
659 N.E.2d 731 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1996)
Clickner v. City of Lowell
422 Mass. 539 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1996)
Burroughs v. Commonwealth
423 Mass. 874 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1996)
Evington v. Forbes
742 F.2d 834 (Fourth Circuit, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 Mass. L. Rptr. 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cossaboom-v-lewis-restaurant-grill-inc-masssuperct-1996.