Gillin v. Carrows Restaurants, Inc.

879 P.2d 121, 118 N.M. 120
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 30, 1994
Docket15067
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 879 P.2d 121 (Gillin v. Carrows Restaurants, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gillin v. Carrows Restaurants, Inc., 879 P.2d 121, 118 N.M. 120 (N.M. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinions

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

Plaintiff, Wayne Gillin, appeals from the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant, Carrows Restaurants, Inc. (Carrows), and dismissing his personal injury claim. In challenging the award of summary judgment, Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in determining that Car-rows had no duty to Plaintiff to safely maintain and illuminate the area of the parking lot where he allegedly fell. For the reasons discussed herein, we reverse.

FACTS

On August 11, 1992, Plaintiff filed a complaint for personal injuries against Carrows. Plaintiff alleged that after he exited Carrows at approximately 2:30 a.m., on August 10, 1989, he stepped off the sidewalk and was injured when he tripped and fell over a parking barrier in the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant. Plaintiff alleged that Carrows was negligent in failing to properly light the parking lot and in permitting the parking barriers to be placed in the parking area without proper marking. The trial court granted summary judgment based upon its determination that Plaintiff “tripped over a parking block in the common parking lot of the St. Michael’s Village Shopping Center,” and that Carrows owed no duty to Plaintiff.

Carrows’ restaurant is located within the parking lot of the St. Michael’s Village Shopping Center in Santa Fe. The restaurant building, and a portion of the parking area surrounding the structure, is leased to Car-rows from “Coronado # 1” (the Landowner). Although part of the parking lot immediately adjacent to the restaurant building was included in the description of the premises leased by Carrows, customers of other businesses in the shopping center also were permitted to park there. Plaintiff’s complaint did not join the Landowner as a named defendant.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is appropriate where the record reveals no triable issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Roth v. Thompson, 113 N.M. 331, 334, 825 P.2d 1241, 1244 (1992); Sarracino v. Martinez, 117 N.M. 193, 194, 870 P.2d 155, 156 (Ct.App.1994); Trujillo v. Treat, 107 N.M. 58, 59, 752 P.2d 250, 251 (Ct.App.1988). In reviewing an award of summary judgment, we engage in the same inquiry as the trial court, and consider the matters presented for and against such motion in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Gardner-Zemke Co. v. State, 109 N.M. 729, 732, 790 P.2d 1010, 1013 (1990); see also Sarracino, 117 N.M. at 194, 870 P.2d at 156. In reviewing an order awarding summary judgment, we take note of any evidence in the record which puts a material fact in issue. Pharmaseal Lab., Inc. v. Goffe, 90 N.M. 753, 758, 568 P.2d 589, 594 (1977). Summary judgment is foreclosed where the record discloses the existence of a substantial dispute concerning a material factual issue. Id. at 756, 568 P.2d at 592.

DISCUSSION

The trial court granted Carrows’ motion for summary judgment based upon its determination that Carrows owed no duty to Plaintiff because it lacked control over the portion of the parking lot where the accident occurred. In reaching its conclusion, the trial court stated in its memorandum opinion that “the lease agreemént between Carrows and the [Landowner] clearly places responsibility for the parking lot [with the Landowner],” and that Carrows’ actions in maintaining the pertinent portion of the parking area were not sufficient to establish “the assumption of that responsibility by Carrows” toward Plaintiff.

Because the trial court determined that there was an absence of any duty owing by Carrows toward Plaintiff to maintain or keep safe the area where Plaintiff was alleged to have fallen, our first inquiry focuses upon the correctness of this conclusion. Under New Mexico law an owner or occupant of a business “owes a business visitor the duty to use ordinary care to keep the premises safe for use by the business visitor [or invitee].” SCRA 1986, 13-1309 (Repl.1991); see also Bober v. New Mexico State Fair, 111 N.M. 644, 648, 808 P.2d 614, 618 (1991).

Determination of whether a party owes a duty to another generally constitutes a question of law. See Saiz v. Belen Sch. Dist, 113 N.M. 387, 398, 827 P.2d 102, 113 (1992); Klopp v. Wackenhut Corp., 113 N.M. 153, 159, 824 P.2d 293, 299 (1992); Sarracino, 117 N.M. at 194, 870 P.2d at 156; see also Lopez v. Ski Apache Resort, 114 N.M. 202, 209, 836 P.2d 648, 655 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 113 N.M. 815, 833 P.2d 1181 (1992). “The existence of a duty is a question of policy to be determined with reference to legal precedent, statutes, and other principles comprising the law.” Calkins v. Cox Estates, 110 N.M. 59, 62, 792 P.2d 36, 39 (1990). An injured party’s interests, a defendant’s conduct, and an analysis of the relationship of the parties, are all factors to be considered in making the policy determination concerning whether a duty exists. Id. at 63, 792 P.2d at 40. Whether a duty has been violated, however, is a factual issue to be resolved by the fact finder. Lopez, 114 N.M. at 209, 836 P.2d at 655.

Plaintiff argues the trial court erred in finding that Carrows owed no duty to him to maintain the area of the parking lot where the accident occurred. Before addressing the merits of this contention, we first consider Carrows’ threshold argument that this Court should decline to address this issue on appeal, because Plaintiff allegedly failed to properly preserve this issue for appellate review. Plaintiff challenges the trial court’s determination that the lease absolved Car-rows of any duty to safely maintain the area where his accident occurred and the trial court’s conclusion that the lease imposed complete responsibility for maintaining or keeping safe the area in question upon the Landowner. Carrows argues that Plaintiff has conceded this point because he failed to properly raise this contention in his docketing statement or in the proceedings below. We disagree.

In the section of the docketing statement in which Plaintiff states the points sought to be asserted on appeal, Plaintiff lists the following: “Whether [Carrows] owed a duty to its customers to maintain the lighting surrounding its building, and to provide safe ingress and egress from its premises.” We believe this language in the docketing statement adequately preserved the issue of whether the trial court correctly determined the question of the duty owed by Carrows to Plaintiff. Moreover, once an appeal has been placed on our general calendar, an appellant is not restricted to issues expressly set forth in the docketing statement. State v. Salgado, 112 N.M.

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Gillin v. Carrows Restaurants, Inc.
879 P.2d 121 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
879 P.2d 121, 118 N.M. 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gillin-v-carrows-restaurants-inc-nmctapp-1994.