Janet Olier v. Donna Bailey

164 So. 3d 982, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 164, 2015 WL 1611772
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 9, 2015
Docket2013-CA-01411-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 164 So. 3d 982 (Janet Olier v. Donna Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Janet Olier v. Donna Bailey, 164 So. 3d 982, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 164, 2015 WL 1611772 (Mich. 2015).

Opinions

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

KITCHENS, Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. The motion for rehearing is granted. The original opinions of this Court are withdrawn and these opinions are substituted therefor.

¶ 2. Janet Olier was attacked and chased by a domestic goose in Donna Bailey’s yard. As she attempted to flee, she fell and broke her arm. Olier sued Bailey in [985]*985the County Court of Jackson County under a theory of premises liability and, alternatively, under the dangerous-propensity rule. The trial court granted summary judgment because it found that Olier was a licensee on Bailey’s property and that Bailey did not breach her duty of care toward Olier. It also denied relief under the dangerous-propensity rule because there was no evidence that the particular goose that bit Olier ever had exhibited dangerous propensities prior to the incident. Olier appealed to the Jackson County Circuit Court, which affirmed. Olier then filed the instant appeal. We hold that, while Olier cannot, as a matter of law, pursue her claim under her theory of general premises liability, she can proceed under the dangerous-propensity theory. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court judgment in part, reverse it in part, and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ B. Olier and Bailey became acquainted through a gardening website called “Dave’s Garden,” a message board of sorts for gardening enthusiasts to share their hobby. On the day of Olier’s injury, she visited Bailey at her home to view some of Bailey’s plants. Bailey, who has a “Beware-Attack Geese” sign in her yard, also informed Olier verbally that she kept geese in her yard. Bailey kept several five-gallon buckets of water in the yard lined along the edge of the porch to provide the geese drinking water and to act as a barrier so the birds could not walk onto the porch.

¶ 4. Olier wanted to see Bailey’s blooming banana plant in the yard, and she ventured beyond the buckets while Bailey remained on the front porch. As Olier stepped over the buckets, a goose squawked at her. Olier said the goose was large and that its neck reached out as if it meant to bite her chest. She stepped back onto the porch, within the safe confines of the bucket-fence, and told Bailey she could not go out into the yard because of the geese. Bailey assured Olier that the geese would not bite if Bailey was with her and offered Oiier a bamboo pole with which to fend off the birds. When the two women entered the yard, Bailey attempted to lead the geese away from Olier. However, the geese noticed Olier and approached her, squawking and hissing. Frightened by the geese, and thinking that the bamboo pole was useless, Olier threw it to the ground. At this point, a goose reached out and nipped her in the. “crotch area.” Olier turned to flee, tripped over one of the buckets lining the patio, and fell, breaking her arm.

¶ 5. Olier sued Bailey and her husband1 in the County Court of Jackson County. For her injuries, Olier sought $200,000, the jurisdictional limit, plus court costs. Olier pursued her claim on two theories of liability: premises liability and liability under the dangerous-propensity rule. Bailey moved for summary judgment, arguing that Olier was a licensee at Bailey’s home when she was injured and that Bailey did not breach her duty of care to Olier. Bailey also contended that the goose that attacked Olier had not exhibited dangerous tendencies previously, and thus the dangerous-propensity rule was inapplicable. Olier responded by arguing that Bailey had provided a bamboo pole to Olier for the explicit purpose of fending off the aggressive geese, which showed that Bailey knew about their aggressive and dangerous propensity.

¶ 6. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Bailey, finding that [986]*986Olier was a licensee, that Bailey did not breach her duty of care to a licensee, and that the dangerous-propensity rule did not apply. The Jackson County Circuit Court affirmed, and this appeal soon followed. Bailey has filed an additional motion to strike portions of Olier’s brief.

BAILEY’S MOTION TO STRIKE PORTIONS OF OLIER’S BRIEF

¶ 7. In her Motion to Strike Portions of Olier’s Brief, Bailey argues that several of Olier’s arguments on appeal should be struck because they were not raised before the trial court. We find that the motion is not well taken and should be denied. We are not inclined to parse through the different arguments that may or may not have been made at the trial level for the purpose of determining whether to strike them from a brief. If the record reveals that an argument was not made before the trial court, we will address it. appropriately. Accordingly, Bailey’s Motion to Strike Portions of Olier’s Brief is denied.

Analysis

¶ 8. Olier’s issues on appeal are as follows:

I. Do genuine issues of material fact exist regarding whether Olier was an invitee or licensee, and, if Olier was a licensee, did Bailey nevertheless breach her duty of care to Olier?
II. Should the Hoffman affirmative negligence doctrine, which applies to business premises, be expanded to cover domiciles?
■ III. Do domestic fowl fall under the dangerous propensity rule, and did Bailey have knowledge of her geese’s dangerous propensity?

¶ 9. Our well-known standard of review from a trial court’s grant of summary judgment is de novo. Double Quick, Inc. v. Moore, 73 So.3d 1162, 1165 (¶ 7) (Miss.2011). We view the evidence “in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion has been made.” Id. If the movant can “show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law[,]” then summary judgment is appropriate. M.R.C.P. 56(c).

I. Janet Olier was a licensee as a matter of law.

¶ 10. In determining whether liability attaches to a landowner, this Court must determine (1) the status of the visitor, whether trespasser, licensee, or invitee; (2) the duty that the landowner owed to the visitor based on that status; and (3) whether the landowner breached his or her duty of care to the visitor. Hoffman v. Planters Gin Co., 358 So.2d 1008, 1011 (Miss.1978).

A. Olier’s Status

¶ 11. Olier argues that genuine issues of material fact exist regarding whether she was an invitee on the day that she visited Bailey’s home. Bailey argues that Olier was a licensee as a matter of law, and the trial court agreed.

¶ 12. A person is classified as a licensee if he or she enters the property for “his or her own convenience, pleasure or benefit pursuant to the license or implied permission of the owner.... ” Massey v. Tingle, 867 So.2d 235, 239 (¶ 14) (Miss.2004). We classify an invitee as a visitor “who goes upon the premises of another in answer to the express or implied invitation of the owner or occupant for their mutual advantage.” Hoffman, 358 So.2d at 1011. The difference in classification is important; a landowner owes a much higher duty of care to invitees than [987]*987he or she does to licensees. The landowner owes an invitee the duty “to keep the premises reasonably safe and when not reasonably safe to warn only where there is hidden danger or peril that is not [in] plain and open view.”

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

Related

TLM Investments, LLC v. Shanda Yates
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2025
JohnTate Campbell v. Harrison County Board of Supervisors
269 So. 3d 1269 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2018)
Gloria Thompson v. Mildred Lucas
219 So. 3d 583 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2017)
Steven Oliver v. Henry W. Cook
377 P.3d 265 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2016)
Curtis Hawkins v. Daniel Hale
185 So. 3d 1076 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
Jeanette B. Ringo v. Lela Wilson
204 So. 3d 827 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2016)
E.C. Ex Rel. Cooley v. Saraco
628 F. App'x 274 (Fifth Circuit, 2016)
Katerina Galanis v. CMA Management Company
175 So. 3d 1213 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 So. 3d 982, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 164, 2015 WL 1611772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/janet-olier-v-donna-bailey-miss-2015.