Lewis v. Hannaford Bros. Co.

• Court: Superior Court of Maine
• Decided: July 3, 2007
• Docket: CUMcv-06-113
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT CUMBERLAND, ss. CIVIL ACTION Docket No. CV -067113 - --? ." ! ~ - \ r )" ~~. -' '\ l , , \._ --1 . ,J?, ,~-- '.~.-., '. ' ­ -' 1---'\

RITA LEWIS,

Plaintiff,

v. ORDER

HANNAFORD BROS. CO.,

Defendant.

Before the court is a motion by defendant Hannaford Brothers Co. for summary

judgment and a motion by plaintiff Rita Lewis to amend her complaint.

1. Motion to Amend

Lewis's motion to amend was filed on March 7, 2007 - seven months after the

deadline for the amendment of proceedings set forth in the scheduling order, two

months after the case first appeared on a trial list, and two weeks after defendant filed

its motion for summary judgment. The only possible justification for such a late

amendment would be the discovery of new evidence that was not and could not have

been obtained earlier despite due diligence. Lewis has not made the requisite showing

in this case.

In addition, as far as the court can discern from the summary judgment record,

several of the new allegations that plaintiff seeks to add are not relevant in any case.

Thus, while Lewis's proposed amendment contends that Hannaford was negligent in

not properly maintaining and inspecting its carts, nothing in the summary judgment

record supports a claim that there was either inadequate maintenance or inadequate

inspection. The motion to amend is denied.

2. Motion for Summary Iudgment

Summary judgment should be granted if there is no genuine dispute as to any

material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In considering a

motion for summary judgment, the court is required to consider only the portions of the

record referred to and the material facts set forth in the parties' Rule 56(h) statements.

~ Tohnson v. McNeiL 2002 ME 99, CJ[ 8, 800 A.2d 702, 704. The facts must be

considered in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Id. Thus, for purposes

of summary judgment, any factual disputes must be resolved against the movant.

Nevertheless, when the facts offered by a party in opposition to summary judgment

would not, if offered at trial, be sufficient to withstand a motion for judgment as a

matter of law, summary judgment should be granted. Rodrigue v. Rodrigue, 1997 ME

99 CJ[ 8, 694 A.2d 924, 926.

In this case the relevant facts are not disputed. Lewis does not take issue with

any of the facts in Hannaford's Statement of Material Facts and Hannaford takes issue

with only one of the additional material facts set forth by Lewis. 1 In a nutshell, the

parties argue that Lewis is suing Hannaford for injuries incurred on May 12, 2004 when

her shopping cart was struck by a motorized shopping cart driven by another customer

while Lewis was paying for her groceries. As a result of the collision, Lewis was

knocked to the ground. The other customer, Mildred Johnson, was familiar with

Hannaford's motorized carts and had never had problems prior to May 12, 2004. The

1 See Hannaford's Reply Statement of Material Facts lJI 2. For purposes of this motion, whether Hannaford admits lJI 2 of Lewis's additional facts or not is not dispositive - if that paragraph is adequately supported and generates a disputed issue of material fact for trial, the motion for summary judgment should be denied.

2 cart in question is still in use at the Topsham Hannaford. Hannaford SMF

(admitted).

At the time of her deposition, Johnson was 87 years old and is legally blind in

one eye. Lewis's Statement of Additional Facts

carts are easy to use but on this occasion the cart leapt forward, did not go where she

wanted, and went berserk. Hannaford SMF

Additional Facts 'IT 3 (admitted). Hannaford has no policy requiring a person desiring

to use a motorized cart to check in with store employees before obtaining one. Lewis's

Statement of Additional Facts

3. Count I

Count I of Lewis's complaint alleges that Hannaford provided a motorized cart

to Johnson without any investigation as to whether or not Johnson was capable of

operating that cart in a safe and prudent manner. Count I, 'IT 1. To the extent that Lewis

is arguing that Hannaford was negligent in providing the motorized cart to Johnson,

the claim has to be analyzed under the rules applicable to negligent entrustment. See

Restatement, Second, Torts §§ 308, 390; Yunker v. Iverson, Docket No. CV-95-413

(Superior Court Cumberland County July I, 1997), 1997 Me. Super. LEXIS 197 (Saufley,

J.). Specifically, under Restatement § 390, one who supplies a chattel for the use of

another whom the supplier knows or has reason to know to be likely, because of youth,

inexperience or otherwise, to use it in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical

harm to others is subject to liability for resulting physical harm. Measured against this

standard, Lewis's claim fails because she has not offered any evidence to demonstrate

that there is factual dispute for trial as to whether Hannaford knew or had reason to

3 know that Johnson was likely to operate a motorized cart in a manner that posed an

unreasonable risk to others. The only evidence in the record is Johnson's testimony that

she had never had any prior problems with Hannaford's motorized carts.

Lewis argues more broadly that Hannaford was negligent in that it did not have

any procedure in place to investigate whether customers were capable of operating

motorized carts. There are several problems with this argument. First, Lewis has not

offered any evidence that Hannaford violated any industry standard by not having

some kind of driver investigation procedure in place. Second, Lewis has not offered

any evidence that Hannaford was on notice, based on prior incidents with other

customers, that instituting some kind of driver investigation policy would be necessary

or advisable.

In her memorandum of law, Lewis alleges that she asked for such information in

discovery but that Hannaford objected. Lewis never adequately pursued this issue. In

her memorandum of law she states that she requested a discovery conference on this

issue, and that conference "has yet to take place." Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's

Motion for Summary Judgment dated March 15, 2007, at p.7.

The court file does reflect that plaintiff's counsel asked for a Rule 26g conference

by letter dated February 20, 2007 without specifying the discovery at issue. At that

point the case was on a trial list and Hannaford had moved for summary judgment. On

March 6,2007 a conference was held. According to the conference record, however, the

conference did not address any request for discovery as to prior incidents but instead

addressed a continuance from the trial list to allow Hannaford's recently filed motion

for summary judgment and Lewis's anticipated motion to amend to be decided. See

Hearing/Conference Record dated March 6, 2007. The court has no recollection that

Lewis raised any issue with respect to discovery or as to prior incidents.

4 Under these circumstances the court can only conclude that Lewis has waited too

long to raise her contention that summary judgment should be denied or delayed to

allow her to pursue discovery with respect to prior incidents. In particular Lewis did

not oppose Hannaford's motion with a motion or affidavit seeking discovery under

Rule 56(f). See Curtis v. Allstate Insurance Co., 2002 ME 9 1133 n.7, 787 A.2d 760, 769

n.7. A Rule 56(f) motion must, inter alia, be filed within a reasonable time following the

making of a motion for summary judgment and must provide adequate notice to the

court that the moving party wants the court to delay action on the summary judgment

motion. Bay View Bank N.A. v. Highland Golf Mortgages Realty Trust, 2002 ME 178­

22, 814 A.2d 449, 454-55. It also must attest that the moving party has personal

knowledge of the grounds for the motion. Id.

In this case Lewis has not complied with Rule 56(f). She did not include any

affidavit demonstrating personal knowledge of the grounds for the motion. More

importantly, she did not provide adequate and timely notice that she was seeking the

court to delay action on the summary judgment motion. At this juncture in the case the

court is unwilling to withhold a ruling on Hannaford's summary judgment motion in

order to allow Lewis to reopen discovery in an attempt to find evidence that might give

her a basis to oppose summary judgment. In the absence of some evidence that

Hannaford was on notice of the need to investigate an operator's competence, therefore,

the court concludes that Hannaford is entitled to summary judgment on Count 1.

In addition, Lewis has not offered any evidence that Johnson would have been

denied a cart if some kind of driver investigation had been in place. It is obvious that

elderly and disabled customers are the most likely to need or want motorized carts.

The only facts that can be derived from the statement of material facts relevant to

Johnson's ability to operate a motorized cart are that Johnson was 85 as of May 12,

5 2004,2 that she was legally blind in one eye, and that she had never experienced any

prior problems operating a motorized cart. If those facts alone should have been

sufficient to disqualify Johnson from receiving a cart, it is difficult to see how anyone

old or infirm would qualify.

To proceed to trial on this claim, Lewis would have to offer sufficient evidence to

demonstrate that Hannaford was on notice that there were sufficient risks associated

with motorized carts that it either ought to have eliminated such carts entirely or

established some form of driver investigation. 3

4. Count II

Count II of Lewis's complaint alleges that Hannaford's premises were unsafe

because Hannaford did not provide enough room for the cart driven by Johnson to

safely negotiate the checkout area. To the extent that Lewis is raising an unsafe

condition claim, she has failed to raise a disputed issue for trial as to whether

Hannaford was ever put on notice of the unsafe condition, either by prior problems of a

similar nature, or otherwise. See Restatement, Second, Torts § 343A (landowner liable

for dangerous condition on premises only if he knows or by the exercise of reasonable

care should know of the condition).

To the extent that Lewis is raising a defective design claim, the court agrees with

Hannaford that such a claim would require expert evidence. Lewis has not offered any

such evidence. Indeed, the only evidence that Lewis offered on this issue in response to

Hannaford's motion for summary judgment is (1) Johnson's statement that the "aisle

2 She testified at her deposition that she turned 87 on May 4, 2006. 3 Lewis has also not offered any evidence that would allow a trier of fact to conclude that a driver investigation procedure would have been feasible or that such a procedure would have been effective in weeding out risky cart operators.

6 displays" are difficult to get around and (2) a schematic layout of a portion of the

Hannaford store which, according to Lewis, shows that the area where the collision

occurred was not wide enough to allow the passage of two shopping carts. See Lewis

Response to Hannaford SNIF Additional Fact

Even assuming the absence of expert testimony were not fatal on this Issue,

Lewis has not created a disputed issue for trial on Count II. Whether the 11 aisle

displays" are difficult to get around has no bearing on an accident that occurred at the

checkout counter. Moreover, assuming that the area was not wide enough for two carts

to pass, Lewis has not offered any evidence that would permit a finding that it was

negligent not to have a wide enough area at the checkout counter for two carts to pass.

The entry shall be:

Defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted. Plaintiff's motion to

amend is denied. The clerk is directed to incorporate this order in the docket by

reference pursuant to Rule 79(a). :)u.~lJ DATED: j:tme ~ 2007

-_.3~ Thomas D. Warren Justice, Superior Court

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