McKenzie v. Fairmont Food Co.

305 F. Supp. 163, 20 Ohio Misc. 267
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 25, 1969
DocketNo. C 69-99
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 305 F. Supp. 163 (McKenzie v. Fairmont Food Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKenzie v. Fairmont Food Co., 305 F. Supp. 163, 20 Ohio Misc. 267 (N.D. Ohio 1969).

Opinion

YouNG, J.

This is a personal injury action brought by the administrator of decedent’s estate, also decedent’s father, to recover damages sustained by reason of the death of decedent on July 18, 1967. The action was originally filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Lucas County, Ohio, and was removed to this Court by defendant, who now moves for a dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a cause of action. Such a motion is proper at this juncture pursuant to Rule 12(b) (6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The complaint alleges that on July 18, 1969, the decedent, a ten-year-old boy at that time, was playing with [268]*268friends upon the premises of the Vita Boy Potato Chip Company in Toledo, Ohio, that company being a division of the defendant Nebraska corporation. It is further alleged that these children had played on these premises on prior occasions, that defendant’s agents and employees had knowledge of such activities, and that decedent and his friends were “encouraged” to use defendant’s premises. It is further alleged that defendant corporation parked its trucks in a lot which was not enclosed by a fence, and that defendant knew that decedent and his friends were using the lot as a playground. It is also alleged that “the gas tanks of its trucks were open and exposed and not covered and at no time were the gas caps on said trucks covered with locks.” Finally, it is alleged that the decedent on July 18, 1967, inhaled an excessive amount of gas fumes from an opened and exposed gas tank of defendant’s truck, that such inhalation proximately caused his death on that day, and that defendant through its agents knew that plaintiff’s decedent and his friends had so inhaled gas fumes on previous occasions. It is also alleged that the conditions existing on July 18, 1967, “were inviting” to plaintiff’s decedent.

A reading of plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety discloses some matters of a factual nature which are vague enough to present potential areas of factual dispute, and some allegations even border on the incredible, such as the claim that plaintiff’s decedent and his friends were “encouraged” to use defendant’s premises. If the defendant chose to dispute these allegations with contrary factual assertions of its own, the Court would have to deny defendant’s motion, for it cannot take judicial notice of the fact that few companies “encourage” children to play in their truckyards, however skeptical it may be that plaintiff could prove such a fact by a preponderance. However, the defendant in the memorandum in support of its motion has carefully avoided any possible disputes of fact which the complaint might be construed to raise by making various assumptions which it undoubtedly would not concede at a trial upon the merits. First, with respect to that part of [269]*269the complaint which rather nnclearly alleges that the gas caps on defendant’s trucks were open, exposed, and unlocked, defendant assumes for purposes of its motion that there was no gas cap at all on the truck from which the decedent inhaled the fumes. In addition, the defendant has avoided the necessity of resolving whether the decedent was a licensee or a trespasser on the day in question, for defendant also assumes for purposes of its motion that the decedent was classed as a licensee.

The question now becomes whether, assuming that the plaintiff has established all of these facts alleged, and the defendant has failed to rebut them in any manner, the complaint even in that posture states a claim upon which relief can be granted. This question must be resolved under Ohio law, since the action in the state courts was removed into this Court on a diversity of citizenship basis.

At the outset, it would be well to state that insofar as plaintiff seeks to bring this case within the “attractive nuisance” or “turntable” doctrine, Ohio law does not support his position. That doctrine had its genesis in the renowned case of Sioux City & Pacific R. R. v. Stout, 84 U. S. (17 Wall.) 657 (1874), and it has been adopted by the courts of several states. See 38 Am. Jur., Negligence §§142 et seq. (1941). While the doctrine has been variously stated in these states, the basic proposition is that one who maintains upon his premises a condition, machine, or other instrumentality which would be dangerous to children because of their inability to appreciate the hazards involved, and which would be expected to attract children to the premises because of its inviting nature, owes a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect such children from the dangers potentially involved. 38 Am. Jur., Negligence §142 (1941). The Supreme Court of Ohio, in a particularly thorough and well-reasoned decision, expressly rejected the application of this doctrine in Ohio, Wheeling & L. E. R. R. v. Harvey, 77 Ohio St. 235, 83 N. E. 66 (1907), and the other courts of Ohio have followed that decision. See, e. g., Minick v. Windsor Brick Co., 30 Ohio App. 232, 164 N. E. 769 (1929); Rossiaki v. West Side Motors, 19 [270]*270Ohio Law Abs. 191 (Ct. App. 1935); Bronikowski v. Bigham, 143 N. E. 2d 490 (Ct. C. P. 1955), aff’d, 145 N. E. 2d 331 (Ct. App. 1956). And a later Ohio Supreme Court decision reaffirmed the rule set forth in the Harvey case, supra. Hannan v. Ehrlich, 102 Ohio St. 176, 131 N. E. 504 (1921).

Plaintiff in its memorandum in opposition to defendant’s motion cites several cases for the proposition that the attractive nuisance doctrine can be applied in Ohio if certain facts are proven. A case often cited for this proposition is Harriman v. Pittsburgh R. R., 45 Ohio St. 11, 12 N. E. 451 (1887). Since this case was decided before the Harvey decision, it was argued and considered by the Harvey court, and that court expressly distinguished it from turntable-type cases on its particular facts, stating that the 257-58, 83 N. E. at 73. The Harriman case was also distin-Harriman decision instead rested upon long settled principles of law. Wheeling & L. E. R. R. v. Harvey, 77 Ohio St. guished in Hannan v. Ehrlich, supra, and since it involved a dangerous instrumentality not present in the instant case1, and application of different principles of tort law involving resulting higher duties owed by the defendant maintaining such dangerous instrumentalities, the Harriman decision must similarly be distinguished from the case at bar. Ohio law is reasonably clear that an automobile is not a dangerous instrumentality even when being operated, except under very limited conditions not present in the case at bar involving a parked vehicle, and the facts alleged in the pe[271]*271tition therefore do not bring this case under the “dangerous instrumentality” doctrine followed in Harriman. See Gossett v. Chrysler, 359 F. 2d 84, 88 (6th Cir. 1966); Williamson v. Eclipse Motor Lines, 145 Ohio St. 467, 62 N. E. 2d 339 (1945); Higbee Co. v. Jackson, 101 Ohio St. 75, 90, 128 N. E. 61, 65 (1920); Hanratty v. Godfrey, 44 Ohio App. 360, 184 N. E. 842 (1932).

In addition to all the foregoing indications to this Court that the attractive nuisance doctrine does not prevail in Ohio, 39 O. Jur. 2d, Negligence

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Bluebook (online)
305 F. Supp. 163, 20 Ohio Misc. 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckenzie-v-fairmont-food-co-ohnd-1969.