McNamee v. AJW

519 S.E.2d 298, 238 Ga. App. 534
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 11, 1999
DocketA99A0502
StatusPublished

This text of 519 S.E.2d 298 (McNamee v. AJW) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McNamee v. AJW, 519 S.E.2d 298, 238 Ga. App. 534 (Ga. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

519 S.E.2d 298 (1999)
238 Ga. App. 534

McNAMEE et al.
v.
A.J.W., a minor, et al.

No. A99A0502.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

June 11, 1999.

*299 Chambers, Mabry, McClelland & Brooks, Genevieve L. Frazier, Christopher K. Annunziata, Atlanta, for appellants.

Dean, Smith & Therrell, John R. Burdges, Peter R. Roberts, Atlanta, for appellees.

*300 BLACKBURN, Presiding Judge.

Upon our grant of their application for interlocutory appeal, the defendants, Don McNamee and Lynda McNamee, and their son, Steven McNamee, a minor, appeal the denial of their motion for summary judgment by the trial court. Gordon and Louisa Wiles, and their daughter, A.J.W., a minor, nine months junior to Steven, brought the underlying civil action seeking damages against Steven's parents for negligence and furnishing alcohol to A.J.W. and against Steven for sexual battery, rape, negligence, and furnishing alcohol to A.J.W. At the time of the subject incident, both A.J.W. and Steven were in the tenth grade in high school.

Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56(c). A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant or denial of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.

(Punctuation omitted.) Urban v. Lemley, 232 Ga.App. 259, 501 S.E.2d 529 (1998).

Construing the facts most favorably to A.J.W. and her parents, on November 26, 1996, 15-year-old A.J.W. went home after school with Steven, who had just recently turned 16 years old. Although A.J.W. told her parents that she was going to Steven's house to study, she actually went there to drink beer and to "show everybody that [she] wasn't such a goody two-shoes like everybody thought." A.J.W. states that she, Steven, and Rusty, another male friend, drank alcoholic beverages and smoked marijuana. After voluntarily consuming two and one-half Zimas and taking "shotgun hits" of marijuana, A.J.W. does not remember what happened until she woke up naked in a bedroom closet. A.J.W. deposed that while she does not remember him being there, her boyfriend told her that he came over to Steven's house while she was naked and in the closet. The record does not contain any testimony from A.J.W.'s boyfriend.

When she woke up, Steven told A.J.W. that his father had come home, taken Rusty to his alcohol/probation meeting, and returned. A.J.W. admits that rather than reporting what took place to Steven's father, she sneaked out of the house with Steven and they walked to her home. A.J.W. was wearing Steven's pants and his mother's underwear. Steven agrees with A.J.W.'s version of what occurred after his father arrived home. Upon arriving home, A.J.W. did not report to her parents any of the events that had occurred. The day after the incident, Steven, Rusty, and another male friend went to A.J.W.'s place of employment and threw her panties over the counter at her. A.J.W. averred that she learned about the sexual relations with Steven when Rob Elkins called her on the telephone to tease her about losing her virginity. The record does not contain any testimony from Rob Elkins. A.J.W.'s parents found out about the incident from a parent of one of A.J.W.'s friends a week after it happened and initiated civil and criminal action.

Steven avers that A.J.W. voluntarily participated in the drinking, the smoking, and having sex with him. He contends that A.J.W. initiated oral sex and asked him to have sexual intercourse with her. He went upstairs and got a condom and asked her several times if she was sure she wanted to have sex. He avers that after they had sex, A.J.W. did not feel well and she lay down on his bedroom floor to sleep. Later, she vomited on her clothes and then took a shower before he walked her home.

Although A.J.W. deposed that she was under the impression that Steven's father had purchased the beer for Steven, Steven averred that his parents did not know that he had alcohol in the house. Steven contends that Rusty had provided both the alcohol and marijuana, which he hid in the unfinished basement of the house. The record does not contain any testimony from Rusty.

1. The McNamees contend that as a matter of law, under the facts herein, they cannot be held civilly liable for negligence resulting from any actions of Steven against A.J.W., if proved.

It is well settled that by common law and in this state unless changed by statute, *301 parents are not liable in damages for the torts of their minor children merely because of the parent-child relationship[;] when liability exists it is based on a principal-agent or a master-servant relationship where the negligence of the child is imputed to the parent, or it is based on the negligence of the parent in some factual situation such as allowing the child to have unsupervised control of a dangerous instrumentality. Corley v. Lewless, 227 Ga. 745, 182 S.E.2d 766 (1971).... As stated in Assurance Co. of America v. Bell, 108 Ga.App. 766, 134 S.E.2d 540 (1963) the true test of parental negligence vel non is whether in the exercise of ordinary care [the parent] should have anticipated that harm would result from the unsupervised activities of the child and whether, if so, [the parent] exercised the proper degree of care to guard against this result.

Hill v. Morrison, 160 Ga.App. 151, 286 S.E.2d 467 (1981).

Under the facts in this case, Steven's parents cannot be civilly responsible based solely upon his actions in having sex with a 15-year-old girl in their home, without their knowledge, while they were not home. We have previously declined to place a duty on parents to arrange for supervision of their teenagers while they are away from home. See Manuel v. Koonce, 206 Ga.App. 582, 585(1)(b), 425 S.E.2d 921 (1992), rev'd on other grounds, Riley v. H & H Operations, 263 Ga. 652, 655, n. 3, 436 S.E.2d 659 (1993). The evidence in the record indicates that Steven's parents had no reason to suspect that he was engaging in the activities in question while they were at work. Therefore, the trial court erred in denying Don and Lynda McNamee's motion for summary judgment on the plaintiffs' negligence claims.

2. The McNamees contend that they are entitled to summary judgment on the plaintiffs' claims of serving alcohol to a minor. OCGA § 51-1-18(a) provides: "The custodial parent or parents shall have a right of action against any person who shall sell or furnish alcoholic beverages to that parent's underage child for the child's use without the permission of the child's parent."

(a) The McNamees contend that the uncontroverted evidence establishes that Rusty Shipman purchased and delivered the alcohol. Although A.J.W.

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

Related

Rolleston v. Huite
400 S.E.2d 349 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1990)
Riley v. H & H OPERATIONS
436 S.E.2d 659 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1993)
Assurance Co. of America v. Bell
134 S.E.2d 540 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1963)
Sutter v. Hutchings
327 S.E.2d 716 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1985)
Kirk v. Barnes
249 S.E.2d 140 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1978)
Redding v. Morris
123 S.E.2d 714 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1961)
Manuel v. Koonce
425 S.E.2d 921 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1992)
Hill v. Morrison
286 S.E.2d 467 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1981)
Reeves v. Bridges
284 S.E.2d 416 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1981)
In the Interest of B. L. S.
449 S.E.2d 823 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1994)
Corley v. Lewless
182 S.E.2d 766 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1971)
Eldridge v. Aronson
472 S.E.2d 497 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1996)
Wittke v. Horne's Enterprises, Inc.
162 S.E.2d 898 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1968)
DOE BY DOE v. Greenville Hosp. System
448 S.E.2d 564 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1994)
Urban v. Lemley
501 S.E.2d 529 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1998)
Ford Motor Co. v. Carter
238 S.E.2d 361 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1977)
LK v. Reed
631 So. 2d 604 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
Michelle T. Ex Rel. Sumpter v. Crozier
495 N.W.2d 327 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1993)
CYNTHIA M. v. Rodney E.
228 Cal. App. 3d 1040 (California Court of Appeal, 1991)
ANGIE M. v. Superior Court
37 Cal. App. 4th 1217 (California Court of Appeal, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
519 S.E.2d 298, 238 Ga. App. 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcnamee-v-ajw-gactapp-1999.