Nowlin v. Moravian Church in America

745 S.E.2d 51, 228 N.C. App. 307, 2013 WL 3662597, 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 760
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJuly 16, 2013
DocketNo. COA12-1290
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 745 S.E.2d 51 (Nowlin v. Moravian Church in America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Nowlin v. Moravian Church in America, 745 S.E.2d 51, 228 N.C. App. 307, 2013 WL 3662597, 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 760 (N.C. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

CALABRIA, Judge.

Summer Nowlin (“Summer”) and her father, Joel Nowlin, (collectively “plaintiffs”) appeal from an order granting summary judgment in favor of Moravian Church in America, Southern Province and Laurel Ridge Camp, Conference and Retreat Center (collectively “defendants”). We affirm.

I. Background

In July 2008, sixteen-year-old Summer attended a summer camp owned and operated by defendants. On 18 July, the last night of camp, an activity called “the Game” was conducted. The purpose of the Game was [309]*309for campers to sneak around camp staff members through a wooded area, in the dark, and ring a bell located at the top of a hill. The Game was restricted to senior high campers and players were required to play with partners for safety purposes.

Summer’s partner in the Game was her friend Molly. At some point, Summer and Molly met with camp staff members Raj Crawford (“Crawford”) and Wes Harrison. Smith and Harrison then .left together, leaving Summer alone with Crawford.

According to Summer, once she and Crawford were alone, he kissed her, pushed her down on her back, held her down, and had sexual intercourse with her. After the incident was completed, Summer returned to a dining hall. She did not report her encounter with Crawford to anyone at the camp or lodge any complaint regarding the alleged sexual assault until several months later. When confronted with the allegation, Crawford initially denied the sexual encounter but later claimed the encounter was consensual.

Plaintiffs filed a complaint and an amended complaint against defendants in Forsyth County Superior Court alleging negligence. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleged, inter alia, that defendants were negligent in their hiring, retention, and supervision of Crawford. In addition, the complaint alleged that defendants negligently failed to provide Summer with a safe environment when it conducted the Game. Plaintiffs also alleged as a result of defendants’ negligence, Summer suffered severe emotional distress.

Defendants filed an answer and a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted defendants’ motion on 12 July 2012, finding that no issues of material fact existed and that defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Plaintiffs appeal.

II. Standard of Review

“Our standard of review of an appeal from summary judgment is de novo; such judgment is appropriate only when the record shows that ‘there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ ” In re Will of Jones, 362 N.C. 569, 573, 669 S.E.2d 572, 576 (2008) (quoting Forbis v. Neal, 361 N.C. 519, 524, 649 S.E.2d 382, 385 (2007)).

III. Negligence

Plaintiffs argue the trial court erred by granting summary judgment in favor of defendants because there was a genuine issue of material fact [310]*310as to whether defendants negligently created an unsafe environment for Summer. We disagree.

In order to prevail on a negligence claim, a plaintiff must prove “(1) that defendant failed to exercise proper care in the performance of a duty owed plaintiff; (2) the negligent breach of that duty was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury; and (3) a person of ordinary prudence should have foreseen that plaintiff’s injury was probable under the circumstances.” Lavelle v. Schultz, 120 N.C. App. 857, 859-60, 463 S.E.2d 567, 569 (1995).

A. Duty of Care

In the instant case, there is no dispute that defendants owe Summer a duty of care. Instead, the issue in this case is the extent of that duty of care. Both parties agree that there are no North Carolina cases that address the duty a camp owes to its campers. However, there are cases which examine the duty owed by individuals supervising minor children in other contexts. Thus, in order to determine the duty of care defendants owed to Summer, we look to Pruitt v. Powers, 128 N.C. App. 585, 495 S.E.2d 743 (1998) and Royal v. Armstrong, 136 N.C. App. 465; 524 S.E.2d 600 (2000) for guidance.

In Pruitt, a mother brought a negligence action against a daycare center owner for injuries her three year old sustained when he fell at day care as a result of playful pushing with classmates. 128 N.C. App. at 586, 495 S.E.2d at 744. This Court found that the defendant had been notified of similar pushing incidents and knew and appreciated the danger that someone could be hint if the pushing incidents continued. This Court analogized the duty owed by daycare providers to the duty owed to school children by teachers and held that daycare providers with children under their supervision “have a duty to abide by that standard of care which a person of ordinary prudence, charged with his duties, would exercise under the same circumstances.” Id. at 590, 495 S.E.2d at 747 (internal quotations and citations omitted). The Court further explained that

[t]he amount of care due a student increases with the student’s immaturity, inexperience, and relevant physical limitations. Day care providers, however, cannot be expected to anticipate the myriad of unexpected acts which occur daily in and about schools, and are not insurers of the safety of the children in their care. The foreseeability of harm to pupils in the class or at the school is the test of the extent of the [day care provider’s] duty to safeguard her pupils from dangerous acts of fellow pupils....

[311]*311Id. at 591, 495 S.E.2d at 747 (internal citations and quotations omitted).

In Royal, the plaintiff’s eight-year-old grandson attended a pool party at the home of the defendants. 136 N.C. App. at 467, 524 S.E.2d at 601. While the children at the party were being supervised by a parent, the plaintiff’s grandson drowned. Id. at 468, 524 S.E.2d at 601-02. Relying on Pruett, the Royal Court determined that “adult hosts or supervisors have a duty to the children to exercise a standard of care that a person of ordinary prudence, charged with similar duties, would exercise under similar circumstances. As with students, ‘the amount of care due .. . increases with the student’s immaturity, inexperience, and relevant physical limitations.’ ” Id. at 471, 524 S.E.2d at 603-04 (quoting Payne v. N.C. Dept. of Human Resources, 95 N.C. App. 309, 314, 382 S.E.2d 449, 452 (1989)).

We find that the relationship between a camp and its campers is analogous to the relationships at issue in Pruitt and Royal. Thus, consistent with those cases, we hold that camps and their employees have a duty to their campers to exercise the same standard of care that a person of ordinary prudence, charged with the duty of supervising campers, would exercise under the same circumstances. Moreover, as noted in both cases, this duty of care is relative to the camper’s maturity.

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745 S.E.2d 51, 228 N.C. App. 307, 2013 WL 3662597, 2013 N.C. App. LEXIS 760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nowlin-v-moravian-church-in-america-ncctapp-2013.