Smith v. Williams Hospitality Management Corp.

950 F. Supp. 436, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19796, 1996 WL 760219
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedDecember 20, 1996
DocketCivil No. 94-1407(SEC)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 950 F. Supp. 436 (Smith v. Williams Hospitality Management Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Williams Hospitality Management Corp., 950 F. Supp. 436, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19796, 1996 WL 760219 (prd 1996).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

CASELLAS, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is a motion for summary judgment filed by third party defendants Mac and Perla Gomez and the conjugal partnership constituted by both. (Docket # 68) Third party plaintiff Lexington Insurance Company has filed an opposition. (Docket # 82) Upon careful scrutiny of the parties’ arguments and the applicable law, third party defendants’ motion is GRANTED.

Factual Background

The decedent Holly Phillips and Rosalba Gomez were schoolmates at San Marino High School in San Gabriel, California, as well as close friends. In 1993, the parents of Rosalba Gomez, Mac and Perla Gomez, invited Holly, then fifteen years old, to accompany them on a Caribbean Cruise. Holly obtained her mother and grandmother’s consent and agreed to go. On April 2, 1993 the Gomez family and Holly arrived to San Juan, Puerto Rico and checked into the Condado Plaza Hotel. Mac and Perla Gomez and their son stayed in room number 209 and Holly, Rosalba Gomez and her sister stayed in room number 207.

In the afternoon of April 3, 1993, Mae and Perla Gomez returned to the hotel, accompanied by their son Armando Javier Gomez, and met with Holly and their daughters Rosalba and Nancy Gomez in the pool area. Mac and Perla Gomez conferred briefly with the children and agreed that they would get [438]*438changed and meet again to have dinner. (Deposition of Nancy Gomez, p. 34, lines 13-25)

Holly, Rosalba and Nancy stayed pool side, while Mac and Perla Gomez and their son Armando Javier returned to the hotel room. On the evening of April 3,1993, Holly left the pool side area, apparently annoyed by a male teenager who sought to engage her in conversation. (Docket # 80, Exhibit 3, p. 35-37; docket # 78, Nancy Gomez Deposition, p. 38, lines 2-25, p. 39, lines 3-25). Shortly thereafter, Holly collided with a glass panel located on the balcony of the second floor which faced the swimming pool area in the Ocean Wing of the Condado Plaza Hotel. (Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint) Said glass panel was non-safety glass. As a result of this accident, Holly suffered cuts and lacerations to her legs and hands, which required emergency medical treatment and stitches by a plastic surgeon.

After the trip to Puerto Rico, Holly Phillips returned to Camas, Washington, and continued her treatment at Kaiser Medical Foundation. After receiving treatment she returned to her grandmother’s house to finish her school semester in California. On the evening of February 12, 1994, Holly Phillips, who had recently acquired her driver’s license, was involved in an automobile accident, when she failed to manage a left-hand curve in a narrow country road. According to the testimony of several witnesses and the police sergeant who conducted the investigation of the accident, Holly Phillips was not wearing a seat bélt at the time of the accident. (Docket # 84, Tina Goodnight’s Deposition, Exhibit 5, p. 14, lines 1-14). As a result of the accident, Holly’s body was pinned inside the car, which led to her eventual death by asphyxia. (Docket # 84, Deposition of Garry Alex, p. 16, lines 18-25). Holly’s friend and passenger, Kimberly Kester, who was wearing a seat belt, survived the accident with minor injuries. (Docket # 80, Deposition of Sergeant Anthony Barnes, p. 52, lines 12-25, p. 53, lines 1-8). The police officer also determined that the speed of the vehicle was the main cause of the accident. Id. p. 45, lines 1-25.

Plaintiffs filed the present complaint alleging that defendants’ failed to: maintain in a public area of the Hotel a glass wall with incomplete mounting; maintain in a public area of the Hotel a glass wall with lack of signs, or warning, or horizontal divisions; maintain in a public area of the Hotel shatter-proof glass panels, failed to warn of the unreasonably unsafe premises in the Hotel. (Plaintiffs’ Second Amended. Complaint, ¶23). Plaintiffs argue that such negligent maintenance led to Holly’s injuries to her right hand, and which ten months later, led to her loss of control of her car in Washington and her eventual death.

Defendants filed a third-party complaint against third-party defendants, claiming that Mac and Perla Gomez failed to properly supervise Holly Phillips, a minor under their care and custody and that such negligent supervision was a contributing cause to plaintiffs’ injuries.

Applicable Law/Analysis

Article 1802 of the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, 31 L.P.R.A. § 5141, states:

A person who by an act or omission causes damage to another person through fault or negligence shall be obliged to repair the damage so done. Concurrent imprudence of the party aggrieved does not exempt from liability, but entails a reduction of the indemnity.

Pursuant to this law plaintiffs must establish a prima facie claim by showing: 1) an act or omission constituting fault or negligence; 2) damages; and 3) a causal connection between the defendant’s tortious conduct and the injuries sustained by plaintiff. Sociedad de Gananciales v. Gonzalez Padin, 117 D.P.R. 94,106 (1986).

Consequent to this standard, an act or omission constitutes fault or negligence where the defendants had a duty of care to act, and failed to respond as reasonable and prudent men would have in similar circumstances. Jimenez v. Pelegrina Espinel, 112 D.P.R. 700, 704 (1982). Defendants are not liable unless plaintiffs prove that if they had acted as reasonable and prudent men, the damages incurred would have been avoided. Id. This element of causation precludes the [439]*439imposition of absolute or objective responsibility, the premise being that a negligent tort feasor is not an insurer. Estremera v. Inmobiliaria, 109 D.P.R. 852, 856 (1980).

Third party defendants argue that they did not have a legal duty to directly supervise Ms. Holly Phillips. Third party defendants claim that they do not have a duty of supervision or in vigilando, pursuant to the doctrine of vicarious liability, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Civil Code Art. 1808; 31 L.P.R.A. § 5142. Said statute reads, in pertinent part:

The obligation imposed by section 5141 of this title is demandable, not only for personal acts and omissions, but also for those of the persons for whom they should be responsible. The father, and, in the event of his death or incapacitation, the mother, is liable for the damage caused by the minor children living with them.
Guardians are liable for the damages caused by minors or incapacitated persons who are under their authority and live with them
... masters or directors of arts and trades are liable for the damages caused by their pupils or apprentices while they are under their custody.
The liability referred to in this section shall cease when the liable persons mentioned therein prove that they employed all the diligence of a good father of a family to preclude the damages.

Third party plaintiffs argue that defendants Mae and Perla Gomez are hable for damages incurred by Holly Philips since they were acting as guardians for the minor at the time of the accident and, that their failure to properly supervise Holy Philips led to her accident. Upon review of the applicable law, the Court is uncertain whether the abovementioned statute apples to third party defendants, since Holly Philips was not a minor who was under their authority and Ived with them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
950 F. Supp. 436, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19796, 1996 WL 760219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-williams-hospitality-management-corp-prd-1996.