Baltimore Gas and Elec. Co. v. Lane

• Decision Date: 01 September 1994
• Docket Number: No. 51,51
• Citation: 656 A.2d 307,338 Md. 34
• Parties: BALTIMORE GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY v. Tyrone LANE, a Minor et al. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 34

338 Md. 34

656 A.2d 307

BALTIMORE GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY v. Tyrone LANE, a Minor et al.

No. 51, Sept. Term, 1994.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

March 28, 1995.

Reconsideration Denied May 8, 1995.

Ronald D. Byrd, Stephen J. Rosasco, both on brief, Baltimore, MD, for petitioner.

Charles J. Muskin, Glen Burnie, MD, for respondent.

Before MURPHY, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, KARWACKI, BELL and RAKER, JJ.

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

This case focuses upon tort duty principles associated with injuries sustained by a minor upon using personal property owned by the defendant, but located on premises not owned nor controlled by the defendant.

I

On September 1, 1992, Tyrone Lane, a minor, through his mother, filed a complaint against the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), alleging that he was injured as a result of BGE's negligence. Specifically he averred that in June of 1985 employees of BGE were engaged in construction and maintenance activities near a day care center and community laundromat in the Meade Village area of Anne Arundel County; that when BGE employees finished their work, they "carelessly caused to remain unattended, unmarked, and unsecured, a large empty wooden cable spool, weighing nearly 1/2 ton, in an area known by the Defendant to be frequented by children in the community;" that BGE was the owner of the spool; that on June 16, 1985, Lane was a resident of Meade Village and was an invitee on a nearby playground belonging to Meade Village Housing Project, and that he "was engaged in play with other minor children on or about the ... spool, whereupon it was caused to roll over [his] face, head and body" and thereby injure him. The injury, the complaint stated, was caused by BGE's negligence in that it "knew or should have known by the exercise of reasonable care that the ... spool was unreasonably dangerous for ... children ... who might come in contact with it." It was further alleged that BGE was negligent in that it (1) did not remove the spool when the work was finished; (2) did not post warnings on the spool; (3) did not attempt to restrict access to it by fencing it in, and (4) did not secure it so that it would not roll. The complaint emphasized that BGE knew the spool created a serious risk of injury and knew the area in which the employees left the spool was "frequented by children."

BGE answered, generally denying liability and raising, among others, the defenses of contributory negligence, failure to state a claim, and assumption of risk. BGE later filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that Lane was a trespasser to the spool and consequently BGE owed him no duty other than to avoid willfully or wantonly injuring him. BGE further maintained that, as matters of law, (1) Lane's injuries were not proximately caused by BGE's alleged negligence; (2) Lane assumed the risk of injury, and (3) Lane was contributorily negligent. In Lane's deposition, which accompanied BGE's motion for summary judgment, he said that employees, whom he believed were from BGE, had been working near the laundromat the week before his injury; that he had seen the spool at the work site; that on Sunday, the day of the accident, he first noticed the spool while it was being pushed by a boy onto the playground where he was playing at the time; that he watched as some boys rode the spool down a hill; and that he, Lane, mounted the spool and attempted to ride it down the hill, but as it accelerated, he got scared and jumped off, after which the spool rolled over him, causing his injuries. He also stated that the spool had some writing on the side, but that he could not remember what it said. In addition, BGE submitted the deposition of Antonio Harold, Lane's cousin, who claimed to have witnessed the injury and the events leading up to it. Harold stated that he saw workers from BGE and from a company called "Riggs and Diggs" working near the laundromat the week before the accident; that the spool had been there for two or three days before the accident; that, on the day of the accident, he saw about five boys moving the spool from its location near the laundromat; that Lane was not one of these boys; that the boys rolled the spool to a hill on a nearby baseball field; that Lane was present when they rolled the spool down the hill a few times without anyone riding it; that Lane watched as the other boys rode the spool about twelve times cumulatively; that Lane then rode the spool once successfully; and that on his second ride Lane fell off and was injured. The circuit court granted BGE's motion for summary judgment without stating reasons.

Lane appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, which reversed the circuit court in an unreported opinion. It declined to apply the trespasser rule, apparently concluding that the rule applied only to trespassers to real property. The court noted that BGE "decided to leave the spool on property it did not own or occupy without considering whether neighborhood children would be likely to do the very thing they were doing when [Lane] was injured." The court further observed that the spool "was left in front of a day care center and in close proximity to a public playground."

Concerning proximate cause, the court noted the intervening action of the boys moving the spool onto the playground, but said that intervening acts break the chain of proximate causation only when they are unforeseeable. Explaining that foreseeability is a question of fact, the court held: "Reasonable persons could ... conclude that it is foreseeable that children would move the spool to a nearby playground."

The court also stated that it could not hold as a matter of law that Lane was contributorily negligent or that he assumed the risk of injury. We granted certiorari to consider whether the trespasser rule should preclude liability in this case and whether, as a matter of law, BGE's negligence was not a proximate cause of Lane's injury.

II.

Concerning summary judgment, Maryland Rule 2-501(e) provides: "The court shall enter judgment in favor of or against the moving party if the motion and response show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the party in whose favor judgment is entered is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." In determining whether a party is entitled to judgment under this rule, the court must view the facts, including all inferences, in the light most favorable to the opposing party. Beard v. American Agency, 314 Md. 235, 246, 550 A.2d 677 (1988); Kramer v. Bally's Park Place, 311 Md. 387, 389, 535 A.2d 466 (1988); Liscombe v. Potomac Edison Co., 303 Md. 619, 621-22, 495 A.2d 838 (1985). The trial court will not determine any disputed facts, but rather makes a ruling as a matter of law. Scroggins v. Dahne, 335 Md. 688, 691, 645 A.2d 1160 (1994); Southland Corp. v. Griffith, 332 Md. 704, 712, 633 A.2d 84 (1993); Beatty v. Trailmaster, 330 Md. 726, 737, 625 A.2d 1005 (1993). The standard of appellate review, therefore, is whether the trial court was legally correct. See, e.g., Southland, supra, 332 Md. at 712, 633 A.2d 84.

III.

To succeed in a negligence action, the plaintiff must establish the following: "(1) that the defendant was under a duty to protect the plaintiff from injury, (2) that the defendant breached that duty, (3) that the plaintiff suffered actual injury or loss, and (4) that the loss or injury proximately resulted from the defendant's breach of the duty." Rosenblatt v. Exxon, 335 Md. 58, 76, 642 A.2d 180 (1994). This case presents questions of duty and proximate causation.

A.

BGE argues that Lane was a trespasser to whom it owed no duty other than to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring him. It asserts that the trespasser analysis applies to personal property as well as to real property, and that Lane trespassed upon BGE's personal property without its permission. BGE further argues that, consistent with our previous cases, we should not recognize any special exception to the trespasser rule because of Lane's youth. ¹ Lane argues, on the other hand, that this is a simple negligence case to which the trespasser concept does not apply. That concept applies, Lane contends, only when the defendant is an owner or occupier of land, not personal property.

We have long recognized that a possessor of property owes a certain duty to a person who comes in contact with the property. E.g., Wagner v. Doehring, 315 Md. 97, 101, 553 A.2d 684 (1989). The extent of this duty depends on the person's status while on the property. Id. at 101, 553 A.2d 684; Rowley v. City of Baltimore, 305 Md. 456, 464-65, 505 A.2d 494 (1986). Maryland law recognizes four classifications: invitee, licensee by invitation, bare licensee, and trespasser. Wagner, supra, 315 Md. at 101-02, 553 A.2d 684. To an invitee--one on the property for a purpose related to the possessor's business--the possessor owes a duty of ordinary care to keep the property safe for the invitee. Id. at 102, 553 A.2d 684. To a licensee by invitation--essentially a social guest--the possessor owes a duty to exercise reasonable care to warn the guest of dangerous conditions that are known to the possessor but not easily discoverable. Id. To a bare licensee--one on the property with permission but for his or her own purposes--the possessor owes a duty only to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring the licensee and from creating " 'new and undisclosed sources of danger without warning the licensee.' " Id. (quoting Sherman v. Suburban Trust Co., 282 Md. 238, 242, 384 A.2d 76 (1978)). To a trespasser--one on the property without permission--the possessor owes no duty "except to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring or entrapping the trespasser." Id.

Two points regarding the duty of the possessor of property are often overlooked in this area of the law which is sometimes labelled, too narrowly, "landowner liability" or "premises liability." First, the...