Coffey v. Moore

• Decision Date: 14 July 2006
• Docket Number: 1031268.
• Citation: 948 So.2d 544
• Parties: Felicia COFFEY v. Carolyn Sue MOORE and Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

948 So.2d 544

Felicia COFFEY v. Carolyn Sue MOORE and Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company.

1031268.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

July 14, 2006.

Michael C. Bradley of Pittman, Hooks, Dutton, Kirby & Hellums, Birmingham, for appellant.

Robert H. Sprain, Jr., of Sadler Sullivan, P.C., Birmingham, for appellee Carolyn Sue Moore.

Ralph D. Gaines III and Julie D. Pearce of Gaines, Wolter & Kinney, P.C., Birmingham, for appellee Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company.

PARKER, Justice.

Felicia Coffey appeals from summary judgments in favor of Carolyn Sue Moore and Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company ("Metropolitan"). The primary issue presented by this appeal is whether the owner, or in this case a bailee,¹ of a vehicle may become a guest under Alabama's guest statute, § 32-1-2, Ala.Code 1975, during a road trip in which the owner/bailee and a friend share in the driving of a rented vehicle. We hold that the owner/bailee of the vehicle is not the guest of the friend/driver while riding in his own vehicle. Consequently, we reverse and remand.

I. Case History

In November 2000, Felicia Coffey² rented an automobile from a national rental-car agency in Memphis, Tennessee, to drive to Tallahassee, Florida, to visit her daughter. Coffey asked her friend Carolyn Sue Moore to accompany her on the trip. Moore accepted the invitation and volunteered to drive if Coffey became tired. Coffey and Moore each paid all of their own personal expenses on the trip. Moore was not listed as a potential driver on the rental agreement Coffey executed, nor did she contribute to any of the expenses involved in the operation of the automobile.

On the return trip, Moore was driving while Coffey was asleep in the backseat. Moore attempted to change lanes and lost control of the vehicle when it swung wide and the driver's side rear wheel left the paved roadway. When the rear wheel again made contact with the pavement, the vehicle spun, rolled over about three times, and came to rest straddling a ditch.

On December 2, 2002, Coffey sued Moore, seeking damages for injuries she sustained as a result of the accident; she also sued Metropolitan seeking uninsured/underinsured-motorist benefits under an automobile liability insurance policy she held with Metropolitan. Moore and Metropolitan filed motions for a summary judgment. In support of her motion, Moore argued that Coffey was a "guest" under Alabama's guest statute, § 32-1-2, Ala.Code 1975, and that, consequently, she could not recover against Moore absent willful or wanton misconduct on Moore's part. Because the parties had stipulated that Moore was not liable for willful or wanton misconduct, Moore argued that she could not be liable to Coffey, who, she says, was a guest in the vehicle. For its part, Metropolitan argued that the bar against Coffey under the guest statute also barred any recovery under the uninsured/underinsured-motorist provisions of Coffey's automobile insurance policy.

The trial court ruled "[t]hat the claims of [Coffey] are barred under Ala.Code [1975,] § 32-1-2, the Alabama Guest Statute, and that there are no genuine issues of material fact and defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Coffey appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in entering summary judgments for Moore and Metropolitan.

II. Standard of Review

"We review the trial court's entry of a summary judgment de novo." Hollingsworth v. City of Rainbow City, 826 So.2d 787, 789 (Ala.2001). In reviewing a motion for a summary judgment, we determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact and whether the movant was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c)(3), Ala. R. Civ. P; Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So.2d 860, 862 (Ala.1988); and Wright v. Wright, 654 So.2d 542 (Ala.1995). When the movant makes a prima facie showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists, the burden then shifts to the nonmovant to present substantial evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact. McClendon v. Mountain Top Indoor Flea Market, Inc., 601 So.2d 957, 958 (Ala.1992). Evidence is considered "substantial" if it is of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved. West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989). Further, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Hobson v. American Cast Iron Pipe, 690 So.2d 341 (Ala.1997).

III. Analysis

The relevant portion of the guest statute reads:

"The owner, operator or person responsible for the operation of a motor vehicle shall not be liable for loss or damage arising from injuries to or death of a guest while being transported without payment therefor in or upon said motor vehicle, resulting from the operation thereof, unless such injuries or death are caused by the willful or wanton misconduct of such operator, owner or person responsible for the operation of said motor vehicle."

§ 32-1-2, Ala.Code 1975.

This Court discussed the purpose of the guest statute, enacted in 1935, and the "generous" host as the intended beneficiary in Blair v. Greene, 247 Ala. 104, 109, 22 So.2d 834, 837 (1945):

"The situation that [the guest] statute was apparently designed to prevent is well known. As the use of automobiles became almost universal, many cases arose where generous drivers, having offered rides to guests, later found themselves defendants in cases that often turned upon close questions of negligence. Undoubtedly the legislature in adopting this act reflected a certain natural feeling as to the injustice of such a situation. The terms of the statute should be construed with their intent and purpose in view, and the purpose and object that the legislature had in mind sometimes throws light upon the meaning of the language used."

Only a host can offer a ride to a guest, so the intended beneficiary of the statute is clearly the host, and not the guest.

Because the statute does not define the term "guest," we turn to caselaw for a definition:

"`"The general rule is that if the transportation of a rider confers a benefit only on the person to whom the ride is given, and no benefits other than such as are incidental to hospitality, goodwill or the like, on the person furnishing the transportation, the rider is a guest; but if his carriage tends to promote the mutual interest of both himself and [the] driver for their common benefit, thus creating a joint business relationship between the motorist and his rider, or where the rider accompanies the driver at the instance of the latter for the purpose of having the rider render a benefit or service to the driver on a trip which is primarily for the attainment of some objective of the driver, the rider is a passenger and not a guest."'"

Cash v. Caldwell, 603 So.2d 1001, 1003 (Ala.1992)(quoting Wagnon v. Patterson, 260 Ala. 297, 303, 70 So.2d 244, 249 (1954), quoting in turn Hasbrook v. Wingate, 152 Ohio St. 50, 56-57, 87 N.E.2d 87, 91 (1949)).

Moore and Metropolitan assert that Coffey became a guest for the purposes of the application of the guest statute either when she allowed Moore to drive or when she fell asleep in the backseat. They argue that because Coffey received no payment, conferred or received no benefit, and was on a purely social trip with Carolyn Moore, Coffey is properly classified as a "guest" under Alabama law and, as a guest, is precluded from recovering damages against Moore and Metropolitan. They also argue that public policy dictates that Moore and Metropolitan should not be held liable to Coffey for damages. Moore and Metropolitan emphasize that the wording of the guest statute designates the owner, the operator, or the person responsible for the operation of the vehicle as immune from liability on civil claims alleging torts based in negligence; they assert that such wording indicates that the status of owner and guest may change during the course of a road trip.

This Court has not directly addressed the issue whether, under circumstances like those before us, the status of an owner may change during a road trip so that the owner becomes the guest. The most factually similar case is Richards v. Eaves, 273 Ala. 120, 135 So.2d 384 (1961). In that case, this Court was unwilling to hold, as a matter of law, that a deceased passenger had been a guest, within the meaning of the guest statute, of the driver, who was operating a vehicle that had been loaned to the decedent by the decedent's father. The Richards Court cited cases from other jurisdictions as authority for its unwillingness to treat the deceased...