Cottam v. First Baptist Church of Boulder, Civ. A. No. 88-S-873.
| Decision Date | 05 February 1991 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 88-S-873. |
| Citation | 756 F. Supp. 1433 |
| Parties | Larry COTTAM and Melanie Cottam, Plaintiffs, v. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF BOULDER, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
Neil Quigley, Quigley & Bruce, Denver, Colo., for defendant.
James E. Mitchem, Allen P. Mitchem, Denver, Colo., for plaintiffs.
THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Defendant's Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict; Motion for New Trial; and Motion for Amendment of Judgment filed December 7, 1990, Plaintiffs' response filed December 18, 1990, and Defendant's reply filed December 28, 1990.
At trial, the Plaintiffs made three basic claims. The first claim alleged that the Defendants were negligent for failing to establish rules for the safe performance of the work in question, to give any instructions as to safe work practices, or to guard against the risk of injury inherent in the work. This claim further alleged that the Defendants did not provide the workers with assistance or supervision by experienced individuals, did not warn the workers of the inherent dangers of the work, did not seek to determine the competence of the workers to perform the work, and did not provide for a safe place to work.
This claim depended upon a determination by the Court that a duty existed between the Defendant and the Plaintiff, Dr. Larry Cottam. The Plaintiffs' allegation was that this duty existed by virtue of an employer/employee relationship which was implied by the facts surrounding the project undertaken by the Texas Sunday School group. Plaintiffs contended that the First Baptist Church of Boulder was the employer and Dr. Cottam was a gratuitous employee. There is no dispute that Dr. Cottam received no monetary compensation for his assistance in this bridge project.
In their second claim for relief, Plaintiffs claimed that Dr. Cottam was performing the work of an independent contractor and that the Defendant was negligent in failing to exercise care in the selection of the people used to perform this highly dangerous work. Plaintiffs further alleged in their second claim that the Defendant failed to provide appropriate precautions against a risk of injury inherent in this type of work.
In their third claim for relief, Plaintiffs claimed that Melanie Cottam, as the wife of Dr. Cottam, suffered losses of personal affection, society, companionship, and household services as a result of the negligence of the Defendant alleged in the first and second claims.
At the conclusion of the Plaintiffs' evidence, Defendant moved for a directed verdict on all of the Plaintiffs' claims.
The evidence in the case revealed that the First Baptist Church of Boulder owned a church camp site in the James Park area in the mountains west of Boulder, Colorado. This site was normally used for church activities. However, when the site was not in use for official church functions, the church allowed some individuals to use the site for a nominal fee. Robert Bruce Chambers had been a member of the First Baptist Church of Boulder before relocating to Texas. Mr. Chambers had used the church's camp for a summer vacation site for himself and his family for some time. Mr. Chambers had voluntarily paid a nominal fee for the use of the facilities which covered the expenses of consumable items such as propane. Over the years, Mr. Chambers had developed a habit of contributing time and effort to maintenance and improvements of the church camp. Mr. Chambers's projects had been totally voluntary.
Sometime in 1982, Mr. Chambers obtained permission from the church to invite his Sunday School class from the United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas to join him on his summer vacation trips to the church camp. The members of the Sunday School class contributed the same nominal payment as Mr. Chambers. Dr. Larry Cottam, his wife, and his family were members of the United Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas and of the Pathfinder's Sunday School class. In this capacity, they accompanied Mr. Chambers to the church camp for family vacations for several years prior to the incident here at issue.
Mr. Chambers made all the arrangements with the First Baptist Church of Boulder for the annual summer vacations with his Sunday School group. The Plaintiffs had never had any contact with members of the First Baptist Church with respect to the use of the church camp. The evidence does not reveal that any conditions were imposed upon the Sunday School group from Texas for use of the church camp, save the payment of the nominal daily fee (which on the year in question was $4.00 per day per person). However, Mr. Chambers had made arrangements with the church to perform volunteer maintenance and improvement projects. The church was to advise him of projects which would be of assistance to the church. Although Mr. Chambers had performed several projects in the past, it had never been a "condition" for members of his Sunday School class to assist him in his performance of the projects. However, they had volunteered to assist him in the past.
When the 1987 trip was arranged, Mr. Chambers discussed with James Bradfield, the First Baptist Church of Boulder member who was responsible for the church camp, what projects would be appropriate for that summer's trip. Mr. Bradfield suggested that Mr. Chambers might either build a new foot bridge across the South St. Vrain Creek to replace one which had been damaged by high water or dismantle an old house trailer which was on the property. Apparently, it was at Mr. Bradfield's suggestion that the method of construction of the foot bridge project be by the felling of the dead tree across the creek as a base for the bridge. Beyond this suggestion, the First Baptist Church did not control the specifics of the project, nor did it exercise any supervision over the project once it was commenced.
The evidence showed that the First Baptist Church was aware that Mr. Bradfield intended to enlist the members of the Texas Sunday School class to assist him in constructing the project he elected to do. Mr. Chambers, with the consensus of several members of the group, did in fact elect to build the foot bridge and the project was planned for the day in question. Dr. Cottam had plans for that day, but, because he felt he had an obligation to the group to assist, he cancelled his plans and participated in the construction project.
There was no evidence that any of the members of the Texas Sunday School class were required to participate in the project as a condition of staying at the camp or for any other reason. As a matter of fact, there is no evidence that Mr. Chambers was required to undertake the project in question. In short, this was a purely volunteer activity on the part of Mr. Chambers and the members of his Sunday School group.
The evidence was unclear regarding exactly who decided to undertake the foot bridge project, however, it was either Mr. Chambers himself or Mr. Chambers in conjunction with members of the Texas Sunday School group. Mr. Bradfield supplied a personal chain saw for the project and other additional equipment was either supplied by Mr. Bradfield or already located at the church camp. On July 21, 1987, the morning the project was to be undertaken, Dr. Cottam voluntarily cancelled his previous plans for the day and joined several others from the Texas Sunday School class as they undertook the foot bridge project. Dr. Cottam felt an obligation to the Sunday School group to assist for several personal reasons.
There is no evidence that anyone from the First Baptist Church of Boulder was present at any time during the project. There was no specific supervision of the project by any member or agent of the First Baptist Church of Boulder. The First Baptist Church of Boulder had no part in selecting the specific members of the group who participated in the project, save arguably Mr. Chambers, nor did the Defendant exercise any supervision or control over the specifics of the undertaking. Throughout the years that the Texas Sunday School group attended the camp, they were allowed almost total independence from supervision or control by the First Baptist Church of Boulder.
It is not disputed that, after consultation as to the specific methods of construction, the members of the group followed the suggestion of using the dead tree located on the south shore of the creek (on property not owned by the Defendant) as a base for the bridge. The group discussed the best method of felling the tree and undertook that project. Dr. Cottam elected to assist Chambers and the others with the actual felling of the tree, using the chain saw furnished by Mr. Bradfield. It is not alleged that any of the equipment furnished by Mr. Bradfield or the Defendant was inappropriate, poorly maintained, or otherwise causally involved in the injuries to Dr. Cottam.
The circumstances surrounding Plaintiff's injuries are very clear. He was standing near the base of the trunk of the tree operating the chain saw when the trunk finally ruptured and the tree, which was approximately 60 feet tall, fell across the stream. A series of pictures taken from upstream by a member of the Texas Sunday School group clearly depicted what occurred. The tree unexpectedly broke approximately 23 feet above the ground. After the trunk of the dead tree broke in two, the upper part of the tree, approximately 37 feet in length, was thrown back across the creek and struck Dr. Cottam, knocking him to the ground. From where Dr. Cottam was standing, his escape route was at least partially blocked. When the top of the tree fell back towards him, he was unable to retreat and was struck on the head, shoulder, and upper body. As a result of this impact, he suffered permanent injuries. There is no real dispute as to the causation or the extent of the injuries.
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