Goode v. St. Stephens United Methodist Church

• Decision Date: 28 September 1998
• Docket Number: No. 2750,2750
• Citation: 329 S.C. 433,494 S.E.2d 827
• Parties: Alphonso GOODE, Appellant, v. ST. STEPHENS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, d/b/a St. Stephens Apartments, Mack Gibson, Kevin Purnell, Darren Boatwright, Edward Rose, Insignia Financial Group, and Donald E. Bowen, Defendants, of whom St. Stephens United Methodist Church, d/b/a St. Stephens Apartments, Mack Gibson, Insignia Financial Group, and Donald E. Bowen, Jr., Personal Representative of the Estate of Donald E. Bowen, Deceased, are Respondents.
• Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals

Page 827

494 S.E.2d 827

329 S.C. 433

Alphonso GOODE, Appellant, v. ST. STEPHENS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, d/b/a St. Stephens Apartments, Mack Gibson, Kevin Purnell, Darren Boatwright, Edward Rose, Insignia Financial Group, and Donald E Bowen, Defendants of whom St. Stephens United Methodist Church, d/b/a St Stephens Apartments, Mack Gibson, Insignia Financial Group and Donald E. Bowen, Jr., Personal Representative of the Estate of Donald E. Bowen, Deceased, are Respondents.

No. 2750.

Court of Appeals of South Carolina.

Submitted Nov. 4, 1997.

Decided Nov. 17, 1997.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 22, 1998.

Certiorari Denied Sept. 28, 1998.

William P. Hatfield and Gary I. Finklea, both of The Hyman Law Firm, Florence, for Appellant.

Thomas C. Cofield and Andrew E. Haselden, both of Barnes, Alford, Stork & Johnson, Columbia, for Respondents.

ANDERSON, Judge:

Alphonso Goode filed a complaint against St. Stephens United Methodist Church, d/b/a St. Stephens Apartments, Insignia Financial Group, Donald Bowen and Mack Gibson (collectively called "St. Stephens") for injuries he sustained when he was attacked on the grounds of the St. Stephens Apartments. The trial judge granted St. Stephens's motion for summary judgment, finding St. Stephens had no duty to protect a visitor to the apartment complex from the criminal acts of third parties. Goode appeals. ¹ We affirm. ²

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 12, 1993, Alphonso Goode was giving his cousin a ride home when they encountered Defendant Edward Rose. Rose and Goode's cousin got into a fight; Goode and his cousin then left. Later that evening, around 9:00 p.m., Goode went to the St. Stephens Apartments to visit a friend, Georgia German. While there, Goode was attacked and severely beaten on the grounds of the apartment complex by Defendants Rose, Kevin Purnell, and Darren Boatwright. Boatwright lived at St. Stephens Apartments with his mother. Purnell and Rose were not tenants at St. Stephens, nor was Goode.

St. Stephens is a federally subsidized apartment complex, commonly known as Section 8 housing. At the time of the incident, St. Stephens Apartments was owned by Donald E. Bowen, and managed by Insignia Financial Group through its property manager, Mack Gibson. Goode brought this action alleging that the St. Stephens defendants were negligent in failing to provide security at the apartment complex. St. Stephens moved for summary judgment on the ground that under South Carolina law there was no duty on the part of St. Stephens to protect Goode from the criminal acts of third parties.

Several depositions and affidavits were submitted for the hearing on the motion for summary judgment. Mack Gibson, the property manager for St. Stephens at the time of the attack, testified in his deposition that, in accordance with posted guidelines for accepting new tenants, he did background checks, credit checks, home visits, and income verifications for all residents over the age of eighteen. The lease prohibited criminal activity on or near the property by tenants and their Gibson stated the apartment complex provided security to the tenants by repairing locks as quickly as possible, securing windows, and informing the residents in a newsletter about criminal activity occurring within the complex. The newsletter was posted in the office and in the laundry room and was taken to each of the apartments. Gibson also routinely inspected the property. Gibson asserted he was unaware of the fight between Goode and Defendants Rose, Purnell, and Boatwright until he received a letter from Goode's attorney.

guests. Gibson stated when criminal activity occurred, he could initiate proceedings for eviction of the tenant even before the person was convicted. However, no one was evicted from St. Stephens for criminal activity during Gibson's tenure as property manager.

Macio Williamson, a former manager who worked at St. Stephens for thirteen years beginning in 1973, provided an affidavit stating he had been aware of criminal activity at the complex. He said he considered it his duty to patrol the complex and that the tenants relied upon him to provide the additional security.

In his deposition, Goode described the neighborhood surrounding St. Stephens as "[r]ough. It's like a jungle." He admitted he knew there was no security on the grounds of St. Stephens at the time of the incident. Goode also stated he had witnessed Defendant Boatwright in several fights with other people at the complex.

Helena Purnell, Goode's mother, stated by affidavit that she and Goode lived at St. Stephens from 1979 to 1988, when she moved out due to "the increased criminal activity and poor management of the complex." Purnell said it was her "impression the management owed a duty to the tenants to provide adequate security and maintain the complex in a safe condition." Purnell stated she saw the manager of the complex patrol the grounds on several occasions.

Georgia German, the person Goode was planning to visit the night he was attacked, stated in her affidavit that she understood, pursuant to the lease, St. Stephens had a duty to prevent criminal activity from occurring on the premises, especially criminal activity instigated by residents. German believed the apartment complex assumed the responsibility for policing the area to keep criminal activity from occurring. Similarly, Elizabeth Smith, who was also a tenant at the time of the attack, stated in her affidavit that she believed the lease required the management at St. Stephens to provide a safe environment free of criminal activity. Smith stated she and her family "relied on the management to perform some type of security and protection."

The trial judge granted summary judgment in favor of St. Stephens, finding under South Carolina law St. Stephens had no duty to protect Goode from the intentional attacks of third parties. Goode appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Tupper v. Dorchester County, 326 S.C. 318, 487 S.E.2d 187 (1997). All ambiguities, conclusions, and inferences arising from the evidence must be construed most strongly against the moving party. Baugus v. Wessinger, 303 S.C. 412, 401 S.E.2d 169 (1991). See also Wilson v. Moseley, 327 S.C. 144, 146, 488 S.E.2d 862, 863 (1997) (the evidence and the inferences therefrom should be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party). "Summary judgment is proper where plain, palpable, and indisputable facts exist on which reasonable minds cannot differ." Rothrock v. Copeland, 305 S.C. 402, 405, 409 S.E.2d 366, 368 (1991).

LAW/ANALYSIS

Goode argues under a negligence theory that St. Stephens owed him a duty to warn, prevent, or protect him from the tortious activity of a tenant and his guests. He bases this duty on (1) his alleged status as an invitee under the common law; (2) St. Stephens's undertaking to render security services; (3) provisions in the lease; and (4) federal regulations and directives and handbooks promulgated thereunder.

1. Status as Invitee v. Licensee

Although St. Stephens conceded during the hearing that Goode was an invitee for purposes of the motion for summary judgment, the trial court found there was no evidence in the record supporting his status as an invitee; instead, the trial court found he was a licensee. Goode offers as evidence of his status as an invitee (1) the deposition of property manager Mack Gibson, in which Gibson stated that tenants were allowed to have guests; (2) the affidavit of Georgia German, in which she stated Goode was invited to visit her at the apartment complex on the night of the attack; and (3) the affidavit of Goode's mother, Helena Purnell, in which she stated Goode had a standing invitation to visit friends such as Georgia German at the complex. Purnell noted that she and Goode previously lived at St. Stephens and that Goode frequently returned to see his friends.

"A licensee is a social guest or 'a person who is privileged to enter upon land by virtue of the possessor's consent.' " Hoover v. Broome, 324 S.C. 531, 535, 479 S.E.2d 62, 64 (Ct.App.1996) (quoting Neil v. Byrum, 288 S.C. 472, 343 S.E.2d 615 (1986)), cert. dismissed (June 2, 1997). A licensee's presence on the property is for the primary benefit of the licensee, not the owner. Id. at 535, 479 S.E.2d at 64. On the other hand, an invitee is a person who enters onto the property of another at the express or implied invitation of the property owner. Id. A public invitee is one who is invited to enter or remain on the land as a member of the public for a purpose for which the land is held open to the public. A business visitor is an invitee whose purpose for being on the property is directly or indirectly connected with business dealings with the owner. Id. at 536, 479 S.E.2d at 65 (citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 332 (1981)). See also Parker v. Stevenson Oil Co., 245 S.C. 275, 140 S.E.2d 177 (1965) (the term "invitee" in premises liability cases means the same thing as a business visitor and refers to one who enters upon the premises of another at the express or implied invitation of the occupant, especially when he is there about a matter of mutual interest or advantage).

Goode was not a public invitee because an apartment complex is not a place held open to the public and is instead a private place for only people who are specifically invited. See Cramer v. Balcor Property Mngt., Inc., 312 S.C. 440, 443, 441 S.E.2d 317, 318 (1994) ("An apartment building is not a place of public resort where one who profits from the very public it invites must bear what losses that public may create. It is of its nature private and only for those specifically invited.") (quoting Cooke v. Allstate Mngt. Corp., 741 F.Supp. 1205 (D.S.C.1990)). In addition, Goode was not a business invitee because he was not at the complex for a...