Gupton v. Quicke, 930642
| Decision Date | 15 April 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 930642,930642 |
| Citation | 442 S.E.2d 658,247 Va. 362 |
| Parties | Karl GUPTON v. Donald T. QUICKE, etc., et al. Record |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
William R. Keown, Richmond (Traylor & Morris, on brief), for appellant.
W. Joseph Owen, Richmond (Cowan & Owen, on brief), for appellees.
Present: All the Justices.
In Virginia, we adhere to the rule that the owner or occupier of land ordinarily is under no duty to protect an invitee from a third person's criminal act committed while the invitee is upon the premises. Wright v. Webb, 234 Va. 527, 530, 362 S.E.2d 919, 920 (1987); Klingbeil Management Group Co. v. Vito, 233 Va. 445, 447, 357 S.E.2d 200, 201 (1987); Gulf Reston, Inc. v. Rogers, 215 Va. 155, 157, 207 S.E.2d 841, 844 (1974).
In Wright, we fashioned a narrow exception to the general rule. There, in a case where an invitee was assaulted in a dinner theatre parking lot at night, we held that an owner or occupier of premises, "whose method of business does not attract or provide a climate for assaultive crimes, does not have a duty to take measures to protect an invitee against criminal assault unless he knows that criminal assaults against persons are occurring, or are about to occur, on the premises which indicate an imminent probability of harm to an invitee." 234 Va. at 533, 362 S.E.2d at 922.
The sole issue in this appeal is whether the trial court erred by ruling that the allegations of plaintiff's motion for judgment fail to state a cause of action under the foregoing exception.
Appellant Karl Gupton filed this action against appellees Donald T. Quicke and Kimberly E. Quicke, individually and trading as The Coppermine Cafe, seeking compensatory and punitive damages as the result of personal injuries the plaintiff allegedly sustained when assaulted by one David Lively in November 1990 in the cafe in Petersburg. We awarded the plaintiff this appeal from a February 1993 order dismissing the action after the trial court sustained defendants' demurrer.
We shall examine the allegations of the motion for judgment according to the settled principle that a demurrer admits the truth of all material facts properly pleaded. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants owned and operated The Coppermine Cafe, a "restaurant/tavern," and that plaintiff was a business invitee there on the day in question for the purpose of purchasing food and drink.
While on the cafe premises, according to the allegations, "plaintiff was confronted" by Lively, "and an argument ensued" between the two "with open, verbal threats being made by Lively against the plaintiff's person." The plaintiff further alleges that the "argument and threats ... were made known to Coppermine employees" who escorted Lively outside the premises, "where again threats were made by Lively against the plaintiff's person in the presence of Coppermine employees."
"While outside the premises," the allegations continue, "Lively made it known to Coppermine employees that he (Lively) intended to assault plaintiff and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Wise v. U.S.
...liable for the criminal assault. The court reversed the jury verdict, and entered judgment for defendants. Id. In Gupton v. Quicke, 247 Va. 362, 442 S.E.2d 658, 659 (1994), the Virginia Supreme Court revisited the "imminent harm exception" established in Wright. The plaintiff Gupton sued a ......
-
Penn-America Ins. Co. v. Mapp
...party." Id. Virginia recognizes a "special relationship" between a business proprietor and its invitee. See, e.g., Gupton v. Quicke, 247 Va. 362, 364, 442 S.E.2d 658 (1994) (holding that a bar has a special relationship with its patrons to protect them from the violent acts of fellow patron......
-
McKown v. Simon Prop. Grp., Inc.
...quotation marks omitted) (quoting Timberwalk Apts. Partners, Inc. v. Cain, 972 S.W.2d 749, 756 (Tex.1998) )); Gupton v. Quicke, 247 Va. 362, 364, 442 S.E.2d 658 (1994) (test includes a prior similar incidents component but is stricter because it adds other requirements, i.e., that plaintiff......
-
Yuzefovsky v. St. John's Wood Apartments
...In that regard, while the general rule that no such duty is owed is unquestionably the law of this Commonwealth, Gupton v. Quicke, 247 Va. 362, 363, 442 S.E.2d 658, 658 (1994), we have recognized that there are narrow exceptions to this rule. It is worthy of note, however, that while recogn......