Hadfield v. Gilchrist
| Decision Date | 02 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 3246.,3246. |
| Citation | 538 S.E.2d 268,343 S.C. 88 |
| Parties | Mark HADFIELD, Respondent, v. Sam GILCHRIST, d/b/a Gilchrist's Service Center, and d/b/a Gilchrist Towing Company, Appellant. |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
Russell Brown, of Charleston, for Appellant.
Richard W. Lingenfelter, Jr., of Hanahan, for Respondent.
Mark Hadfield filed this action against Sam Gilchrist, d/b/a Gilchrist's Service Center, and d/b/a Gilchrist Towing Company (Gilchrist) for damages sustained by Hadfield's vehicle while impounded on Gilchrist's lot. The magistrate awarded Hadfield $4,035.00. The Circuit Court affirmed the decision of the magistrate. Gilchrist appeals. We affirm.
Gilchrist owns a motor vehicle towing service and maintains a storage facility for the retention of the towed vehicles. Gilchrist operates under a license issued by the City of Charleston.
Hadfield, a medical student at MUSC, went to retrieve his 1988 Lincoln Continental from the parking spot where his wife parked the vehicle.1 The parking spot, located near MUSC, was on private property owned by Allen Saffer. Hadfield's wife parked the vehicle on Saffer's property without Saffer's permission. The vehicle was not in the parking spot when Hadfield arrived as Saffer had called Gilchrist to have the vehicle removed.
Gilchrist towed Hadfield's car to his storage facility. Gilchrist maintained a chain link fence around the storage area, and had an employee on the lot around the clock. The employees' duties included periodically leaving the office to check on the storage area which was some distance away from the office.
Hadfield called to retrieve his vehicle, but was informed he would have to wait until the next morning and pay towing and storage fees. Upon Hadfield's arrival to pick up his car the following morning, he paid the fees. When he went to the storage area to collect his vehicle, Hadfield discovered the vehicle had been extensively vandalized. The vandals stole the radio/compact disc player, smashed windows, and pulled many electrical wires out of the dashboard. The vehicle depended heavily upon computers and never functioned properly after the incident. The vandals entered the storage area by cutting a hole in the fence. They vandalized between six and eight vehicles on the lot that night.
The magistrate, in summarizing Hadfield's testimony, concluded Hadfield's attempts to persuade Gilchrist to pay for the damages were futile. Hadfield secured estimates for the damage to the automobile. At trial before the magistrate, Hadfield offered the testimony of an Assistant Manager at Rick Hendrick Collision Center. He estimated the cost of the repairs at $4,021.43. Hadfield entered evidence showing replacement glass cost $185.00, excluding installation cost of $55. Hadfield left the vehicle on Gilchrist's lot as he could not afford to repair it. After more than 60 days elapsed, Hadfield sold the vehicle for $1,000.00.
The magistrate found Gilchrist liable for the damages as a bailee, and entered judgment in favor of Hadfield for $4,035.00. Gilchrist appealed to the Circuit Court, which affirmed the decision of the magistrate.
The standard of review to be applied by a Circuit Court in an appeal of a magistrate's judgment is prescribed by S.C.Code Ann. § 18-7-170 (1976):
Upon hearing the appeal the appellate court shall give judgment according to the justice of the case, without regard to technical errors and defects which do not affect the merits. In giving judgment the court may affirm or reverse the judgment of the court below, in whole or in part, as to any or all the parties and for errors of law or fact.
In Burns v. Wannamaker, 281 S.C. 352, 315 S.E.2d 179 (Ct.App.1984), this Court amplified:
As is readily apparent, Section 18-7-170 confers authority upon the Circuit Court to reverse a magistrate's findings of fact when exercising appellate jurisdiction in an appeal from a magistrate's judgment. See Dingle v. Northwestern R. Co., 112 S.C. 390, 99 S.E. 828 (1919); Redfearn, v. Douglass, 35 S.C. 569, 15 S.E. 244 (1892); cf. Vacation Time of Hilton Head Island, Inc. v. Kiwi Corp., , 312 S.E.2d 20 (Ct.App.1984)
(where the Circuit Court reversed a magistrate's findings of fact in an ejectment action).
Burns, 281 S.C. at 357, 315 S.E.2d at 182.
While the Circuit Court maintains a broad scope of review, our standard is more limited:
[T]he Court of Appeals will presume that an affirmance by a Circuit Court of a magistrate's judgment was made upon the merits where the testimony is sufficient to sustain the judgment of the magistrate and there are no facts that show the affirmance was influenced by an error of law [Bagnal v. Southern Express Co., 106 S.C. 395, 400, 91 S.E. 334, 335-36 (1917); Stanford v. Cudd, 93 S.C. 367, 369-70, 76 S.E. 986, 986-87 (1913); see 5B C.J.S. Appeal & Error § 1817 at 152-53 (1958)]....
Burns, 281 S.C. at 357, 315 S.E.2d at 182. Our Supreme Court, in Stanford v. Cudd, 93 S.C. 367, 76 S.E. 986 (1913), held that where the testimony is sufficient to sustain a judgment of the magistrate's court, and it is affirmed on appeal to the Circuit Court, this Court will assume the Circuit Court affirmed the judgment on the merits, in the absence of facts showing the affirmance was controlled or affected by errors of law. The Court enunciated:
In obedience to the statute [S.C.Code Ann. § 18-7-170], the circuit court might have concluded that the magistrate erred in refusing some or all of the defendant's requests, or in admitting some or all of the testimony objected to by defendant, but the court might have thought, upon consideration of the case on the merits, that, notwithstanding such errors, the plaintiff was entitled to judgment; and as there was evidence which would have warranted such a conclusion, and as we cannot say that the judgment was affected or controlled by any error of law, it must be affirmed.
Stanford, 93 S.C. at 370, 76 S.E. at 987.
The rule is articulated in Price v. Charleston & W.C. Ry., 93 S.C. 576, 77 S.E. 703 (1913):
As the circuit court is required to give judgment, in such cases, according to the justice of the case, without regard to technical errors and defects, which do not affect the merits [S.C.Code Ann. § 18-7-170], and as the record does not disclose the grounds upon which the court rendered its judgment, we must assume that it was rested upon some sound and meritorious ground, and sustain it, if the record discloses any such ground.
Price, 93 S.C. at 578, 77 S.E. at 703.
The Circuit Court judge's order in this case provided:
After careful review of: the Return of the Civil Appeal filed by the Magistrate, the pleadings, summary of witness testimony, the exhibits and the case law submitted by both parties, and appellant [sic] arguments by counsel representing each party, I find that according to the justice of the case, the Judgment of the Small Claims Court in the amount of $4,000.00 plus costs of $35.00 for a total of $4,035.00 is affirmed.
Unless we find an error of law, we will affirm the judge's holding if there are any facts supporting his decision.
Neither the magistrate nor the Circuit Court judge made a finding as to the type of bailment created in this case. The type of bailment created may determine the standard of care the bailee, Gilchrist, must meet. Therefore, we review the law of bailments.
A bailment is created by the delivery of personal property by one person to another in trust for a specific purpose, pursuant to an express or implied contract to fulfill that trust. 8A Am.Jur.2d Bailments § 1 (1997). See Home Indent. Co. v. Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co., 252 S.C. 452, 460, 166 S.E.2d 819, 824 (1969)("Bailment has been defined as the delivery of a chattel for some express or particular purpose upon a contract, express or implied, that, after the purpose has been fulfilled, then the chattel shall be redelivered to the bailor, or otherwise dealt with according to his directions.").
Bailments are generally classified as being for (1) the sole benefit of the bailor; (2) the sole benefit of the bailee; or (3) the mutual benefit of both. 8A Am.Jur.2d Bailments § 7 (1997). Bailments which benefit only one of the parties, the first and second classifications, are often described as gratuitous. Id.
"A gratuitous bailment is, by definition, one in which the transfer of possession or use of the bailed property is without compensation." 8A Am.Jur.2d Bailments § 8 (1997). For instance, a gratuitous bailment arises if the bailment is undertaken as a personal favor or is involuntary. See United States v. Alcaraz-Garcia, 79 F.3d 769 (9th Cir.1996)
(gratuitous bailment arises if bailment is undertaken either involuntarily or as a personal favor); Clott v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 278 N.C. 378, 180 S.E.2d 102 (1971)(gratuitous bailment effected where baggage came into hands of carrier through accident or mistake); McLaughlin v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 188 S.C. 358, 199 S.E. 413 (1938)( that although the type of bailment created, where purchaser of new tires left old tires at vendor's place of business for between five and seven months after purchase, may have started as a bailment for mutual benefit, it ripened after time into a gratuitous bailment, solely for the benefit of the bailor).
A "gratuitous bailee" acts without expectation of reward or compensation. See McLaughlin, supra. To show the bailment was for the sole benefit of the bailor, the bailee must establish that it was not expecting compensation. The Court, in Brunson & Boatwright v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R., 76 S.C. 9, 56 S.E. 538 (1907), illuminated:
The fact that it has the right as a warehouseman to collect storage...
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