Henley v. Prince George's County

• Decision Date: 01 September 1983
• Docket Number: No. 1183,1183
• Citation: 479 A.2d 1375,60 Md.App. 24
• Parties: Larry Leroy HENLEY, et al. v. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Maryland, et al. ,
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 24

60 Md.App. 24

479 A.2d 1375

Larry Leroy HENLEY, et al. v. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Maryland, et al.

No. 1183, Sept. Term, 1983.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Sept. 6, 1984.

John J. Pyne, Washington, D.C., with whom were William P. Dale, Kurt C. Rommel and McChesney, Pyne & Duncan, P.C., Washington, D.C., on the brief, for appellants.

Leonard L. Lipshultz, Silver Spring, with whom were Victor I. Weiner, Lipshultz and Hone, Chartered, Silver Spring, Don F. Ryder, Jr. and Schroeder, Ryder & Braden, Rockville, on the brief for appellee, Jones.

Sherrie L. Krauser, Upper Marlboro, for appellees, Bd. of Trustees of Prince George's Community College and Prince George's County, Md, with whom were Daniel I. Sherry, Bowie, Thomas P. Smith, County Atty., for Prince George's County and Michael O. Connaughton, Deputy County Atty., Upper Marlboro, on the brief, for appellees.

Argued before MOYLAN, WILNER and BISHOP, JJ.

BISHOP, Judge.

In the early evening of Saturday, June 17, 1978, Charles Wantland sexually assaulted and murdered a twelve year old boy whose body was found on the grounds of the Berger Mansion, in the Clinton region of Prince George's County. For these acts, Wantland was convicted of first degree murder, first degree sexual offense, and carrying openly a deadly weapon with intent to injure. Wantland v. State, 45 Md.App. 527, 413 A.2d 1376 (1980), vacated and remanded 451 U.S. 1014, 101 S.Ct. 3001, 69 L.Ed.2d 386 conviction affirmed, 49 Md.App. 636, 435 A.2d 102 (1981).

In August of 1979, the boy's parents, Larry and Carole Henley, filed a wrongful death and survival action against Wantland and the appellees here--Jack Jones trading as Capitol Building and Remodeling Co., Prince George's County, and the Prince George's County Community College. The second amended complaint alleged that the appellees were responsible for Wantland's actions because appellee Jones negligently employed him as a caretaker/security person at the mansion and grounds, or because all three appellees breached their duties as owners or occupiers of that property.

The circuit court (Rea, J.) entered a default judgment against Wantland, subject to ex parte proof of damages. It also granted appellees' motions for summary judgment and ordered entry of final judgments in their favor.

Appellants ask:

1. Whether the trial court erroneously granted summary judgment on the ground that Jones was not liable for negligently hiring and retaining Charles Wantland as a caretaker/security person.

2. Whether the trial court erroneously granted summary judgment on the grounds that all the defendants could not be held liable for breaching their duties as owners or occupiers of land.

Appellee College bought the Berger Mansion and surrounding acreage for possible future expansion of its campus. In May 1978 appellee County entered into a use agreement with the college for the purpose of conducting a job training program under the Federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973. Pub.L. No. 93-203, 87 Stat. 839. The County agreed to assume the costs of utilities, maintenance, upkeep and security. The County then entered into an agreement with appellee John H. Jones, trading as Capitol Building and Remodeling Company. Jones agreed to provide sixty enrollees with training in building and remodeling skills, such as plumbing and carpentry. Half of the enrollees were to be ordinary civilians; half were to be former prison inmates and current inmates on release programs. One of the purposes of this program was to provide vocational rehabilitation to convicts, so that they would be able to assume productive job positions in the civilian world upon their release.

Jones employed two ex-offenders, Milton Gordon and Albert Ruffin, as the program director and assistant director respectively. Ruffin also transported the workers and performed custodial chores, maintaining the mansion and grounds. Because he completed these tasks late in the evening, he resided in the mansion. Ruffin acted as caretaker in his capacity as "Ruffin Maintenance and Repair." He said, "They may have referred to me in terms of security. I just remember that they did." Ruffin twice took it upon himself to tell trespassers to leave the grounds. Both Gordon and Ruffin deposed that the latter had to arrange his residence in the mansion with the County because this was outside of his duties with the program. In response to an interrogatory, the County answered that, "the allocation for security was [sic] specifically provided for a salary to Albert Ruffin for his work as caretaker of the premises, as requested by Capitol [John H. Jones t/a Capitol Building & Remodeling.]"

Charles Wantland had been sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for second degree murder, and previously had been convicted of various other crimes, including repeated instances of drunken and disorderly conduct. After serving about six years at the Patuxent Institution, he met the criteria for minimum security status, including an infraction-free record, for a period of time, and a recommendation from a counselor or psychologist or psychiatric social worker. After a separate hearing process, he was placed on work release status (not parole) and was referred to the County program run by Jones. He was approved for the program by the Mayor's Office on Manpower Resources, in Baltimore, and by the State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Director Gordon testified that he did not receive a complete record of Wantland's offenses, but was aware that his criminal background was extensive. Gordon ascertained that Wantland had no sexual-related offenses in his background before hiring him to work first as a carpentry trainee and then as a carpentry instructor on a 9-to-5 basis, five days a week.

Lacking car or residence, Wantland asked for and received permission from Director Gordon to live in the mansion. Gordon asked Ruffin if he had any objection to Wantland living there. Ruffin had no objection, and Wantland moved in about a week before the murder.

Some vandalism had occurred at the mansion, so Ruffin and Wantland agreed that one of them would be on the premises all the time. The program's secretary, Patricia Lau, understood from "talk around" that they were supposed to coordinate their "times of being there."

Ruffin said that he probably mentioned this arrangement to Gordon. Gordon testified on deposition that neither he nor Jones' company asked Wantland to perform any type of off-duty services such as security, maintenance, or upkeep either at night or on weekends. Gordon stated he did not indicate to Wantland that he was to perform any kind of backup service to Ruffin when Ruffin was not there. Jones averred that Ruffin was the only person he employed at the Clinton Center project (as this program was called) in the capacity of caretaker or security personnel.

Ruffin was asked on deposition:

"Q To your knowledge, was Wantland supposed to perform caretaker services to assist you in any way?

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THE WITNESS: Was he supposed to assist me?

MR. PYNE: Yes.

THE WITNESS: No. Do you mean assist me in any capacity other than as an instructor?

MR. LEVIN: Yes, that is the question.

THE WITNESS: No.

BY MR. PYNE:

Q Was there ever any discussion between you and Milton Gordon, or was there any discussion between you, Milton Gordon and Wantland, or between you and Wantland regarding his presence there overnight as being an additional protection against vandalism?

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* * * THE WITNESS: The vandalism had gotten to such a proportion that if I left the grounds, the vandals came on the grounds. So Wantland and I had come to an agreement that one of us would be there all of the time. That didn't stop them, either. They still came.

Q You already testified that you did tell people to get off the premises; is that right?

A That's right.

Q Did you just assume that you had the authority to do that? Did somebody tell you that you had the authority to do that?

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THE WITNESS: I assumed that that was my responsibility, and I took that upon myself.

BY MR. PYNE:

Q Did you ever have any discussion with Wantland that he had the same responsibility when you were not there?

A No. We didn't discuss it. He told me once that he had hollered off of the second floor balcony to somebody who was going through. As a matter of fact, it was a man and a child with a rifle on that occasion."

Appellees moved for summary judgment on grounds that this and other evidence produced during discovery failed to establish any basis for holding them civilly liable for Wantland's criminal acts. After conducting a hearing on May 13, 1983, the court rendered a written opinion and order dated June 2, 1983, granting appellees' motions. The opinion stated, in part:

"It is clear that by the Furr case, Furr v. Spring Grove Hospital, 53 Md.App. 474, 454 A.2d 414 (1983), that clearly Maryland feels that third parties should not be per se made liable for the criminal acts of people who have either psychological or criminal backgrounds. Even though some or all of the three defendants knew about Wantland's previous criminal background, it is the Opinion of the Court that once the institution to which Mr Wantland was incarcerated saw fit to release him into the general public that this creates no liability on any element of the general public for the criminal acts of Mr. Wantland, per se, and the Court is of the Opinion that because Mr. Wantland obtained shelter as a bare licensee, no duty thereby was created to the decedent. The Plaintiffs made much of Evans v. Morsell, 284 Md. 160, 395 A.2d 480 (1978) and related cases as to negligent hiring. The Court is of the Opinion that clearly by the record revealed as a whole, the only employment by any or all of the Defendants of Charles Wantland was as an instructor in carpentry during normal business hours and that this employment created no duty to the...