Hood v. Queen City Coach Co.

• Decision Date: 25 February 1959
• Docket Number: No. 92,92
• Citation: 249 N.C. 534,107 S.E.2d 154
• Parties: Henry B. HOOD v. QUEEN CITY COACH COMPANY, a Corporation, and Asheville Union Bus Station, Inc., a Corporation.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 154

107 S.E.2d 154

249 N.C. 534

Henry B. HOOD v. QUEEN CITY COACH COMPANY, a Corporation, and Asheville Union Bus Station, Inc., a Corporation.

No. 92

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Feb. 25, 1959

J. Y. Jordan, Jr., Asheville, John F. Ray, Charlotte, Coble & Behrends, Albemarle, by Samuel Behrends, Jr., Albemarle, for defendant, appellant.

Harkins, Van Winkle, Walton & Buck, Asheville, by Herbert L. Hyde, Asheville, for plaintiff, appellee.

HIGGINS, Justice.

Appellant's assignments of error present these questions of law: (1) Is the evidence sufficient to support the issue of negligence? (2) Does contributory negligence appear from the evidence as a matter of law? (3) Does reversible error appear in the challenged portions of the court's charge?

The plaintiff was entitled to have the issue of negligence submitted to the jury if his evidence and the legitimate inferences from it tended to show the defendant breached a legal duty which it owed to him, and that the breach of, or failure to perform, that duty proximately caused his injury. McFalls v. Smith, 249 N.C. 123, 105 S.E.2d 297; Taylor v. Brake, 245 N.C. 553, 96 S.E.2d 686; Williamson v. Clay, 243 N.C. 337, 90 S.E.2d 727; Ward v. Smith, 223 N.C. 141, 25 S.E.2d 463.

The plaintiff contended he was an invitee on the appellant's premises for the purpose of purchasing transportation over its lines; that his mission was for the mutual benefit of the appellant and himself; that the appellant was under the legal duty (1) to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition for the invited use, and (2) to give warning of hidden dangers; that the defendant breached that duty and thereby caused plaintiff's injury.

On the other hand, the defendant contended that at the time of the plaintiff's injury he was a trespasser, or, if not a trespasser, was on its premises as a licensee; that by entering the premises for his own purposes he assumed all risk incident to the condition of the premises at the time, and that the defendant could be held liable only for wilful and wanton injury, and that the evidence fails to disclose such injury.

The court charged fully as to the owner's liability for injury resulting from the condition of the premises according as the jury might find the plaintiff to have been a trespasser, a licensee, or an invitee. The charge was in accordance with the rules laid down in Thompson v. DeVonde, 235 N.C. 520, 70 S.E.2d 424; Coston v. Skyland Hotel, 231 N.C. 546, 57 S.E.2d 793; Pafford v. J. A. Jones Construction Co., 217 N.C. 730, 9 S.E.2d 408; Lowe v. City of Gastonia, 211 N.C. 564, 191 S.E. 7; Brigman v. Fiske-Carter Construction Co., 192 N.C. 791, 136 S.E. 125, 49 A.L.R. 773; Ellington v. Ricks, 179 N.C. 686, 102 S.E. 510; Fortune v. Southern R. Co., 150 N.C. 695, 64 S.E. 759.

As affecting liability for injury resulting from the condition of premises in private ownership or occupancy, one who enters without permission or other right is a trespasser. One who enters with permission but solely for his own purposes is a licensee. One who enters by invitation, express or implied, is an invitee. Thompson v. DeVonde, supra; Pafford v. J. A. Jones Construction Co., supra; Porchey v. Kelling, 353 Mo. 1034, 185 S.W.2d 820; Lange v. St. Johns Lumber Co., 115 Or. 337, 237 P. 696; Smith v. Burks, Tenn.App., 305 S.W.2d 748; Tahan v. Wagaraw Holding Co., 28 N.J.Super. 436, 101 A.2d 38. 'The duty owed to trespassers is that they must not be wilfully or wantonly injured. ' Jessup v. High Point, Thomasville & Denton R. Co., 244 N.C. 242, 93 S.E.2d 84, 87. 'As to a licensee the duties of a property owner are substantially the same as with respect to a trespasser. But a vital difference arises out of conditions which impose upon the owner of property the duty of anticipating the presence of a licensee. If the owner, while the licensee is upon the premises exercising due care for his own safety, is affirmatively and actively negligent in the management of his property or business, as a result of which the licensee is subjected to increased danger, the owner will be liable for injuries sustained as a result of such active and affirmative negligence. ' Wagoner v. North Carolina R. Co., 238 N.C. 162, 77 S.E.2d 701, 709. 'The proprietor of a store is not an insurer of the safety of customers while on the premises. But he does owe to them the duty to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition and 'to give warning of hidden perils or unsafe conditions in so far as can be ascertained by reasonable inspection and supervision.' ' Ross v. Sterling Drug Store, 225 N.C. 226, 34 S.E.2d 64.

The evidence disclosed that by contract arrangement approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Asheville Union Bus Station furnished terminal facilities for the appellant and other bus lines entering the City of Asheville, sold their tickets, accepted, transferred, baggage, mail, freight, etc., and performed the functions for each line which otherwise would have necessitated separate terminals. The evidence was sufficient, therefore, to support a finding it was to the mutual benefit of the parties for the plaintiff to enter the bus station to purchase a ticket to Charlotte over the defendant's line. From the plaintiff's parked automobile the short, direct, and frequently used approach to the bus station was over the paved surface of Lot No. 7 and the public alley which were so merged as to offer a continuous paved route from plaintiff's automobile to the rear doors of the bus station; that the public, especially pedestrians, had so used this approach for a long period of time; that no notice or warning existed anywhere that the public was not expected to use it or that its use involved any except obvious hazards. Notice on appellant's building, 'apply at office,' with the arrow pointing along the driveway, tended to indicate its use by those having business was invited. Also, the officials of the company each time they entered the office door were confronted with the...