Lambeth v. MEDIA GENERAL, INC.
| Citation | 605 S.E.2d 165 |
| Decision Date | 07 December 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. COA04-401.,COA04-401. |
| Parties | Tony E. LAMBETH and Bonnie G. Lambeth, Plaintiffs, v. MEDIA GENERAL, INC. d/b/a Winston-Salem Journal and John O. Brown and Jason T. Craver and Michael S. Barber, Defendants. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of North Carolina (US) |
Douglas K. Meyers, Winston-Salem, for plaintiff-appellant.
Enns & Archer, LLP, by Roderick J. Enns, Winston-Salem, for defendant-appellee. MARTIN, Chief Judge.
Plaintiffs, Tony and Bonnie Lambeth, brought this action asserting a claim for conversion against defendants Brown, Craver and Barber and a claim of negligence against defendant Media General, Inc. (Media General). Plaintiffs' claims arise out of a break-in of their home on 16 September 2002 by the individual defendants, who stole guns, currency, coins, and electronic devices, and converted this property for their own use. With respect to defendant Media General, plaintiffs alleged that they were subscribers to one of its newspapers, The Winston Salem Journal, and contacted the newspaper in September 2002 to request that their home delivery be stopped while they were away from home in order to reduce the appearance that their home was vacant. Plaintiffs alleged that an employee of Media General conveyed the notice to stop delivery to its newspaper carrier by leaving it "with the newspaper carrier's daily newspapers at the carrier's drop off location ...;" "that the stop notice ... was not secured and that a passerby could obtain and read the notice and thereby obtain knowledge of the plaintiffs' request to stop newspaper delivery and their absence from home;" and that Brown, Craver, and Barber chose plaintiffs' residence as a target of their criminal activity after learning of plaintiffs' absence therefrom "by reading the stop notice issued to the newspaper carrier."
The complaint further alleged:
22. Employees and agents of defendant, Media General, knew or should have known that plaintiffs' disclosure ... of their imminent absence from their home for a period of time could aid a third-party obtaining such information in committing a crime against plaintiffs' home by revealing plaintiffs' absence ...
and alleged that defendant Medial General had breached its duty to plaintiffs by failing to protect the dissemination of the stop notice, carelessly disregarding the risks this failure posed to plaintiffs' property. The complaint alleged:
25. The acquisition and use of the sensitive information regarding plaintiffs' absence by a third party to exploit the disclosed vulnerability of plaintiffs' home and reduce the risk of entering their home without detection was a foreseeable consequence of defendant Media General's negligent treatment of that specific information ... through the acts and omissions of its agents and employees.
and that defendant's lack of reasonable care "was a proximate cause of [plaintiffs'] home's selection for the break-in carried out by defendants Brown, Craver and Barber and plaintiffs' losses which derived from that break in."
Defendant Media General moved to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint against it pursuant to N.C. Gen.Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(6). The trial court granted Media General's motion, dismissing plaintiffs' claim against it with prejudice. Plaintiffs appeal.
Plaintiffs' sole argument on appeal is that the allegations in the complaint were sufficient to state a claim for negligence. We disagree.
"A motion to dismiss made pursuant to G.S. 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(6) tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint." Harris v. NCNB, 85 N.C.App. 669, 670, 355 S.E.2d 838, 840 (1987). If no law to support the claim exists or if supporting facts are inadequate, a complaint may be dismissed. Shell Island Homeowners Ass'n v. Tomlinson, 134 N.C.App. 217, 225, 517 S.E.2d 406, 413 (1999). "To withstand a motion to dismiss, plaintiff's negligence complaint must allege the existence of a legal duty or standard of care owed to the plaintiff by the defendant, breach of that duty, and a causal relationship between the breach of duty and certain actual injury or loss sustained by the plaintiff." Sterner v. Penn, 159 N.C.App. 626, 629, 583 S.E.2d 670, 673 (2003) (internal citation omitted).
Plaintiffs argue their complaint sufficiently alleges that Media General had a duty of reasonable care regarding information about their absence from home. Plaintiffs maintain that Media General had a legal duty to guard their stop order to prevent the harm of a break-in because Media General rendered a service to them. Plaintiffs contend that when an active...
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