Menard v. Lavoie

• Citation: 806 A.2d 1004
• Decision Date: 08 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-355.,01-355.
• Parties: Sandra MENARD v. Mark and Nancy LAVOIE.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Vermont

806 A.2d 1004

Sandra MENARD v. Mark and Nancy LAVOIE.

No. 01-355.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

July 8, 2002.

Present: AMESTOY, C.J., DOOLEY, MORSE, JOHNSON and SKOGLUND, JJ.

ENTRY ORDER

Plaintiff Sandra Menard appeals from a superior court decision granting summary judgment to defendants Mark and Nancy Lavoie. Plaintiff claims issues of fact remain regarding the trial court's determination that a "social guest" relationship existed between the parties. Alternatively, plaintiff argues that this Court should abandon the current status-based standards of landowner liability in favor of a general standard of "reasonable care." Because we find that defendants were not negligent under any standard of care, we affirm.

Defendants own their home, sharing it with Mary Lavoie, the mother of defendant Mark Lavoie. Mary Lavoie originally owned the home with her husband, but sold it to defendants in 1978. Upon purchasing the property, defendants built a garage-apartment where Mary lived until 2001. As part of these renovations, defendants installed a spiral staircase connecting Mary's apartment to the rest of the house. Mary used this staircase while she lived in the garage-apartment. The staircase had guardrails at its top, but did not have railings along its sides.

Sandra Menard is Mary Lavoie's daughter and the sister of Mark Lavoie. Throughout the 20 years that Mary lived in the garage-apartment, plaintiff made annual visits to defendants' home. Plaintiff had used the staircase only once because, as she testified in her deposition, it made her nervous. Instead, she chose to use an alternate staircase in a different part of the house. On September 14, 1999, while visiting her mother, plaintiff chose to descend the spiral staircase. Not watching the stairs, she missed the first step. Plaintiff was not holding on to the railing and fell completely off the stairs. She dropped nine feet to the floor below, breaking her leg. She brought suit in superior court against defendants, seeking damages for her injury. The trial court found that a "social guest" standard of care applied to the situation, which requires a plaintiff to prove affirmative negligence. Finding insufficient evidence to support this claim, the court granted summary judgment to defendants.

Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because issues of fact remain regarding the relationship between defendants and herself. She argues that the determination of a "social guest" relationship was in error, as Mary Lavoie engaged in a landlord-tenant relationship with defendants. As such, plaintiff argues that she was entitled to be treated as a "business invitee," which imposes a higher standard of "reasonable care" on defendants. See Ball v. Melsur Corp., 161 Vt. 35, 43, 633 A.2d 705, 711 (1993). Alternatively, plaintiff argues that this Court ought to abandon the status-based approach to landowner liability, instead applying the "reasonable care" standard regardless of the parties' relationship. See, e.g., Mounsey v. Ellard, 363 Mass. 693, 297 N.E.2d 43, 51 (1973); see also Ouellette v. Blanchard, 116 N.H. 552, 364 A.2d 631, 633 (1976).

Plaintiff's requested standard would impose a higher duty of care on defendants than the "affirmative negligence" standard used by the trial court. Currently in Vermont, a landowner is liable to a social guest when the guest suffers injury as a result of active or affirmative negligence by the landlord. Lomberg v. Renner, 121 Vt. 311, 315, 157 A.2d 222, 225 (1960). A "social guest" is one who enters or remains on land with the consent of the landowner. Id. at 314, 157 A.2d at 224. A business invitee, by contrast, enters the land for the purpose of business dealings with the landowner. Id. Plaintiff's contention that a landlord-tenant relationship existed between Mary and Mark Lavoie would create a "business invitee" relationship, triggering the "reasonable care" standard. Under this standard, defendants have the added duty of keeping the premises free from unreasonable risks. See Ball, 161 Vt. at 43, 633 A.2d at 711. This standard requires that landowners use "`reasonable care to keep [the] premises in a safe and...