Payne v. City of St. Joseph, WD59715

• Decision Date: 16 October 2001
• Docket Number: WD59715
• Citation: 58 S.W.3d 84
• Parties: Dennis Payne, Appellant, v. City of St. Joseph, Missouri, et al., Respondent WD59715 Missouri Court of Appeals Western District
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Dennis Payne, Appellant v City of St. Joseph, Missouri, et al., Respondent

WD59715

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District

10/16/2001

Appeal From: Circuit Court of Buchanan County, Hon. Randall R. Jackson, Judge

Counsel for Appellant: Mark E. Parrish

Counsel for Respondent: R. Todd Ehlert

Opinion Summary:

Dennis Payne appeals from the court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of St. Joseph, in a case involving an injury at a landfill. Payne's sole point on appeal is that the court erred in granting summary judgment to the City of St. Joseph because even if the transfer station dumpster into which he fell was an open and obvious condition as a matter of law, it is for a jury to decide whether the harm should have been anticipated, thereby breaching a duty of care, because he was using the land as intended by the land's possessor.

Division One holds: Under Rule 74.01(b), this appeal does not lie. The summary judgment in this case is not a final judgment in that it does not dispose of all parties. The caption on the judgment names only the City of St. Joseph as a defendant, and only a single defendant is referred to throughout the judgment. The record does not indicate that individual defendants Larry Stobbs and J. Bruce Woody were disposed of as parties. The court did not designate the judgment final for purposes of appeal, nor did the court expressly determine that a just reason for delay did not exist to permit appellate review on the merits of the case.

Smith, P.J., and Holliger, J., concur.

Victor C. Howard, Judge

Dennis Payne appeals from the trial court's grant of a motion for summary judgment in favor of the City of St. Joseph, in a case involving an injury at a landfill. Payne's sole point on appeal is that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the City of St. Joseph because even if the dumpster of the transfer station into which he fell was an open and obvious condition as a matter of law, it is for a jury to decide whether the harm should have been anticipated, thereby breaching a duty of care, because he was using the land as intended by the land's possessor.

Appeal dismissed.Facts

In January 1999, Dennis Payne worked for Boston House and Window, located in St. Joseph, Missouri. On January 28, 1999, Payne's employer sent him and another employee to some of the employer's rental properties to load and remove any junk or garbage present. Payne was driving a "box" truck, similar to a commercial moving truck. After loading the truck, Payne took the refuse and debris to the City of St. Joseph Landfill.

Upon arriving at the landfill transfer station and backing his truck to the edge of the drop-off, Payne entered the cargo area of the truck and began dropping refuse into the dumpsters below. While attempting to push a piece of machinery weighing approximately one hundred pounds out of the back of the truck, Payne lost his balance and fell approximately 16 to 18 feet into the dumpsters below, breaking his left leg. At the time of Payne's fall, there was no barrier or safety handrail around the pit of the transfer station to protect against falls.

Payne filed a petition for damages in the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, alleging that the City of St. Joseph, Larry Stobbs (Mayor of the City of St. Joseph), and J. Bruce Woody (Director of Public Works of the City of St. Joseph) were negligent, in that the area from which he fell was not properly barricaded and signs did not properly warn business invitees of the dangerous condition. In their answer, the defendants denied the allegations of negligence and pleaded as affirmative defenses failure to state a claim, contributory and comparative negligence, assumption of risk, sovereign immunity, and statute of limitations.

The defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming that they were entitled to sovereign immunity, and Payne had not demonstrated that the "dangerous condition" exception to sovereign immunity applied in this case. The defendants further alleged that Payne's claims against individual defendants J. Bruce Woody and Larry Stobbs should be dismissed under the doctrines of public duty and official immunity. The court granted the motion for summary judgment. The court held that the dangers presented at the transfer station were "open and obvious" as a matter of law, and there was no evidence to support a finding that "the Defendant's" conduct fell below the requisite standard of care owed to an invitee. This appeal follows.Standard of Review

We review a trial court's granting of summary judgment de novo, and we view the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered, giving the non-movant the...