Peterson v. Halsted

• Citation: 829 P.2d 373
• Decision Date: 06 April 1992
• Docket Number: Nos. 90SC418,90SC519,s. 90SC418
• Parties: Donald O. PETERSON and Penelope G. Peterson, Petitioners, v. Barry HALSTED, Respondent. Donald O. PETERSON and Penelope G. Peterson, Petitioners, v. Teresa BILLINGS, mother and best friend of her deceased child, Eva Marie Halsted, Respondent.
• Court: Supreme Court of Colorado

Page 373

829 P.2d 373

Donald O. PETERSON and Penelope G. Peterson, Petitioners, v. Barry HALSTED, Respondent.

Donald O. PETERSON and Penelope G. Peterson, Petitioners, v. Teresa BILLINGS, mother and best friend of her deceased

child, Eva Marie Halsted, Respondent.

Nos. 90SC418, 90SC519.

Supreme Court of Colorado En Banc.

April 6, 1992.

Popham, Haik, Schnobrich & Kaufman, Ltd., Janet A. Savage, George G. Ventura, Mary C. Larson, Denver, for petitioners Donald O. Peterson and Penelope G. Peterson.

Sander N. Karp, Denver, for respondent Barry Halsted.

Theodore A. Borrillo, Denver, for respondent Teresa Billings.

Justice LOHR delivered the Opinion of the Court.

These two cases, consolidated in this court for briefing and argument, present common issues concerning the applicability of the tort doctrine of negligent entrustment. The cases arose out of an automobile accident in which Tamara Peterson, the twenty-five-year-old daughter of defendants Donald O. Peterson and Penelope G. Peterson, drove a vehicle while intoxicated and collided with an automobile carrying Barry Halsted, his wife Eleanor, and his daughter Eva Marie. Eleanor Halsted, Eva Marie Halsted, and Tamara Peterson all died as a result of the accident. Tamara Peterson had purchased her vehicle with her parents' assistance and had a history of excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. Barry Halsted brought an action against Donald and Penelope Peterson for damages arising out of his injuries and the death of his wife. Teresa Billings, the mother of Eva Marie Halsted, brought a separate action against the Petersons for damages caused by Eva Marie Halsted's death. Billings and Halsted based their claims on the theories of negligent entrustment and the family car doctrine.

In each case, the Adams County District Court granted the Petersons' motion for summary judgment on the claim of negligent entrustment for the reason that the Petersons lacked control and right of control over the vehicle driven by Tamara. ¹ The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the entry of summary judgment in both the Halsted and the Billings cases. Halsted v. Peterson, 797 P.2d 801 (Colo.App.1990); Billings v. Peterson, No. 89CA1304 (Colo.App. May 24, 1990) (not selected for publication). It held that genuine issues of material fact exist regarding the negligent entrustment claims. We granted certiorari in both Halsted and Billings to review the court of appeals' judgments reinstating those claims. We reverse the judgments.

I.

We begin our analysis by setting forth familiar principles that govern resolution of motions for summary judgment. Summary judgment is appropriate only if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. C.R.C.P. 56(c). Churchey v. Adolph Coors Co., 759 P.2d 1336, 1339-40 (Colo.1988); United States v. Jesse, 744 P.2d 491, 503 (Colo.1987). A material fact is simply a fact that will affect the outcome of the case. Mt. Emmons Mining Co. v. Town of Crested Butte, 690 P.2d 231, 239 (Colo.1984). The purpose of summary judgment is to permit the parties to pierce the formal allegations of the pleadings and save the time and expense connected with trial when, as a matter of law, based on undisputed facts, one party could not prevail. Id. at 238. Summary judgment is a drastic remedy and should be granted only upon a clear showing that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, Jones v. Dressel, 623 P.2d 370, 373 (Colo.1981), and that all legal prerequisites are clearly established. General Ins. Co. v. City of Colorado Springs, 638 P.2d 752, 760 (Colo.1981).

In determining whether summary judgment is proper, the nonmoving party is entitled to the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the undisputed facts, and all doubts must be resolved against the moving party. Mancuso v. United Bank of Pueblo, 818 P.2d 732, 736 (Colo.1991); Tapley v. Golden Big O Tires, 676 P.2d 676, 678 (Colo.1983); C.R.C.P. 56(c). A court must consider "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any," in determining whether to grant a motion for summary judgment. C.R.C.P. 56(c).

II.

The claims for relief asserted by Barry Halsted and Teresa Billings are based on averments that the Petersons negligently entrusted a vehicle to Tamara Peterson. The record demonstrates that there is no genuine issue as to the existence of any of the facts that we now set forth.

Tamara Peterson was intoxicated when she negligently drove her Ford Bronco, failed to halt at a stop sign, and collided with Barry Halsted's vehicle on January 16, 1988. The deaths and injuries upon which the present cases are based resulted from that collision. At the time of the accident, Tamara was twenty-five years old and employed as a flight attendant. She had been so employed for three years. Tamara had moved out of her parents' home about seven years earlier and had maintained her residence at various other places. She returned to her parents' home, or to a trailer located behind the home, for brief periods while changing places of residence and sometimes returned to her parents' home for a few days while maintaining her residence in other places. Tamara provided her own means of support and had not been claimed by her parents as an exemption for tax purposes since 1985.

The Ford Bronco driven by Tamara Peterson on the day of the accident was the last of three vehicles that she had owned. The first was a Datsun given to her by her parents as a high school graduation present. The title was in her father's name. In September 1983, Donald Peterson signed a power of attorney to enable his daughter to sell the Datsun. She applied $2,000 of the proceeds to the purchase of a Porsche, which was titled in the name of her boyfriend. Penelope Peterson later provided $700 to Tamara to help her to make payments on the Porsche and avoid repossession. In February 1985, Tamara traded the Porsche and purchased the Ford Bronco. Title to the vehicle was listed in the names of Donald Peterson and Tamara Peterson as co-owners. Donald Peterson cosigned the loan documents with Tamara, thereby making it possible for her to finance the purchase. Donald Peterson also cosigned the sale contract for the vehicle as well as other documents executed incident to the purchase. The Peterson family address appeared on the Bronco registration. Registration papers, license plates, and title documents were sent to that address.

The Bronco was insured under Donald Peterson's policies at times, but later Tamara obtained her own insurance. She allowed her policy to lapse, and the vehicle was uninsured at the time of the accident in January 1988. Tamara made all payments on the Bronco while alive. The proceeds of a life insurance policy maintained by Tamara covered all but two of the remaining payments after her death. Donald Peterson made those two payments. On infrequent occasions, and with Tamara's permission, other members of the Peterson family used the Bronco.

The evidence leaves no room for dispute that Tamara had an alcohol problem of several years duration. In addition, her parents evidenced awareness of that difficulty. In 1980, Tamara Peterson collided with a fire truck when driving her Datsun while intoxicated; she had a blood-alcohol content of .163 ² and received a ticket for driving under the influence. Both Donald and Penelope Peterson knew of this incident. Several of Tamara's friends attested to seeing Tamara inebriated in the presence of her parents on numerous occasions. There was also extensive additional testimony that Tamara consumed alcoholic beverages to excess. Gregory Shaw, a bartender at the bowling alley Tamara frequented, attested to seeing her intoxicated frequently. Penelope Peterson acknowledged in her deposition that she had consulted with Tamara about obtaining treatment for her alcohol problem.

On the day of the accident, Tamara attended chariot races ³ with some of her friends. When Tamara attempted to leave, her friends took the Bronco keys away from her because they thought she was too intoxicated to drive, but Tamara was able to obtain a substitute set of keys. Donald Peterson also attended the chariot races that day. He did not try to prevent Tamara from driving. He said that Tamara did not show evidence of alcohol impairment. The accident occurred shortly after Tamara drove away from the location where the chariot races were being held.

III.

We now consider whether the tort doctrine of negligent entrustment is applicable to the facts as pleaded and developed further in the summary judgment proceedings. Concluding that the facts do not support negligent entrustment claims, we then consider whether summary judgment was proper when the claims are analyzed under general principles of negligence law. We conclude that even when so analyzed, the district court orders granting summary judgment were correct.

A.

We discussed the law of negligent entrustment and its place in the tort law of negligence in our opinion issued today in Casebolt v. Cowan, 829 P.2d 352 (Colo.1992), and will not repeat that discussion here. In Casebolt we discussed section 390 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965) (hereinafter "Restatement"), expressing principles of negligent entrustment as applied to suppliers of chattels, and held that it establishes a useful framework for resolution of the issues of duty and adherence to the standard of care applicable to a supplier of chattels. Section 390 provides:

One who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for the use of another whom the supplier knows or has reason to know to be likely because of his youth, inexperience, or otherwise, to use it in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm to himself and others whom the supplier should expect to share in or be endangered by its use, is subject...