Woodty v. Weston's Lamplighter Motels

• Decision Date: 07 May 1992
• Docket Number: No. 1,CA-CV,1
• Citation: 171 Ariz. 265,830 P.2d 477
• Parties: Arley WOODTY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WESTON'S LAMPLIGHTER MOTELS d/b/a Page Boy Motel, Defendant-Appellee. 90-215.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

Page 477

830 P.2d 477

171 Ariz. 265

Arley WOODTY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WESTON'S LAMPLIGHTER MOTELS d/b/a Page Boy Motel, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 1 CA-CV 90-215.

Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, Department C.

May 7, 1992.

[171 Ariz. 266] Law Offices of Frederick C. Creasy, Jr. by Frederick C. Creasy, Jr. and David W. Hume, Scottsdale, for plaintiff-appellant.

Thomas, Burke and Phillips, P.C. by Craig W. Phillips, Craig McCarthy, Benjamin C. Thomas and Marc A. Appel, Phoenix, for defendant-appellee.

OPINION

GRANT, Presiding Judge.

This appeal presents a question of first impression in Arizona: What is a motel owner's duty, if any, to a visitor of a registered guest of the motel? In answering this question we must analyze the legal status of such a visitor and any resulting duty owed to plaintiff's decedent, who was a visitor to the room of a registered guest at defendant-appellee's Weston's Lamplighter Motels dba Page Boy Motel ("the motel").

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

During the early morning hours of March 1, 1987, Hazel Woodty, the wife of plaintiff-appellant Arley Woodty ("Woodty"), went to the Page Boy Motel in Page, Arizona, apparently to attend a party in room 2, which was occupied by a registered guest of the motel. At least three other unregistered visitors were also in the room, and reportedly the occupants of the room stayed up all night drinking.

Sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. that morning, the registered guest left the room, but the four unregistered visitors remained there. At about 8 a.m., one of the unregistered visitors adjusted the in-wall, heating/air-conditioning unit in the room, and flames shot out of the front of the unit. Apparently, one or more of the occupants of the room attempted to extinguish the flames with a towel or blanket. Two of the unregistered visitors then left the motel.

A third unregistered visitor was unable to awaken Mrs. Woodty, who, at the time the fire started, was lying on the bed either asleep or passed-out from intoxication ¹ and he left the room. The fire subsequently spread throughout the room. After police and fire department personnel were summoned and the fire extinguished, Mrs. Woodty's body was found in the bathroom of room 2. The cause of her death was determined to be smoke inhalation from the fire that originated in the heating/air-conditioning unit in the motel room.

On February 28, 1989, Woodty filed a wrongful death action against Weston's Lamplighter Motels. He alleged that the motel failed to properly install, maintain and inspect the heating/air-conditioning unit in room 2, to warn of its dangers, and to use reasonable care to prevent injury to persons such as Mrs. Woodty. Woodty sought damages for loss of the society, comfort, companionship, services, consortium, income and support of Mrs. Woodty and for expenses incurred for her burial.

Woodty subsequently filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of the motel's liability. He argued that the trial court should find the motel liable as a matter of law based on the doctrines of res ipsa loquitur and strict liability. In response, the motel argued that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur did not apply to the facts of the case but that, even if it did, the theory should be presented to the jury, not decided on summary judgment. The motel also argued that it was not strictly liable to Woodty because his complaint alleged only negligence, not strict liability, and furthermore the rule in Arizona is that a motel owner cannot be found strictly liable for harm resulting from a defective product contained in the motel. See Wagner v. Coronet Hotel, 10 Ariz.App. 296, 458 P.2d 390 (1969).

The motel also filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that, because Mrs. Woodty was not a registered or paying guest at the motel, but only a social guest of a registered guest, she was at most a licensee to whom the motel owed only a duty to warn of known dangers and to refrain from wantonly or willfully causing harm. Furthermore, the motel argued, the undisputed facts showed that the motel did not know, and had no reason to know, of the peril presented by the heating/air-conditioning unit and that it had not wantonly or willfully harmed Mrs. Woodty. The motel also contended that Mrs. Woodty's intoxication was a superseding intervening cause of her death.

In denying Woodty's motion, the trial court ruled that (1) the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur did not create a presumption of liability, but, if applicable, the doctrine would create a jury question, and (2) a motel is not strictly liable to its guests, citing Wagner. After hearing further argument on the status of Mrs. Woodty as an invitee, licensee or trespasser, the trial court noted that, even under the majority rule, a visitor of a registered guest is owed the same duty as the guest, and a motel owner's duty to a visitor of a registered guest arises only if the visitor is on the motel premises for a lawful purpose, at a proper time, by the guest's express or implied invitation and acting within the boundaries of the invitation. The trial court found that the presence of Mrs. Woodty in the motel room overnight, and even after the registered guest had left, did not meet this criteria. The court also observed that Mrs. Woodty's presence was adverse to the motel owner's legitimate business interest in permitting use of the rooms on such terms as the motel prescribed. The court granted summary judgment to the motel and dismissed the complaint. Woodty timely appealed the final judgment.

II. DISCUSSION

A. DUTY OF THE MOTEL TO A VISITOR OF A REGISTERED GUEST

The first of two issues raised by Woodty on appeal is whether the trial court erred in ruling that, as a matter of law, the motel did not owe a duty of care to Mrs. Woodty. Although the trial court's minute entry indicated that the status of Woodty's decedent as invitee, licensee or trespasser was the issue before it, the ultimate decision of the court, as reflected in the minute entry, seems to have been that because Mrs. Woodty remained in room 2 of the motel overnight and even after the registered guest had left, the motel owed no duty to Mrs. Woodty. ²

In Arizona, the particular duty of care owed by a landowner to an entrant on his or her land is determined by the entrant's status as an invitee, licensee or trespasser. Nicoletti v. Westcor, Inc., 131 Ariz. 140, 142, 639 P.2d 330, 332 (1982); McDonald v. Smitty's Super Valu, Inc., 157 Ariz. 316, 318, 757 P.2d 120, 122 (App.1988). Although Woodty urges this court to abolish the common law distinctions of invitee, licensee and trespasser that are used in determining landowner liability, we decline to do so. Our supreme court has left the use of these status distinctions undisturbed since its decision in Shannon v. Butler Homes, Inc., 102 Ariz. 312, 428 P.2d 990 (1967). See Shaw v. Petersen, 169 Ariz. 559, 563, 821 P.2d 220, 224 (1991) (Fidel, J., specially concurring); Moore v. Tucson Elec. Power Co., 158 Ariz. 187, 189, 761 P.2d 1091, 1093 (App.1988); Robles v. Severyn, 19 Ariz.App. 61, 62-63, 504 P.2d 1284, 1285-86 (1973). Although the situation in this appeal demonstrates the tortured analysis sometimes necessary to fit a person into the confines of one of the common law status distinctions, we are bound to apply the rule set forth and followed by the Arizona Supreme Court.

The status of a paying guest of a hotel, motel, inn or other place of temporary lodging ³ is that of an invitee. Wagner v. Coronet Hotel, 10 Ariz.App. 296, 301, 458 P.2d 390, 395 (1969). The duty of a business owner to its invitees is to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition. That duty is met in part by reasonably inspecting the premises to discover dangerous conditions. McDonald, 157 Ariz. at 318, 757 P.2d at 122. The owner, however, is not an insurer of the safety of its invitees. Wagner, 10 Ariz.App. at 301, 458 P.2d at 395. To establish the owner's liability for injuries resulting from a dangerous condition on the premises, an invitee must prove either that the dangerous condition was caused or permitted to develop by persons over whom the owner had control or that the owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the existence of the condition. McDonald, 157 Ariz. at 318, 757 P.2d at 122. Constructive knowledge is established if the invitee shows that the condition existed long enough that the owner, in the exercise of ordinary care, should have discovered and corrected it. Id.

The motel argues that Mrs. Woodty was at most a licensee in relationship to the motel because she was merely a social guest of the registered guest. The motel points out that the court in Shannon held that a social visitor is a licensee in relation to a landowner and that a landowner's duty to a licensee is to prevent him or her from running upon a known hidden peril and to refrain from wantonly or willfully causing harm to the licensee. The motel contends that since Mrs. Woodty was a licensee, and since the motel did not know of the peril presented by the cooling/heating unit in room 2, and did not wantonly or willfully harm Mrs. Woodty, the trial court correctly entered judgment in favor of the motel.

Woodty maintains that Mrs. Woodty was an invitee in relation to the motel. He points out that the rule in the majority of other jurisdictions is that a social visitor of a registered guest is an invitee and is therefore entitled to the same standard of care owed by an innkeeper to a registered guest.

The general rule is that an innkeeper owes the same duty to a visitor of a registered guest as he owes to an invitee. A person upon the premises of the inn in response to an invitation, either express or implied, for the purpose of visiting or calling upon a registered guest at a proper time, for a lawful purpose, and who remains within the boundaries of the invitation, is to be treated as an invitee, to whom the innkeeper owes the duty of...