Worstell Parking, Inc. v. Aisida
| Decision Date | 11 March 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. A93A2596,A93A2596 |
| Citation | 212 Ga.App. 605,442 S.E.2d 469 |
| Parties | WORSTELL PARKING, INC. v. AISIDA. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Long, Weinberg, Ansley & Wheeler, Lance D. Lourie, William P. Langdale III, Atlanta, for appellant.
Bernard & Associates, Patricia D. Bernard, Atlanta, for appellee.
Plaintiff brought an action against defendant to recover for injuries she received when one of defendant's parking attendants struck plaintiff in the face with a stick. In her complaint, plaintiff alleged theories of respondeat superior and negligent hiring. The trial court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment, and we granted defendant's application for interlocutory appeal.
1. Defendant first argues that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment on the theory of respondeat superior. The record reveals that plaintiff, accompanied by her boyfriend, went for a dental appointment at an office building and used the valet parking facility operated by defendant. When plaintiff's boyfriend realized he did not have enough cash to pay plaintiff's bill, he returned to the parking lot to retrieve his checkbook from the car. One of the parking attendants told plaintiff's boyfriend that he would retrieve the checkbook for a tip. Plaintiff's boyfriend declined and said that he would get it himself. The parking attendant became angry and began making derogatory comments to plaintiff's boyfriend about his African nationality. Plaintiff's boyfriend retrieved his checkbook and returned to the dentist's office. When plaintiff and her boyfriend returned to get their car, the parking attendant confronted them while they were paying the cashier. The attendant used abusive and offensive language and threatened plaintiff and her boyfriend with a stick. Plaintiff and her boyfriend remained calm while they waited for another attendant to bring their car. When the car arrived, plaintiff and her boyfriend walked toward the car followed by the parking attendant carrying the stick. The parking attendant took the stick, swung it at plaintiff and her boyfriend and struck plaintiff in the face.
OCGA § 51-2-2 provides: "Every person shall be liable for torts committed by his wife, his child, or his servant by his command or in the prosecution and within the scope of his business, whether the same are committed by negligence or voluntarily." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Mountain v. Southern Bell Tel., etc., Co., 205 Ga.App. 119(1), 421 S.E.2d 284 (1992). The fact that the assault occurred during the time of the attendant's employment with defendant is not dispositive on the issue of scope of employment. See Southern Bell Tel., etc., Co. v. Sharara, 167 Ga.App. 665(2), 307 S.E.2d 129 (1983). The parking...
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...attempt did not demonstrate that he had a propensity to inflict personal harm upon a massage client. See Worstell Parking v. Aisida, 212 Ga.App. 605, 606–607(2), 442 S.E.2d 469 (1994) (although employee indicated on application that he had been arrested, and record showed that he had been c......
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