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Keywords

summary judgmentduty of care

tortplaintiffdefendantsummary judgmentduty of care

Related Cases

Bell ex rel. Bell v. Dawson, 82 A.3d 827, 2013 ME 108

Facts

Timothy Bell, a thirteen-year-old, was injured when he skateboarded out of the Dawsons' driveway and was hit by a car. He had spent the night at the Dawsons' home without his parents' knowledge, after being invited by them while they were drinking. The Dawsons went to bed without supervising the boys, and Timothy left their property early the next morning. His mother believed he was tired when he left home with his skateboard, but there was no evidence that the Dawsons were aware of his return to their property before the accident occurred.

Timothy left the Dawsons' property the following morning and went home. He arrived at his parents' home at approximately 7:00 a.m. and stayed for twenty minutes.

Issue

Did the Dawsons owe a duty of care to Timothy Bell at the time of the accident, and was there sufficient evidence to establish causation for his injuries?

Bell argues that the Superior Court erred when it determined, with respect to the negligent supervision claim, that the Dawsons owed no duty of care to Timothy because Timothy was not in a custodial relationship with the Dawsons when the accident occurred.

Rule

A custodial relationship exists when one party has a duty of care towards another, which is typically established through a special relationship. The scope of this duty is limited by temporal and geographic boundaries, and a duty ceases when the special relationship is no longer intact.

The tort of negligent supervision first requires that the defendant owe a duty of supervision to the plaintiff. That duty arises from a special relationship, such as a custodial relationship, between the parties.

Analysis

The court determined that the Dawsons' custodial relationship with Timothy ended when he left their property to return home. There was no evidence that they resumed custody or supervision of him after he returned home. Furthermore, the court found that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Timothy's fatigue was a proximate cause of the accident, as there was no clear indication of how much sleep he had or whether his fatigue contributed to his poor judgment.

The custodial relationship that was formed when Timothy and the Dawsons deceived Timothy's parents into letting him stay overnight at the Dawsons' house was severed when Timothy left the Dawsons' home, returned to his parents' home, and reestablished his opportunity for protection and supervision by his parents.

Conclusion

The court affirmed the summary judgment in favor of the Dawsons, concluding that they did not owe a duty of care to Timothy at the time of the accident and that the claims of negligent supervision and dangerous conditions were not supported by sufficient evidence.

The court did not err in granting a summary judgment in favor of the Dawsons on the second count of Bell's amended complaint.

Who won?

The Dawsons prevailed in the case because the court found that they did not have a custodial relationship with Timothy at the time of the accident and that there was insufficient evidence to establish causation.

The Dawsons did not create a new custodial relationship with Timothy on the morning of the accident.

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