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Knight v. Rower10/29/1999
Knight v. Rower (98-400 & 98-485)
On Appeal from Orange Superior Court
May Term, 1999
Shireen Avis Fisher, J. (98-400) John P. Meaker, J. (98-485)
Plaintiffs appeal from two superior court decisions dismissing their negligence action against defendants for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. David Woodward and Jacob Rower visited two separate properties, one owned by defendants Duncan and Geraldine Leete and the second owned by defendant Sally Spear. They consumed alcohol on defendants' lands. Woodward was a passenger in Rower's car as they left Spear's property and Rower caused an accident. Woodward died as a result of the crash. Plaintiffs are Woodward's mother, individually and as the administrator of his estate, and his father. In both cases, the court held that landowners do not owe a legal duty to individuals injured by minors attending social gatherings on their land if the landowners are neither present nor furnish the alcohol consumed. We affirm.
In reviewing the granting of a judgment on the pleadings pursuant to V.R.C.P 12(c), this Court takes as true all well-pleaded factual allegations in the nonmovant's pleadings and all reasonable inferences to be drawn from them, and takes as false all contravening assertions in the movant's pleadings. See Thayer v. Herdt, 155 Vt. 448, 456, 586 A.2d 1122, 1126 (1990). We will affirm a judgment on the pleadings if the movant's pleadings contain no allegations that, if proved, would permit recovery. See id.
Plaintiffs allege the following events. On the date in question, Jacob Rower was nineteen years old and David Woodward was seventeen. On July 4, 1996, Heather Pierson purchased alcohol for Rower and Woodward. In the afternoon of July 5th, Rower and Woodward went to a camp site on Hall's Lake in Newbury that was owned by defendants Duncan and Geraldine Leete, who were not there. Rower consumed alcohol and gave alcohol to Donald Leete, age forty-five, the son of Duncan and Geraldine Leete. Jacob Rower's car was parked in view of Donald Leete and Donald knew or should have known that Rower intended to drive the car. Donald Leete had previously held various parties on his parents' property at which minors consumed alcohol. Plaintiffs also allege that Donald's parents knew that he had held large gatherings on their property where alcohol was consumed and that they knew that Donald regularly held a Fourth of July party where alcohol was present. Finally, plaintiffs claim that Duncan and Geraldine Leete knew or should have known that alcohol would be furnished to minors at the party on July 5, 1996.
Plaintiffs do not allege that Donald had ever held a party previous to July 5, 1996, at which minors were furnished with alcohol. They do not allege that Donald Leete knew that either Rower or Woodward was under the legal drinking age. Plaintiffs fail to allege that on July 5, 1996, Donald Leete furnished any alcohol to either Rower or Woodward. Plaintiffs do not allege that Duncan and Geraldine Leete were present at the party, nor do they allege that the elder Leetes provided any of the alcohol consumed there. They do not even allege that the elder Leetes knew of the party on July 5, 1996, only that they knew of other July Fourth parties in preceding years.
With regard to defendant Sally Spear, plaintiffs allege the following facts. On July 5, 1996, Rower and Woodward visited a mobile home in Newbury, Vermont occupied by Gidget Rollins, aged nineteen. The home was owned by defendant Sally Spear, Gidget Rollins's mother. Gidget Rollins knew or should have known that Rower and Woodward were under twenty-one. Rower and Woodward consumed alcohol o
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