Morway v. Trombly

Plaintiff Jill Morway, who filed a negligence action
against defendants Town of Milton and its snowplow operator Bruce Trombly after being injured in a car accident allegedly caused by Trombly, appeals the superior court's decision granting defendants' joint motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff does not challenge the grant of summary
judgment in favor of the Town, but contends that the court erred in granting Trombly summary judgment based on its conclusion that his operation of the snowplow was a discretionary duty immunizing him from suit, and that, in any event, plaintiff failed to demonstrate that Trombly
breached any legal duty owed to her. We conclude that Trombly's operation of the snowplow was a ministerial, rather than a discretionary, duty that did not accord Trombly immunity from plaintiff's suit. Further, we conclude that the facts alleged by plaintiff were sufficient to avoid summary judgment and allow a jury to determine whether Trombly was negligent, and, if so, whether his negligence was a proximate cause of the accident. Accordingly, we reverse the superior court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Trombly, and
remand the matter for further proceedings.

At the time of the accident, which occurred on the morning of January 1, 1999, plaintiff was a passenger riding in the front seat of a car driven by her husband, Kyle Morway. Their car came upon and began following Trombly, who was operating a snowplow truck for the Town. There were snowdrifts on the road, and the wind was blowing. At one point, another vehicle approached the truck from the opposite direction. After passing the truck, that vehicle collided with the Morways' vehicle. Apparently, both drivers were blinded by blowing snow caused by the truck's
plow hitting the snow drifts. The investigating police officer concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the Morways' vehicle drifting to the left of center on the road, and the secondary cause was the Morways' vehicle following the snowplow truck too closely.

In March 1999, plaintiff brought suit against the Town and Trombly, alleging that she was injured as a result of Trombly's negligence in operating the snowplow truck. After the parties engaged in significant discovery, defendants filed a joint motion for summary judgment, asserting that the doctrine of sovereign immunity shielded the Town from liability, and that the doctrine of qualified official immunity shielded Trombly from
liability. Plaintiff opposed the motion, but the court granted summary judgment to both defendants, ruling that (1) under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, the Town was immune from suits such as plaintiff's alleging negligence with respect to governmental functions, including road maintenance; and (2) under the doctrine of qualified official immunity, Trombly was immune from suits such as plaintiff's alleging negligence with respect to discretionary acts performed in good faith during the course of his employment with the Town. The court concluded that Trombly's operation of the snowplow truck was
discretionary in nature because he had to make decisions concerning the speed of the truck and the angle of the plow in deciding how best to negotiate snowdrifts while weighing the safety of others on the road. The court also concluded that, notwithstanding issues of immunity, plaintiff had failed to show that defendants breached any duty owed to her. Finally, the court ruled that plaintiff could not rely on the principle of res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) to prove Trombly's negligence because she could not show that there were any facts to infer or that Trombly owed her a legal duty.

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full text of the Court's opinion.

Finally, while we agree with the superior court that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur generally applies only when there is a gap in the evidence and some facts are left to inference, see Black's Law Dictionary, supra, at 1312 (application of doctrine presupposes that some part of
causal process is known, but that evidence connecting defendant's act or omission with accident's causal process is lacking), the parties have not briefed the issue of whether the court properly rejected plaintiff's partial reliance on res ipsa loquitur. Moreover, the record on appeal is insufficient for us to determine whether an instruction on res ipsa loquitur would be appropriate should this case come before a jury. In any event, regardless of the nature of plaintiff's theory, she has alleged sufficient facts supported by affidavits or other evidentiary material to reach the jury on the question of whether Trombly was negligent.

Reversed and remanded.

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C.L.