Ex parte Wild Wild West Social Club, Inc.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed a judgment affirming a jury verdict against Wild Wild West Social Club for injuries Morrison sustained after being ejected from the club and punched by a security guard. The court held that the injury was not legally foreseeable to the club and that Morrison presented insufficient evidence that the security guard was the club's agent or acted within the scope of any agency relationship. The court rendered judgment for Wild Wild West.

Holdings

1. Wild Wild West could not be held directly negligent because Graham's attack on Morrison was not legally foreseeable under the evidence. The bare possibility that an ejected bar patron might be attacked by a security guard did not establish foreseeability or proximate cause.
2. Morrison failed to present substantial evidence that Graham was an agent or employee of Wild Wild West. The evidence did not show that Wild Wild West retained or exercised control over Graham's work, and Graham's alleged punch was not shown to have been committed within the line and scope of any agency.

Questions Presented

1. Whether substantial evidence supported a finding that Wild Wild West's conduct in ejecting Morrison proximately caused injuries inflicted by Graham, including whether the resulting violence was reasonably foreseeable.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported a finding that Graham was Wild Wild West's agent or employee and was acting within the line and scope of such an agency when he injured Morrison.

Disposition

reversed