James W. Brown et al. v. Elmer Stanley et al.

Summary

The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed judgment as a matter of law for Project Hope and the Diocesan Bureau in an action seeking contribution among alleged joint tortfeasors. The court held that the defendants owed no legally cognizable duty to an injured participant who was struck by a truck while crossing an adjacent public roadway, and that any purported assumption of a traffic-control duty did not establish liability. The court therefore did not reach the conditional grant of a new trial.

Holdings

1. The defendants owed Cummings no cognizable duty of care to protect her from traffic on the public highway adjoining the church.
2. The defendants did not assume a legally enforceable duty to protect Cummings merely because an employee temporarily stopped traffic for the walkers.
3. Judgment as a matter of law was proper because, absent a legal duty, the plaintiff could not establish negligence as a matter of law.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Project Hope and the Diocesan Bureau owed Cummings a legal duty to protect her from being struck by traffic on an abutting public street.
2. Whether the defendants voluntarily assumed a duty to protect Cummings by stopping and controlling traffic during the charitable walk.
3. Whether the evidence provided a legally sufficient basis for the jury's negligence verdict and apportionment of fault.

Disposition

affirmed