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Miller v. Shell Oil Co.5/30/2000
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/18/1998
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. L. BRELAND HILBURN JR.
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:HINDS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION: SUMMARY JUDGMENT AWARDED IN FAVOR OF SHELL OIL COMPANY.
DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND REMANDED - 5/30/00
EN BANC
. Stephen W. Miller appeals the decision of the Hinds County Circuit Court which granted summary judgment to Shell Oil Company in his premises liability action against Mary Jo Bueto, R.B. Wall Oil Company, Inc., and Shell Oil Company. On appeal, Miller contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because there was a genuine issue of material fact regarding Shell's control over the truck stop where Miller was injured. We agree. Therefore, we reverse and remand for a trial on the merits.
FACTS
. On January 12, 1995, as Miller refueled his work truck at the Bogue Chitto Truck Stop, he slipped and fell in oil or fuel located on the concrete near the fuel pumps. He sustained severe and permanent injuries including chronic cervical and thoracolumbar sprain, cervical spondylosis C3-4, disc displacement C4-5, and lumbar spondylosis.
. The Bogue Chitto Truck Stop sold Shell Company products such as diesel fuel and gasoline dispensed from fuel pumps identified as Shell fuel pumps. Additionally, the truck stop sold Shell brand motor oil. Miller testified that he stopped at this particular truck stop on his route from Jackson to New Orleans because it offered the best grade of diesel fuel at the lowest price. Miller's employer, Bell South, had instructed him to purchase gas in this manner.
. Mary Jo Bueto Moak Kellog testified that she leased the Bogue Chitto Truck Stop from R.B. Wall Oil Company and opened the truck stop for business in February 1994. The Bogue Chitto Truck Stop displayed Shell signs and emblems one of which was visible from Interstate 55 and accepted Shell credit cards but did not accept any other oil company credit cards. Additionally, James Doyle Powell, who was the president of R.B. Wall Oil Company during the time Bueto operated the Bogue Chitto Truck Stop, was a Shell dealer. According to her understanding of the terms of the lease with R.B. Wall Oil Company, Bueto was required to operate the truck stop as a Shell fuel station. From inception, Shell signs were at the truck stop and only Shell brand of fuel was sold. Additionally, Bueto and Powell negotiated to make the fuel prices at the truck stop economically attractive to customers.
. During the time Bueto operated the truck stop, Kenneth Wayne Powell was vice-president of R.B. Wall Oil Company which purchased fuel from Brookhaven Equipment Company under a verbal agreement that required that fuel delivered to Bogue Chitto Truck Stop be branded Shell fuel. This fuel came from the Shell terminal located in Collins. Kenneth Powell and Mike Clark of Brookhaven Equipment Company verbally agreed to brand the truck stop as a Shell fuel station. Therefore, the Bogue Chitto Truck Stop could not have operated under any brand other than Shell.
. Shell sold fuel to Brookhaven Equipment Company under a written jobber contract between those parties. The contract specified that Brookhaven Equipment Company and its purchasers, including Wall Oil and Bueto, had the right to use the Shell trademark and brand name to identify and advertise Shell fuel for resale to customers. Under the contract, Bueto was required to use the Shell trademark and brand name in such a way as to not cause any deception or confusion to prospective customers.
. Although Bueto
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