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Adams v. Cinemark USA12/5/2002
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 12/05/2002
EN BANC.
. Catherine Lynn Adams brought suit against Cinemark USA, Inc. for injuries sustained when Weigelia Thomas, a Cinemark employee, struck Adams after refusing to admit Adams and two minors to an R-rated film. The Circuit Court of Harrison County, First Judicial District, granted summary judgment in favor of Cinemark. We affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
. On February 22, 2000, Catherine Lynn Adams, her fifteen-year-old sister Marie, and Marie's fourteen-year-old friend Amanda traveled to Cinemark's Crossroads Mall Theater in Gulfport to view the R-rated film Scream 3. Cinemark employee Weigelia Thomas was working as a box office employee. Thomas's responsibilities that day included selling tickets to patrons and handling money.
. Adams attempted to purchase three tickets for Scream 3 from Thomas. Since the film was R-rated, Thomas requested identification from the three. Adams produced identification for herself and told Thomas that she was Marie's legal guardian and that she had been given permission from Amanda's mother for her to view the film. Thomas refused admission to Marie and Amanda whereupon Adams asked to speak with a manager.
. Thomas hailed her manager, Michael Everett, via walkie-talkie. She then asked that Adams step out of the line so that she could continue selling tickets to the other patrons. After waiting for several minutes, Adams stepped back into line and again inquired of Thomas to see a manager. According to Adams, Thomas told her " o get [Adams's] ass up in there and go talk to [the manager herself]." However, according to Thomas, Adams repeatedly interrupted her as she sold tickets to other customers and called her a "bitch." Adams moved to enter the theater and, at that point, Thomas exited the box office, went through some double doors, and confronted Adams. It is undisputed that Thomas struck Adams and then choked her while they were outside of the theater near the double doors. Adams suffered scratch marks on her neck and complained of a tingling sensation about the head. As a result of the altercation, Cinemark terminated Thomas's employment.
. Adams sued Cinemark, alleging that Cinemark was vicariously liable for Thomas's actions under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Adams also alleged that Cinemark negligently hired, trained, supervised and retained Thomas.
. Following discovery, Cinemark filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that respondeat superior did not apply because Thomas's acts "were undertaken solely for personal motive and not in furtherance of Cinemark's business, thereby placing her acts wholly and completely outside the scope of her employment." Joseph Corbin, a Gulfport Cinemark on-site manager, stated in his deposition that employees were repeatedly instructed never to argue with a patron, always to avoid confrontation, and to summon a manager if a dispute with a patron arose.
. After receiving Adams's response, the circuit court granted Cinemark's motion for summary judgment without an oral hearing. It held that "Thomas had abandoned her employment and was about some purpose of her own, not incidental to her employment and not done in the course of and as a means to the accomplishment of the purposes of her employment as a box office cashier." Adams appeals from this adverse ruling.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
. We employ the de novo standard in reviewing a trial court's grant of summary judgment. O'Neal Steel, Inc. v. Millette, 797 So. 2d 869, 872 (Miss. 2001). In conducting the de novo review, we
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