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Adams v. Cinemark USA12/5/2002
as it must, that a determination of whether Thomas's conduct was incidental to her employment is a "highly fact sensitive" determination and a "multitude of factors and circumstances must be considered, such as Thomas's responsibilities and mind-set." However, it focuses on the idea that Thomas's actions furthered no interest of and was not authorized by Cinemark and affirms the dismissal of Adams's claim, without fully considering Thomas's mind-set that her responsibilities themselves may have created. The majority's analysis simply undervalues the fact that Thomas's job was to decide who was allowed entry into the theater and who was turned away. Regardless of whether Thomas or Adams was responsible for the altercation that ensued after Thomas denied Adams and her minor sister entry into the theater, it is undisputed that it began only after Adams attempted to enter the theater. Thomas's job was to permit and deny entrance into the theater. She was Cinemark's gatekeeper. However unorthodox the methods she chose to employ and regardless of whether she had been instructed by her employer not to leave the booth, it cannot be said that, by confronting Adams when she disobeyed Thomas's instruction to wait until a manager came to her, Thomas definitely was not acting in furtherance of her employer's business or performing an action incidental to her employment. An employee is " n the scope of employment, such that corporate employer is liable to third party for his torts, whenever he is engaged in activities that fairly and reasonably may be said to be incident of the employment or logically and naturally connected with it." Black's Law Dictionary 937 (abr. 6th ed. 1991). Because we must give Adams the benefit of every reasonable doubt, summary judgment was inappropriate. Where more than one reasonable inference can be drawn from the evidence, it is a question for the jury. See Loper v. Yazoo & M.V.R. Co., 166 Miss. 79, 145 So. 743 (1933).
. Like the snack vendor in McDaniel, Thomas may have merely been trying to protect her employer's business. She may have felt that preventing Adams, an irate customer, from entering her employer's place of business would please her master. In this situation, the words spoken by Adams are important and a material issue of fact a jury should decide. Testimony at trial might explain that Adams's words and demeanor suggested she was going in to try to get Thomas fired or that she was going to become violent herself. In either situation Thomas's actions could have been motivated by a desire, however misplaced, to protect her job and consequently her employer's business. These are genuine issues of material fact, and they should be decided by a jury.
. As Odier v. Sumrall, 353 So. 2d 1370 (Miss. 1978), points out, the inquiry is "Whether an employee's tortious act was done in the course of and as a means to the accomplishment of the purposes of the employment and therefore in furtherance of the master's business." Id. at 1372. Thomas's job was to deny entry to patrons who were not eligible to view certain movies. She had been instructed to command patrons to wait until a manager could be summoned. Adams disregarded Thomas's instructions and attempted to enter the theater. Though they may have been fueled by personal animosity, Thomas's actions may have simply been employed to deny Adams entry into the theater. As her job responsibility was to deny such entry, Thomas's actions would have been consistent with her job responsibilities and in furtherance of Cinemark's business. Regardless of whether Adams's actions in attempting to enter the theater were completely rational or indeed threatening, her attempt was still against the rules. It was against the protocol of Cinema
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