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Hartford Insurance Co. v. Manor Inn of Bethesda Inc.6/9/1994
Opinion BY Bell, J.
The issue this case presents involves causation, proximate and superseding. This case arose when an escaped patient from a State-operated hospital for the mentally ill stole a van that had been left unattended, with the keys in the ignition, and, while driving the van, subsequently struck another automobile, causing personal injury and property damage. The injured driver, Robert Wewer ("Wewer"), having been compensated
for his injuries, pursuant to an existing insurance policy, his carrier, The Hartford Insurance Company, the petitioner, sued the State of Maryland ("the State") and Manor Inn of Bethesda, Inc. ("Manor Inn"), the respondents, for negligence, seeking to recover what it paid out in connection with Wewer's claim. The Circuit Court for Montgomery County entered summary judgment in favor of both defendants and the Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Hartford Insurance Company v. Manor Inn of Bethesda, Inc., et al., 94 Md. App. 225, 617 A.2d 590 (1992). We granted certiorari to consider the State's duty to warn when the injured person is not a member of an identifiable class and whether, in this case, the negligence of the thief, rather than Manor Inn's negligence, which facilitated the theft, was the proximate cause of the accident.
I.
Robert Lee Griffin ("Griffin") was involuntarily committed to the Springfield Hospital Center, an inpatient facility located in Sykesville, Carroll County, Maryland and operated by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for the treatment of mentally ill individuals. The certification pursuant to which he was admitted indicated that admission was necessary for his protection or for the protection of another. Consequently, Griffin was placed on a high security ward for acutely disturbed patients. He subsequently eloped from Springfield.
Three days after he was discovered missing, Griffin turned up in Bethesda, Maryland. Not being aware that Griffin had eloped and believing that he was homeless and in need of emergency shelter, Montgomery County police officers took Griffin to the Manor Inn. Pursuant to an agreement with the Montgomery County Department of Social Services, he was assigned a room for the night. Springfield was not notified.
On the following morning, an employee of Manor Inn parked a laundry van in front of Griffin's room, leaving it unattended, with the doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition. Griffin was seen entering the van and driving away.
Approximately thirty minutes later, he negligently drove the van into Wewer's car, which was stopped at a stop sign.
Having compensated its insured, but believing that, together, the negligence of the State and of Manor Inn was the proximate cause of the accident, the petitioner filed suit against them seeking to recover what it paid out. As to the State, the petitioner relied on the State's duty to supervise and detain Griffin. The negligence it alleged as to Manor Inn was its employee leaving the van unattended with the keys in the ignition. Manor Inn filed a cross complaint against the State in which it also alleged the State's negligence in failing properly to supervise and detain Griffin.
The State moved for summary judgment against both the petitioner and Manor Inn, both of whom opposed it. Following a hearing, the court granted the motion and, notwithstanding that Manor Inn did not move for summary judgment with respect to the petitioner's claim against it, sua sponte, entered summary judgment in favor of Manor Inn. As to the State of Maryland, the court said:
See, that is w
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