Littlefield Constr. Co. v. Bozeman

Jerry Bozeman was injured when Eddie Lewis, an employee of Littlefield Construction Company, ran into Bozeman’s truck while driving a company-owned minivan. Bozeman filed suit against Lewis and against Littlefield on the theory of respondeat superior. Littlefield sought summary judgment and Lewis filed a motion to dismiss on venue grounds. The trial court denied both motions and granted a certificate of immediate review. We granted appellee’s application for interlocutory appeal and for the reasons set forth below, we affirm. Summary judgment is proper when the movant demonstrates that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the undisputed facts warrant judgment for the movant as a matter of law.1 A defendant who will not bear the burden of proof at trial need not affirmatively disprove the plaintiff’s case, but may point to an absence of evidence in the record to support some essential element in the plaintiff’s cause of action.2 If the defendant points to an absence of evidence in the record, the plaintiff cannot rest on his pleadings, but must identify specific evidence giving rise to a triable issue of fact.3 If the plaintiff cannot identify specific evidence, summary judgment is properly granted to the defendant.4 We review the denial of summary judgment de novo and construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.5

So viewed, the record shows that Eddie Lewis worked for Littlefield Construction Company “Littlefield” as a laborer and assisted in tasks such as laying pipe and asphalt and operating heavy machinery. Littlefield owned a fleet of company vehicles that it occasionally allowed its employees to drive home, provided the employee asked for permission, drove “straight home and straight back to work,” and kept the vehicle clean. On July 18, 2008, Lewis arrived at work and picked up a minivan owned by Littlefield to drive himself and a co-worker to a job in a neighboring town. After the work day was completed, Lewis dropped his co-worker off at the Littlefield shop, and then drove the minivan home for the weekend. Lewis testified in his affidavit that he decided to drive the minivan home because it needed to be cleaned and because he wanted to utilize the minivan’s trailer hitch to haul a riding lawn mower over the weekend.