PIERCE, Justice, for the Court:
¶ 1. This case comes before the Court on appeal from the Rankin County Circuit Court, Hon. William E. Chapman presiding. Jim and Barbara Doe,
¶ 2. On approximately March 1, 2003, Kelvin Washington rented a room at the Jameson Inn, located in Pearl, Mississippi. At some point, Washington turned over the keys to the room to several teenage boys so they could celebrate the birthday of one of them. The group eventually made its way to Tinseltown, a local movie theater located directly across the street
¶ 3. According to Ann, her friend approached a man in the game room of the theater and asked him for a smoke. The man told the girls he did not have a cigarette, but that he had "something else." The girls then left the theater and accompanied the man to the Jameson Inn. The teenage boys also joined the group and headed back with the girls to the Jameson Inn. Ann admitted that she and her friend had left the theater to smoke marijuana at the Jameson Inn.
¶ 4. The group entered the Jameson Inn through the side door, which could be opened only with a working key. Erica Covington, the front-desk clerk, did not see the group enter the hotel.
¶ 5. Ann and her friend left the Jameson Inn and walked back to the movie theater. The girls were picked up by the grandfather of Ann's friend. Ann did not report the incident immediately. The next day, the girls were caught stealing pregnancy tests from a nearby drugstore. The girls advised the police officer of what had taken place the night before at the Jameson Inn. Ann's attacker pleaded guilty to statutory rape.
¶ 6. On December 22, 2003, Jim and Barbara Doe filed a complaint against Jameson Inn, Kitchin Hospitality LLC, and Erica Covington in the Hinds County Circuit Court. Venue was transferred to the Rankin County Circuit Court. On November 26, 2007, defendants filed their Motion for Summary Judgment. Because it was undisputed that Ann had been on the premises of the Jameson Inn to smoke marijuana, the trial court determined Ann Doe's status to be that of a "licensee."
¶ 7. The Does now appeal and raise five issues for this Court's review. In the interest of brevity, the issues have been consolidated into the following three issues:
¶ 8. On appeal, this Court reviews a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo.
¶ 9. The Does contend that the instant case is not only one of premises liability, but also a case of simple negligence. They cite Keith v. Peterson
¶ 10. The Hoffman exception has no place in determining whether a cause of action falls within the realm of premises liability versus that of simple negligence. Rather, the Hoffman exception is applicable only in premises liability cases where, by a finding of certain factors, the duty of care owed to a licensee should be elevated from "willful and wanton injury" to a "reasonable standard of care."
¶ 11. The injury of Ann, i.e., the rape, took place in a private room on the premises of the Jameson Inn. And the Does allege that Ann's injury resulted from the dangerous condition of the Jameson Inn. Since premises liability is a theory of negligence that establishes the duty owed to someone injured on a landowner's premises as a result of "conditions or activities"
¶ 12. Ann claims she was an invitee at the time she entered the premises of the Jameson Inn and was raped. But the trial court determined Ann's status to be that of a licensee. In order for this Court to determine whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants, we must first address whether the issue of Ann's status was one for the trial court or the jury.
¶ 14. Next, we must address the Hoffman exception. As mentioned previously, under the Hoffman exception, this Court has held that "the ordinary and reasonable standard of care has application and `the premises owner is liable for injury proximately caused by his affirmative or active negligence in the operation or control of a business which subjects either a licensee or invitee to unusual danger, or increases the hazard to him, when his presence is known.'"
¶ 15. Ann claims that she, her friend, and the group of boys entered the Jameson Inn through the side entrance. But Jessica Donahue, a cleaning attendant at the Jameson Inn, claimed in her deposition that she saw "a group" enter and exit through the front door of the hotel. This disputed fact
¶ 16. Since the Hoffman exception is inapplicable to the present facts, we must determine Ann's status under the guidance of the common-law distinctions of trespasser, licensee, and invitee. "A licensee is one who enters upon the property of another for his [or her] own convenience, pleasure or benefit, pursuant to the license or implied permission of the owner."
¶ 17. According to Ann, she entered the premises of the Jameson Inn to perform the illegal activity of smoking marijuana. Thus, Ann's status on the night in question could not be that of invitee, as the element of mutual benefit is lacking.
¶ 18. Additionally, the Does' argument appears to allege that the defendants were "passively negligent" rather than "actively negligent," since they allege that the defendants "failed to take any action at all to prevent the minor girls from going to the hotel room with the older boys." Again, passive negligence is defined as "the failure to do something that should have been done."
¶ 19. The dissent opines that Ann could have been found by a trier of fact to have been the guest of a hotel guest, making
¶ 20. In Steinberg v. Irwin Operating Co., the Florida Supreme Court held that the injured party "enjoyed the status of an implied invitee when she entered the hotel lobby," because she was a friend of a registered hotel guest.
¶ 21. On appeal, the Does request that this Court abandon the common-law distinctions of trespasser, licensee, and invitee, and opt for a reasonable-care standard. Alternatively, the Does argue that, if the Court should retain the common-law distinctions, it should exempt minors from such classifications.
¶ 22. As recently as 2003, this Court has declined to abandon the common-law distinctions at issue today.
¶ 23. Lastly, we will address the Does' alternative argument of whether a minor should be exempt from the common-law classifications of trespasser, licensee, and invitee. In Mississippi, the question of a minor's capacity to perceive danger has arisen in the context of contributory negligence and the doctrine of attractive nuisance. Contributory negligence is the "act or omission amounting to want of ordinary care on part of the complaining party which, concurring with the defendant's negligence, is the proximate cause of injury."
¶ 24. This Court has held that the attractive-nuisance doctrine does not apply to "obvious, natural dangers," and that an "occupant may assume that a child's guardians will have warned the child about readily apparent dangers."
¶ 25. Here, the Does would like this Court to consider the notion that Ann was not capable of understanding the consequences of entering a private hotel room with strange men she did not know and without an adult. Yet the facts uncontrovertedly show that Ann understood the potential danger of going to the hotel room with strangers. In fact, Ann admitted in her deposition that she was aware of the potential danger, but went to the hotel anyway. Since Ann admittedly recognized the potential consequences of her actions, and the defendants owed only a duty to refrain from willful and wanton injury to Ann, the Does' argument on this point must fail.
¶ 26. Based on the foregoing reasons, the trial court's grant of summary judgment is affirmed.
¶ 27.
WALLER, C.J., CARLSON, P.J., RANDOLPH AND LAMAR, JJ., CONCUR. GRAVES, P.J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY. KITCHENS, J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY CHANDLER, J. DICKINSON, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
KITCHENS, Justice, dissenting:
¶ 28. The majority employs the common law distinctions of trespasser, licensee, and invitee and determines, incorrectly, that A.D. was a licensee, rather than an invitee, of Jameson Inn when she was raped. Maj. Op. at ¶¶ 16-17. That assessment is premised on the majority's mistaken assertion that there is undisputed fact that A.D. "enter[ed] upon the property of [the Jameson Inn] for her own convenience, pleasure or benefit...." Maj. Op. at ¶ 16.
¶ 29. Ordinarily, the determination of whether a person is an invitee, a licensee, or a trespasser is a question for the jury's decision; however, where the facts are not in dispute, the classification becomes a
¶ 30. The majority inaccurately asserts that Ann Doe entered the premises of the Jameson Inn to perform the illegal activity of smoking marihuana, and that the trial court correctly adjudicated A.D. to be a licensee. Maj. Op. at ¶ 13. In support of that assertion, the majority relies on the portion of A.D.'s deposition at which she was questioned about the contents of a statement that she had made to police. Id. However, the majority neglects to acknowledge that A.D. had made more than one statement to the police, and that she admitted having been dishonest in at least one of those statements. When questioned about her untruthfulness in the police statement, Doe responded that she was dishonest because she was scared.
¶ 31. The record includes contradictory deposition testimony with regard to the purpose of A.D.'s having been inside the Jameson Inn on March 1, 2003. The child first testified that she had not wanted to go to the hotel and agreed to do so only because she did not want her friend to go there alone. A.D. also testified that she had not known whether she would smoke marihuana with her friend and the men once they had entered the hotel room. Later in her deposition, in response to a leading question of dubious clarity, A.D. tacitly acknowledged that she had gone to the hotel room to smoke marihuana. She also said that she had taken one puff of a marihuana cigarillo. A.D.'s assailant, Rodriguez Smith, testified in his deposition that the group did not go to the hotel room to smoke marihuana and that no one smoked marihuana in the room on the night in question. Smith later testified that he could not remember whether anyone else had smoked marihuana that night, but he was certain that he had not. This brief review of the pertinent testimony illustrates that material facts of this case were genuinely disputed, so much so that the grant of summary judgment was inappropriate.
¶ 32. Patrons of a hotel are business invitees of the hotel. Pigg v. Express Hotel Partners, LLC, 991 So.2d 1197, 1199 (Miss.2008) (citing Thomas v. The Columbia Group, LLC, 969 So.2d 849, 852 (Miss. 2007)). However, this Court has never spoken specifically on the duty, if any, owed by a hotel to a guest of a hotel guest. Florida case law is instructive on the duty owed by a hotel owner to the guest of a hotel guest.
¶ 33. In Steinberg v. Irwin Operating Co., 90 So.2d 460, 461 (Fla.1956), the Florida Supreme Court held:
Steinberg, 90 So.2d at 461. In that case, a friend of a hotel guest came to a hotel to deliver a message to the guest; however, the guest was not in his room. Id. Unable to find the hotel guest, the friend decided to explore various rooms adjacent to the lobby. Id. While thus engaged, the friend fell and suffered injuries as she walked from the "TV Room" to the "Movie Room." Id. The Florida court found that the friend of the hotel guest "enjoyed the status of an implied invitee when she entered the hotel lobby." Id. However, when the hotel guest was unavailable for the friend to visit, the friend became a licensee of the hotel when she began to explore various rooms adjacent to the lobby, because she had exceeded the implied invitation. Id.
¶ 34. In this case, Kelvin Washington rented a room for Smith and several other young men. After paying for the room, Washington relinquished the room keys to Smith. Smith and his cohorts invited A.D. and her friend to accompany them to the rented room. A.D. and her female friend were invited guests of Smith, a hotel guest. A.D. entered the hotel with hotel guests, accompanied the guests to their room, and later left the hotel. Accordingly, A.D. did not exceed the implied invitation of Jameson Inn. The presence on the hotel's premises of persons in A.D.'s circumstances was foreseeable—indeed, to be expected—by the hotel. Consistent with the persuasive reasoning of Steinberg, Doe could have been found by a trier of fact to have been the guest of a hotel guest, making her an invitee of Jameson Inn at the time of the crime perpetrated upon her.
¶ 35. Under controlling Mississippi case law, Doe's status as invitee versus licensee is an issue of fact for a jury's determination. Sharp, 891 So.2d at 156. Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court's grant of summary judgment and remand the case for trial.
CHANDLER, J., JOINS THIS OPINION.
And again in the following colloquy: