Billingsley v. Mike Schmitz Automotive Group, Inc.

Filing 94

ORDER GRANTING summary judgment in favor of defendant on plaintiff's remaining claims, as further set out in order. Signed by Chief Judge William Keith Watkins on 9/3/14. (djy, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
JIMMY D. BILLINGSLEY,
Plaintiff,
v.
MIKE SCHMITZ AUTOMOTIVE
GROUP, INC.,
Defendant.

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CASE NO. 1:13-CV-412-WKW
[WO]

ORDER
On August 26, 2014, the court granted Defendant’s motion for summary
judgment on Plaintiff’s negligence-based claims and directed Plaintiff to show
cause on or before September 2, 2014, why summary judgment should not be
granted in Defendant’s favor as to the remaining wantonness and breach of
warranty claims. (Doc. # 92, at 9.) Plaintiff has responded that he does not plan to
“substantively respond” to the show cause order. (Doc. # 93.)
Rule 56(f)(2) provides that a district court, after giving the parties “notice
and a reasonable time to respond,” may “grant a motion for summary judgment on
grounds not raised by a party.” See also Burton v. City of Belle Glade, 178 F.3d
1175, 1204 (11th Cir. 1999).
Because the court has concluded that Plaintiff has not shown that Defendant
owed him a legal duty, which is a necessary element to a negligence claim, (see

Doc. # 92), the court finds that Plaintiff’s wantonness-based claims are likewise
due to be dismissed. See Carter v. Chrysler Corp., 743 So. 2d 456, 464 (Ala. Civ.
App. 1998) (“[W]antonness [is] the conscious doing of some act or the omission of
some duty, while knowing of the existing conditions and being conscious that,
from doing or omitting to do an act, injury will likely or probably result.” (internal
quotation marks omitted)). Furthermore, there is no evidence that Plaintiff and
Defendant had a buyer-seller relationship, and therefore, Defendant is entitled to
summary judgment on Plaintiff’s breach of warranty claims. See Ala. Code §§ 72-313, 7-2-314, 7-2-315.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED that summary judgment is GRANTED in
favor of Defendant on Plaintiff’s remaining claims.
A separate final judgment will be entered.
DONE this 3rd day of September, 2014.
/s/ W. Keith Watkins
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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