June 2006 Summary Judgment in Favor of Uninsured Motorist Carrier Affirmed by Alabama Supreme Court

In June 2006 Monty Montgomery obtained summary judgment for an Underinsured Motorist Carrier based upon Alabama’s Guest Passenger Statute. Mr. Montgomery argued at the trial court level that the driver’s actions of momentarily taking her eyes off the road and one hand off the wheel to wave to passing friends was not wanton conduct, despite the driver’s testimony that she was taught in driver’s education that such behavior was improper. The Plaintiff appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court seeking a reversal of the trial court’s award of summary judgment. The Plaintiff’s argued that the driver’s testimony presented a question of fact as to whether her conduct was wanton, and thus, circumvented the Guest Passenger Statute. On January 11, 2008 the Supreme Court affirmed the summary judgment award. The Court held that the driver’s act of temporarily removing her eyes from the road did not rise to the level of wantonness. The Court noted that the plaintiff’s reasoning “would convert every failure to properly or safely operate an automobile resulting from ‘inattention, thoughtlessness, . . . heedlessness, [or] a lack of due care’ into an act of wantonness on the ground that the driver knew or should have known that such inattention, thoughtlessness, or heedlessness is improper.