## Facts

- Dianne Evans, Bonnie Hodge, and Betty Russell were longtime friends; Russell (Hodge’s sister) temporarily stayed at Hodge’s home after Russell’s house burned.
- Evans collected mail delivered to Russell’s former residence and, at Russell’s request, drove to Hodge’s home in Pocahontas, Mississippi to deliver the accumulated mail.
- On January 2, 2001, after delivering the mail, Evans slipped and fell while leaving Hodge’s home.
- Evans alleged the front-porch doormat was covered with ice and snow and that she suffered personal injuries.
- Evans sued Hodge for premises-liability negligence, claiming invitee status and alleging failure to maintain safe premises or warn of the icy condition.
- Hodge denied invitee status and asserted Evans was, at most, a licensee.

## Issues

1. Whether Evans was an invitee or a licensee when she entered Hodge’s property to deliver Russell’s mail at Russell’s request.
2. Whether, under the duty owed to Evans based on her entrant status, the evidence created a genuine issue of material fact sufficient to defeat summary judgment.

## Decision

- The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Hodge.
- The court held Evans was a licensee, not an invitee, because her visit was primarily a favor to Russell and did not confer a mutual benefit with Hodge.
- The court rejected the argument that Russell’s temporary stay made her an “occupant” with authority to confer invitee status on Evans.
- Applying the licensee duty standard, the court found no evidence Hodge willfully or wantonly injured Evans or created or maintained a trap or hidden danger.
- Because Evans did not present specific facts establishing breach of a duty owed to a licensee, summary judgment was proper.

## Legal Principles

- Premises-liability duty in Mississippi depends on entrant status (invitee, licensee, trespasser).
- An invitee enters by express or implied invitation of the owner or occupant for their mutual advantage; a licensee enters for the entrant’s own convenience, pleasure, or benefit with the owner’s permission.
- A temporary guest in a residence does not necessarily qualify as an “occupant” who can elevate a visitor’s status to invitee.
- A landowner’s duty to a licensee is limited to refraining from willful or wanton injury and avoiding traps or hidden dangers; there is no general duty to inspect or make safe open, natural conditions for licensees.
- To avoid summary judgment in negligence, the plaintiff must produce specific facts supporting duty, breach, causation, and damages.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed judgment for the homeowner, concluding that a visitor delivering mail at a temporary resident’s request was a licensee and, without proof of willful or wanton conduct or a trap, could not recover for injuries from an open icy condition on the porch.


Evans v. Hodge, 2 So. 3d 683 (Miss. Ct. App. 2008)