In this civil action, Sandy Dowdell filed numerous tort claims against The Krystal Company “Krystal”, two of its employees, and an off-duty police officer for injuries he suffered as a result of a physical altercation with one of the Krystal employees. Following the grant of Krystal’s motion for summary judgment as to several of Dowdell’s claims, he appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in finding that Krystal was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on his claims of liability based on i respondeat superior, ii premises liability, and iii negligent hiring. Additionally, Dowdell argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Krystal as to his claims for attorney fees and punitive damages. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c; Britt v. Kelly & Picerne, Inc. 1 “On appeal from the grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment, we review the evidence de novo, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from the evidence are construed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.” McCaskill v. Carillo .2
So construed, the evidence shows that in the early morning hours of August 2, 2003, Roderick Shumate was working as a cashier at a local Krystal fast-food restaurant, where he had been employed for the preceding three months. At approximately 3:30 a.m., Dowdell and other patrons from a neighboring nightclub, which closes at that time on weekend nights, began arriving at the restaurant to order food. As the restaurant became crowded, Shumate began to have difficulty filling the orders quickly, causing the crowd to grow impatient. After several minutes passed without his order being taken, Dowdell, who was at the front of the line leading up to the counter, asked Shumate if he was going to take his order, to which Shumate responded by cursing at him and uttering a homosexual epithet. When Dowdell likewise responded with insults, Shumate reached across the counter and struck Dowdell in the face. Both Dowdell and Shumate then rushed toward the end of the counter that had been separating them and began fighting. The fight was quickly broken up by two off-duty police officers, who were working as security for the restaurant at the time, and both Shumate and Dowdell were arrested for disorderly conduct.
