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ALABAMA COURT OF C I V I L APPEALS
SPECIAL TERM, 2009

2080397

Annie O. Cannon
V.

Utility Board of the City of Tuskegee Appeal from Macon Circuit Court (CV-05-243)

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge. Annie 0. Cannon appeals from a summary judgment entered by the Macon Circuit Court in favor of the Utility Board of the City of Tuskegee ("the Board") . herein, we reverse that judgment. For the reasons stated

2080397 Considered in light of the standard by which this court reviews summary judgments, see infra, the evidence of record reveals the following facts pertinent to this appeal. The

Board provided electrical service to Cannon's house, which was located at 256 County Road 27 in Tuskegee. Cannon's account In February

was maintained in the name of her former husband. 2005, Cannon's former husband died.

That same month. Cannon

requested that the Board change the name on the account to her name. The Board did so.

In May 2005, the Board sent a letter to Cannon in which it indicated that an account in Cannon's name had existed from 1996 to 2001 for a house located at 360 County Road 27 in Tuskegee account") (sometimes and that hereinafter in 2001 referred Board to as had "the 1996

the

discontinued

electrical service under that account for lack of payment. At the time the electrical service was discontinued, the 1996 account had a balance of $175.66. The Board indicated that In

that balance would be added to Cannon's new account.

response to the Board's letter. Cannon disputed that she had ever opened an account on a house located at 360 County Road

2080397 27; she alleged that her cousin lived there and that her cousin must have stolen her identity. In June 2005, the Board turned off the electricity to Cannon's house after she had failed to pay her electricity bill. In July 2005, one of Cannon's daughters called the

Board, indicated that Cannon was continuing to reside in her house despite the fact that her electricity had been turned off, and requested The to know the balance informed her owed that on Cannon's owed

account.

Board

Cannon

approximately $250.

Cannon's daughter paid that amount, and

the Board restored electrical service to Cannon's house. By September 2005, Cannon had again accrued a balance on her electricity account. She paid $54.00 that month in

partial payment of her account. again canceled electrical

In October 2005, the Board to Cannon's house for

service

nonpayment of her account. that time.

Cannon moved out of her house at

When the Board canceled electrical service to

Cannon's house, the Board's records indicated that Cannon owed $60.52 on her account. On December 21, 2005, Cannon sued the Board. She alleged

that the Board had added improper charges to her account and

3

2080397 that it had breached electrical its contract with to her her when house. it had also

discontinued

service

She

alleged that, because she is disabled and deaf, she relied on electrical service to power items and to charge batteries that were necessary for her to cope with her disability and hearing loss. In discontinuing the electrical service, she alleged,

the Board had acted wantonly. On January 18, 2008, the Board filed a motion summary judgment. for a

It asserted that Cannon had admitted, in

her deposition, that her signature was on the documentation that established number the 1996 account, on the that Cannon's Social the

Security

appeared

authorization

for

provision of electrical service under that account, and that bills on that account had been sent to the postal address listed on Cannon's driver's license and were paid for a number of years before the account became delinquent. The Board

argued that it was entitled to transfer the balance due on the account related to the house at 360 County Road 27 to the account placed in Cannon's name under the contract that Cannon had entered into with the Board when she put the account at her house into her name. The only breach of contract, the

2080397 Board contended, was Cannon's failure to pay the balance of her account. Thus, the Board argued, it was within its

rights, and not a violation of its contract with Cannon, to terminate her electrical service. wantonness, the Board contended As to Cannon's claim of that, as a governmental

entity, it was not capable of forming the requisite mental state to be liable for wantonness. In response. Cannon asserted that she had testified

several times during her deposition that she did not sign any authorization for electrical service at any address other than for her house located at 256 County Road 27 and that her cousin had obtained her signature and had used it to obtain electrical service at the house located at 360 County Road 27. She asserted that the Board's decision to add the balance due from the delinquent 1996 account related to the house at 360 County Road 27, which led, according to Cannon, to the Board's discontinuation of electrical service to her house in October 2005, constituted a breach of the contract between the Board and Cannon. Board's claim. Cannon did not respond to that portion of the motion related to her wantonness

summary-judgment

2080397 On April 15, 2008, the trial court entered a partial summary judgment claim. in favor of the Board as the the to Cannon's court as to

wantonness entered

On December judgment in

4, 2008, favor of

trial Board

a summary

Cannon's breach-of-contract

claim.

Cannon filed a timely

appeal to the supreme court with regard to the trial court's summary judgment on her breach-of-contract claim. appeal from the trial court's summary She did not on her

judgment

wantonness claim.

The supreme court transferred the appeal to

this court pursuant to

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