Bates v. Eastern Idaho Regional Med. Ctr.

755 P.2d 1290, 114 Idaho 252, 1988 Ida. LEXIS 43
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMay 31, 1988
Docket16688, 16762
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 755 P.2d 1290 (Bates v. Eastern Idaho Regional Med. Ctr.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bates v. Eastern Idaho Regional Med. Ctr., 755 P.2d 1290, 114 Idaho 252, 1988 Ida. LEXIS 43 (Idaho 1988).

Opinions

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

This is a consolidation of two appeals resulting from a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, and a later order of the district court reversing his initial decision and denying the medical center’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm the district court’s initial grant of summary judgment, and reverse its order denying summary judgment.

For several weeks prior to January 2, 1985, the weather in Idaho Falls had been harsh and cold, and the streets and other travel areas were ice-covered. During that period plaintiff-respondent Bates had twice gone to the medical center to visit a patient. On January 2 Bates again went to the center to visit the patient and parked in the emergency room parking lot. She walked across the parking lot to a pedestrian walkway, and thence to the emergency entrance into the hospital. The parking lot and the pedestrian walkway were covered with ice. When Bates exited the hospital she began to retrace her route along the walkway to the parking lot, and fell. Plaintiff admitted that she fell only because of the slick ice, and not because of any hidden bumps or dangers. She received orthopedic injuries to her spine, and was treated at the medical center.

Bates filed her action against the medical center alleging that the center was negligent in the maintenance of its premises in that “neither the parking lot or the pedestrian walkway upon which plaintiff fell had not been salted, sanded, or properly maintained for the weather conditions.” The medical center answered, raising defenses of Bates’ own negligence, assumption of [253]*253the risk, and that the injury occurred because of causes not within its province, scope, or control.

Upon a motion for summary judgment, the district court granted the motion in favor of the defendant hospital on the basis that the ice was an open and obvious danger, and thus the defendant had no duty to the plaintiff. Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal from the order granting summary judgment, and pending that appeal filed an I.R.C.P. 60(b)(6) motion for reconsideration and reversal of the order granting summary judgment. The order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant was reversed. The district court based its reversal of its previous summary judgment order on its interpretation of the then recently issued opinion of this Court in McKinley v. Lyco Enterprises, 111 Idaho 792, 727 P.2d 1220 (1986).

The facts in the instant case are relatively straightforward, and not in any substantial disagreement between the parties, although they must be viewed from the standpoint most favorable to plaintiff Bates. Anderson v. Ethington, 103 Idaho 658, 651 P.2d 923 (1982); I.R.C.P. 56(c). The route taken by Bates through the parking lot and along the pedestrian walkway was covered with ice. Insofar as the record before us indicates, no effort had been made to salt or sand the surface of the ice. It is assumed without argument that Bates was an invitee. At this juncture we must assume that the ice posed a dangerous and hazardous condition. It is established that Bates was not an employee of the medical center, nor was she acting within the scope of an employer/employee relationship in entering and exiting the medical center, but rather was at the medical center in her own interest to visit a patient. Likewise, there is no question but that Bates was aware of the icy condition, that she attempted as best she could to cope with the hazard, and that her fall was solely the result of the known icy condition. Her fall did not result from any concealed hazard, as was the case in McCasland v. Floribec, Inc., 106 Idaho 841, 683 P.2d 877 (1984).

Rather, it is apparent that the only question presented in the instant case is the state of the law in Idaho regarding a landowner’s liability for injuries to invitees which result from dangerous conditions which are known to the invitee. Bates’ argument is two-fold: (1) that this Court has or should adopt § 3431 and § 343A2 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts; and secondly, that the cases of Ryals v. Broadbent Development Company, 98 Idaho 392, 565 P.2d 982 (1977) and Keller v. Holiday Inns, Inc., 107 Idaho 593, 691 P.2d 1208 (1984), have modified the preexisting case law in Idaho and permitted recovery in circumstances such as exist in the instant case albeit an invitee/plaintiff is aware of hazardous and dangerous conditions. We disagree with both prongs of Bates’ argument.

The general rule in Idaho was stated in Otts v. Brough, 90 Idaho 124, 409 P.2d 95 (1965), that owners of property owe to an invitee the duty to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition, or to warn the invitee of hidden or concealed dangers. [254]*254But, “[s]uch duty, however, only requires the exercise of ordinary care, and does not extend to dangers which are known to the invitee, or which are, or by the exercise of ordinary care, should have been observed by the invitee.” 90 Idaho at 131-32, 409 P.2d 95. In Ryals, supra, the Court had for consideration a slip and fall case, and whether an instruction outlining the duty of the owner of the premises to an invitee was a correct statement of the law. The Court said therein:

That instruction was taken almost verbatim from Restatement of Torts, 2d ed. § 343A, and has been widely accepted since its adoption, Annot. 35 A.L.R.3d 230 (1971) and we find no error therein. Although defendant argues that Otts v. Brough, 90 Idaho 124, 409 P.2d 95 (1965) and Mann v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 95 Idaho 732, 518 P.2d 1194 (1974) mandate a contrary result, we do not agree. 98 Idaho at 396, 565 P.2d 1208.

That language of Ryals, however, only commanded a plurality of the Court. In Tommerup v. Albertson’s, Inc., 101 Idaho 1, 607 P.2d 1055 (1980), the Court had for consideration a slip and fall case, and the duty upon the owner of premises to warn an invitee of dangerous conditions known to the invitee. The Court, without any discussion of Ryals, supra, or section 343A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, reaffirmed the language and holding of Otts, supra, and Mann, supra, stating:

Appellants next argue the trial court erred in instructing the jury that there is no duty on the part of the owner to warn the invitee of obvious and ordinary risks attendant on the use of the premises, and that the owner is under no duty to reconstruct or alter the premises so as to obviate such known or obvious dangers. We find no error.

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Bates v. Eastern Idaho Regional Med. Ctr.
755 P.2d 1290 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
755 P.2d 1290, 114 Idaho 252, 1988 Ida. LEXIS 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bates-v-eastern-idaho-regional-med-ctr-idaho-1988.