Faller v. Endicott-Mayflower, LLC

359 S.W.3d 10, 2011 Ky. App. LEXIS 254, 2011 WL 2582339
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJuly 1, 2011
DocketNo. 2008-CA-001506-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 359 S.W.3d 10 (Faller v. Endicott-Mayflower, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Faller v. Endicott-Mayflower, LLC, 359 S.W.3d 10, 2011 Ky. App. LEXIS 254, 2011 WL 2582339 (Ky. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

NICKELL, Judge:

This Court previously rendered an Opinion affirming this case. See Faller v. Endicott-Mayflower, LLC, 2009 WL 3878062 (Ky.App.2009). The case is before us again after the Kentucky Supreme Court granted discretionary review and remanded it to us for reconsideration in light of Kentucky River Medical Center v. McIntosh, 319 S.W.3d 385 (Ky.2010). Having reconsidered our original opinion, we again affirm.

At the heart of this appeal is Rhoda Faller’s fall while leaving a Louisville restaurant. She claims she fell because the historic eatery’s threshold was too narrow and the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the restaurant. We begin with a recap of the facts from our original opinion:

On the afternoon of December 30, 2004, Rhoda met colleagues for a belated holiday gathering at Buck’s Restaurant, a fíne dining establishment and cigar room located on the first floor of the historic Mayflower Apartment Building in Old Louisville. Rader owns and operates Buck’s Restaurant in a location leased from Mayflower, owner of the [11]*11Mayflower Apartment Building[1] After arriving at the Mayflower Apartment Building, her fourth or fifth such visit to Buck’s in recent years, Rhoda walked down the cobblestone path leading to Buck’s entryway, pulled open the door, and stepped up into Buck’s vestibule— crossing the threshold from which she would later fall.
Buck’s threshold is relatively common. Because it is the subject of Rhoda’s lawsuit, we describe it in detail. Construction of the Mayflower Apartment Building began in 1924 and was completed in 1926. Buck’s has a primitive door-sill — a single piece of stone the width of the door. Resting below the doorway, it protrudes about two inches from the building’s fagade, and rises about four inches above a cobblestone path. Affixed to the stone doorsill, and abutting the tiled floor of the vestibule, is a modern, aluminum doorsill that is the same width as the door and about four inches deep. The modern doorsill is raised slightly, but flush with the door. When the door is closed, portions of the modern doorsill extend from both sides of the door and are covered in yellow- and black-striped caution tape. Rhoda maintains Buck’s threshold is defective because it is not as wide as the accompanying door. She expected the threshold to be wide enough for her to take two steps, but it was wide enough for only one step. She asserts the narrowness of the threshold is the reason she fell.
After the gathering concluded, Rhoda walked through the vestibule, followed by her paralegal. Using her right hand, Rhoda pushed open the door which was hinged on her right, and stepped onto the threshold with her right foot. As she did, Rhoda twisted to her right, looking over her outstretched right arm and back into the vestibule to insure the door would not hit her paralegal when she released it. According to Rhoda’s deposition, when she stepped out of the vestibule with her left foot, it “unexpectedly dropped” to the cobblestone path, causing her to fall.
As a result of her fall, Rhoda sustained a compound trimalleolar fracture of her left tibia and fibula. She was transported to Baptist East Hospital by ambulance where she underwent surgery on her lower leg. During the surgery, two pins were placed in her tibia and a plate was screwed into her fibula. She remained in the hospital for four days and three nights, and upon her release, was forbidden from placing any weight on her left leg for a month, practically confining her to bed or a wheelchair. Since recovering she has relied on a cane to walk and has experienced vascular problems causing increased swelling in her left ankle. Because her vascular problems are aggravated by flying, and air travel is essential to her work as a medical malpractice attorney, Rhoda no longer handles medical malpractice cases.
On December 16, 2005, Rhoda filed a complaint alleging Rader, Mayflower and PPM breached a duty owed to her by: (1) failing to reasonably design, construct and maintain the exit area of the property and business in a reasonably safe condition; (2) negligently constructing a step in an unreasonably dangerous area; and (3) failing to warn of the unreasonably dangerous exit area and step, thus creating a dangerous condition. After answering interrogatories, responding to requests for production and deposing Rhoda, Rader moved for summary judgment alleging Rhoda’s [12]*12own words eliminated any genuine issue of material fact. Further, Rader argued it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law because: (1) there were no violations of the Kentucky Building Code; (2) the threshold’s condition was open and obvious; (3) Rhoda knew of the threshold’s condition; (4) Rader had satisfied any duty to warn of the threshold’s condition by placing yellow- and black-striped caution tape over the aluminum doorsill; (5) the proximate cause of Rhoda’s fall was her own inattentiveness in failing to look where she was walking; and (6) Rhoda failed to articulate any cause for her fall warranting judgment in her favor.
Before responding, Rhoda deposed Curtis Rader, a representative of Rader, and John Endicott, a representative of Mayflower. Thereafter, Mayflower and PPM jointly moved for summary judgment. In doing so, they adopted Rad-er’s arguments, but alternatively argued that the terms of the lease between Mayflower and Rader made Rader solely responsible for any building code violations at the site of Rhoda’s fall.
In response to both motions for summary judgment, Rhoda tied the appel-lees’ liability for her injury to one of two conditions: either the threshold violated the Kentucky Building Code, or the ap-pellees failed to anticipate that an invitee could be harmed by the threshold’s allegedly dangerous condition. Further, Rhoda alleged that there were genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the threshold was open and obvious, whether acts or omissions of the appel-lees substantially caused her injury, and whether Rader or Mayflower exercised control over the threshold. Finally, she claimed jurors should decide whether: the caution tape provided a sufficient warning; the motion for summary judgment was premature; and statements in her deposition constituted judicial admissions.
On July 9, 2008, the circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of each appellee, finding the threshold’s condition was open and obvious; Rhoda knew of the threshold’s condition before she fell; and she failed to exercise ordinary care for her own safety when leaving Buck’s. Furthermore, after considering testimony from the previous owner of Buck’s, as well as from Rader and Mayflower, the circuit court concluded Rhoda had not produced, and could not produce, sufficient affirmative evidence of a code violation to overcome the presumption created by KRS [Kentucky Revised Statutes] 98B.135 which states:
[i]n any action alleging defective building design, construction, materials, or supplies where the injury, death, or property damage occurs more than five (5) years after the date of completion of construction or incorporation of materials or supplies into the building, there shall be a presumption that the building was not defective in design, construction, materials, or supplies.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
359 S.W.3d 10, 2011 Ky. App. LEXIS 254, 2011 WL 2582339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faller-v-endicott-mayflower-llc-kyctapp-2011.