Gentile v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority

3 Am. Tribal Law 455, 1 G.D.R. 76
CourtMohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court
DecidedJuly 10, 2001
DocketNo. GDTC-T-99-103
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 3 Am. Tribal Law 455 (Gentile v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gentile v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, 3 Am. Tribal Law 455, 1 G.D.R. 76 (Mo. 2001).

Opinion

WILSON, Judge.

This is an action seeking damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiff in a fall on premises owned and controlled by the defendant. The plaintiff alleges in her notice of claim that on October 10, 1998, at 11:30 P.M. she was 2-3 feet into the entry walkway of the [456]*456“high stakes limit” dining room. She alleges that grease'on a wooden floor in the above mentioned location caused the claimant to fall and sustain personal injuries.

In her complaint she alleges that she was entering the “high stakes limit” dining room of the premises, following a maitre’d into the dining room when at a point approximately 2-3 feet into the room she was caused to slip and fall upon grease present on the wooden floor on the walkway into the dining room thereby sustaining the injuries and losses described below. She alleges that the occurrence was due solely and wholly to the carelessness and negligence of the defendant in and about the want of due and proper care In the operation, maintenance and control of the aforesaid premises. She alleges numerous specific grounds of negligence.

She also alleges that the defendant had actual notice of the said defective condition in that the defendant by its agents, servants or employees created the defective condition complained of and/or that the said defective condition had existed for a sufficient period of time so that the defendant, its agents, servants and/or employees knew or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known of the existence in time to have taken steps to remedy the same and to have averted this occurrence. She alleges that as a result of the occurrence she sustained numerous personal injuries.

The defendant admits that the plaintiff was a patron and invitee lawfully upon the premises, and that the premises were owned, operated, maintained and controlled by the defendant. The defendant denies the allegations as to the cause of the injury, and as to negligence on the part of the defendant. The defendant as a special defense alleged that any injuries, losses or damages sustained by the plaintiff were caused by her own negligence and/or carelessness in failing to watch where she was walking and failing to use her senses in a reasonable and prudent manner. The plaintiff denies this special defense.

Upon the trial of this matter the plaintiff testified that on the aforesaid occasion she took the bus to the casino with her husband and two friends. She went to the buffet. (The correct name of the buffet, as the evidence at the trial disclosed, is the “Seasons Buffet”.) She alleges that she walked down a long corridor, was met by the maitre’d, took 4-5 steps following the maitre’d, and fell. She described the floor where she fell as “shiny”. She was first in line in her group and slipped and fell on her back. Her right foot slipped out and she landed on her back. The maitre’d and one of her friends helped her up and brought them to a table and gave her a seat. She felt pain in her back and an ambulance was called to take her to the hospital. Some casino personnel asked her how this happened and she told them what happened. She did not go back to look where she fell. Her friend went back and described what he called “grease” on the floor. She was brought to the hospital and did not go back to look at the area where she fell.

She was taken to the W.W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. The records disclosed at one point that she slipped on “grease” and later in the records it indicated she slipped on “wax”. Thereafter she received significant medical treatment.

The friend referred to above was one Anthony Gizzo. He went to the restaurant with the plaintiff, her husband, and another friend. They walked down the long corridor and waited about five minutes at the end of the corridor. He believed that it was a tile floor. He did not see anyone carrying food or spill anything. He did see the plaintiff slip and fall and rushed over to help her. He described the floor [457]*457as wet, and it felt like grease. The area was a circular area about two feet wide. The plaintiff had walked approximately 5-6 feet before she fell.

Mr. Gizzo also testified that the substance was wet, greasy, clear, and that he did touch it and it felt like grease. He also testified that he did not know what the substance was and he did not know how long it had been there.

The law governing this matter is Ordinance No. 98-1, an ordinance which established the Mohegan Torts Code. The prime liability issue in this case is whether the plaintiff established that she was caused to fall because of a dangerous condition on the premises. The Torts Code in Section 2(g) describes dangerous condition as follows:

(g) “Dangerous Condition” means a physical aspect of a facility or the use thereof which constitutes an unreasonable risk to human health or safety, which is known to exist or which in the exercise of reasonable care should have been known to exist and which condition is proximately caused by the negligent acts or omissions of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority in constructing or maintaining such facility. For the purposes of this subsection, a dangerous condition should have been known to exist if it is established that the condition has existed for such a period of time and was of such a nature that, in the exercise of reasonable care, such condition and its dangerous character should have been discovered.

The defendant enjoys sovereign immunity except to the extent that it is waived by the defendant. There is a limited waiver of sovereign immunity set forth in Section 3 of the Torts Code. Subsection (a) of Section 3 provides as follows:

(a) The sovereign immunity of the tribe shall continue except to the extent that it is expressly waived by this ordinance or to the extent that it has been previously waived by the Tribal council or by the Tribal Gaming Authority. Members of the Tribal Council and members of the Tribal Gaming Authority shall remain immune from suit for actions taken during the course and within the scope of their duties as such members.

Subsection (c) provides in subpara-graphs (1) and (2) as follows:

(c) The sovereign immunity of The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is waived in the following instances:
(1) Injuries proximately caused by the negligent acts or omissions of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority;
(2) Injuries proximately caused by the condition of any property of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority provided the claimant establishes that the property was in a dangerous condition.

In this case the court finds that the condition was not caused by any negligent act or omission of the defendant. It is also found that the defendant had no actual notice of such condition. Therefore, the issue turns on whether or not the condition should have been known to exist, and the Torts Code provides that it should have been known to exist, if it is established that the condition had existed for such a period of time and was of such a nature that, in the exercise of reasonable care, such condition and its dangerous character should have been discovered.

This rule is commonly known as “constructive notice”.

Section 13 of the Torts Code provides that any claim brought under this ordinance shall be determined by the Gaming Disputes Court in accordance with Tribal Ordinance No. 95-4. Ordinance No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 Am. Tribal Law 455, 1 G.D.R. 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gentile-v-mohegan-tribal-gaming-authority-mohegangct-2001.