Grant v. South Roxana Dad's Club

886 N.E.2d 543, 381 Ill. App. 3d 665, 319 Ill. Dec. 780, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 316
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 10, 2008
Docket5-05-0321
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 886 N.E.2d 543 (Grant v. South Roxana Dad's Club) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grant v. South Roxana Dad's Club, 886 N.E.2d 543, 381 Ill. App. 3d 665, 319 Ill. Dec. 780, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 316 (Ill. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

JUSTICE CHAPMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, Sheila Grant, is the mother of a young boy who was seriously injured when he fell while riding his bicycle over a dirt pile on the premises of the defendant, the South Roxana Dad’s Club (Dad’s Club). Eight-year-old Zachary Grant rode his bicycle over the dirt pile as a means of deliberately becoming airborne on the bicycle — a practice called “ramping.” The parties filed cross-motions for a summary judgment on the issues of whether the defendant owed a duty to Zachary and, if so, whether it breached that duty. The court granted the plaintiffs motion. The defendant appeals, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 308(a) (155 Ill. 2d R. 308(a)), arguing that the stipulated facts established, as a matter of law, that Dad’s Club did not owe Zachary a duty either to remove the dirt pile or to warn him of the potential hazard because it was an open and obvious danger which posed a risk that even a child of eight could understand and appreciate. We affirm the trial court’s ruling.

The defendant is a nonprofit organization which operates a playground that is open to the public. Children are permitted to play in the park without adult supervision. In a building located on the premises, the defendant holds bingo games intended to raise money for use in maintaining the playground. Bob Halbert, the park commissioner for Dad’s Club, explained that the organization is called “Dad’s Club” because fathers who reside in the area keep the playground operational by participating in these fund-raisers.

On August 18, 1999, eight-year-old Zachary Grant lived with his family across the street from Dad’s Club. That day, Zachary spent much of the day outside riding his bicycle with three friends. The boys liked to “ramp” their bicycles. Zachary described “ramping” as riding a bicycle up one side of a curb, bump in the road, or dirt pile in order to become airborne on the other side. At that time, there were two large dirt piles in the parking lot of Dad’s Club. Each pile was approximately four feet high. The dirt had been trucked in for use in a construction project several months earlier. The record is not clear regarding the exact time the dirt piles first appeared. Sheila Grant, Zachary’s mother, thought they might have been there for close to a year. Robert Grant, Zachary’s father, believed they had been there “at least since springtime.”

On the day in question, Zachary and his friends were riding their bicycles in the parking lot of Dad’s Club and using one of the dirt piles to ramp. Zachary lost control of his bicycle when the handlebars twisted. This caused him to fall and break his arm. The injury was severe, requiring two surgeries. Although Zachary testified in a June 2002 discovery deposition that his arm no longer hurt him, he reported having a decreased range of motion in that arm. He also had a scar from the surgery, and the arm that was broken in the accident did not grow to be as long as Zachary’s uninjured arm.

The defendant removed the dirt pile the day following Zachary’s accident. This was accomplished simply by spreading the dirt around.

On October 1, 2001, Sheila Grant filed a first amended complaint alleging that the defendant acted negligently in leaving the dirt pile where it knew or should have known that children were playing and in failing to warn the children of the danger. On August 25, 2002, the defendant filed a motion for a summary judgment, arguing that on the basis of uncontroverted facts, it did not owe Zachary a duty to remove the dirt pile or warn of the potential danger. The defendant contended that (1) the dirt pile was an open and obvious danger and (2) Zachary was mature enough to appreciate the risk posed by ramping his bicycle on the dirt pile. Thus, the defendant argued, the injury he suffered was not foreseeable to the defendant and the defendant therefore had no duty to protect against it. In support of these arguments, the defendant cited cases in which courts have found that the risk of falling from a height is a danger that children of Zachary’s age and younger could appreciate. The defendant also pointed out that Zachary admitted in deposition testimony that he was aware he could fall while ramping his bicycle and that, in fact, he had fallen while ramping his bicycle on previous occasions.

In response, the plaintiff filed her own motion for a summary judgment. She agreed that no genuine dispute of material fact existed and that a summary judgment was therefore proper regarding liability. She argued that the defendant had actual knowledge that children, including Zachary, were riding their bicycles on the pile of dirt, thus defeating any claim that the injury was not foreseeable. In support of this contention, the plaintiff attached a transcript of a recorded statement of Bob Halbert, Dad’s Club’s park commissioner. Halbert stated that he had seen children riding their bicycles on the dirt pile on two different occasions prior to Zachary’s accident. On one occasion, he saw some children riding their bicycles on the pile as he drove his car past Dad’s Club. On another occasion, the day before Zachary’s accident, Halbert saw Zachary and one other boy riding their bicycles on the pile. He told them to stop because they could get hurt, and then he went into the building to do some work. He stated that, when he left the building later to go home, he saw that the boys were still in the Dad’s Club parking lot walking their bikes. He stated, “[S]o I had no doubt they came right back.”

On December 17, 2003, the court granted the plaintiffs motion for a summary judgment and denied the defendant’s motion. In so ruling, the court expressly found as follows:

“1. That both parties agree that no questions of material fact exist, and that liability herein is a question of law for the Court to determine;
2. That the defendant operated a park in which young, unsupervised children were allowed to play, and defendant knew that young children did so frequently;
3. That the defendant created a pile of dirt on its property;
4. That while the pile of dirt itself was innocuous, it became a dangerous and defective condition when the defendant became aware on more than one occasion that young children were using it to ramp their bicycles;
5. That defendant knew that such activity on its dirt pile was dangerous and likely to cause injury;
6. That the defendant knew that the children, because of their immaturity, did not appreciate the risk involved, because it knew that its warnings of the danger would go unheeded;
7. That the expense involved in remedying the condition and guarding against injury was slight, i.e.[,] spreading the dirt about;
8. That given defendant’s actual knowledge of all of the foregoing, potential injury to the children invited to play on its property was foreseeable, and defendant therefore had a duty to remedy the condition; and
9. That defendant breached its duty by failing to remedy that condition.”

On January 16, 2004, the defendant filed a motion to reconsider, which the court denied on February 27, 2004.

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Grant v. South Roxana Dad's Club
886 N.E.2d 543 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
886 N.E.2d 543, 381 Ill. App. 3d 665, 319 Ill. Dec. 780, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grant-v-south-roxana-dads-club-illappct-2008.