Harris v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority

3 Am. Tribal Law 474, 1 G.D.R. 86
CourtMohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court
DecidedDecember 14, 2001
DocketNo. GDTC-T-00-100
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 3 Am. Tribal Law 474 (Harris 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
Harris v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, 3 Am. Tribal Law 474, 1 G.D.R. 86 (Mo. 2001).

Opinion

M ANFREDI, Judge.

This action was commenced by Notice of Claim and Complaint dated January 10, 2000.

[475]*475The Complaint alleges that on July 14, 1999 the Plaintiff was a patron at the Mohegan Sun Casino and was caused to slip and fall on an accumulation of liquid on the floor of the men’s room located in the area of the casino known as the Wolf Den. The Plaintiff further claims that as a result of the slip and fall he sustained various physical injuries, and that his injuries and damages were caused by the negligence of the Defendant, its agents, servants or employees.

Among the claims of negligence are that the Defendant:

a.) Allowed an accumulation of liquid to remain on the floor for an unreasonable period of time when in the exercise of reasonable care, should have been known to exist thereby causing a dangerous condition;
b.) Failed to inspect said rest room in order to discover the dangerous condition caused by the accumulation of liquid;
c.) Failed to warn the plaintiff and others of the dangerous condition caused by the accumulation of liquid on the floor;
d.) Knew said dangerous condition had existed for an unreasonable period of time, yet no measures had been taken to remedy and correct the same;
e.) Failed to maintain said floor in such a way as to prevent the dangerous condition of an accumulation of liquid.

The Defendant’s Answer dated August 23, 2000 denied the allegations of negligence and causation, and a Special Defense alleging contributory or comparative negligence on the part of the Plaintiff was filed.

TRIAL

A trial of this case proceeded before the Court on December 4, 2001. The Plaintiff, Raymond Harris, his wife, Marcia Harris, and Mark Cloutier, Director of Environmental Services for the Mohegan Sun Casino all testified. Plaintiffs Exhibits 1-8 were admitted by agreement and without objection (Exhibit List attached). The evidence established the following facts.

On July 14, 1999 Mr. Harris was employed at Lee Company as a Supervisor and Machinist. He worked that day and after work, went to a marina where he kept a boat to work on it. From the marina he proceeded to the Mohegan Sun Casino where he was going to switch vehicles with his wife, who was already at the Casino, and purchase gas for his boat. He arrived at the Casino at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Once at the Casino, he met his wife at the “Bow and Arrow” bar. He remained there for about 20 minutes, had a glass of beer and then went to the “Wolf Den” where he had another beer, played video poker and won about $300.00 in quarters which he carried in two plastic buckets provided by the casino to its customers.

The Plaintiff left the “Wolf Den” at around 9:15 p.m. carrying the two plastic buckets of quarters, one in each hand, held close to his chest. He entered a small men’s room located near the bar. It contained two toilet stalls and two urinals. Mr. Harris proceeded to the furthest stall and entered it, using his leg or knee to open the stall door since he was still holding the two buckets of quarters.

As he entered the stall he slipped in a puddle of liquid he thought to be water and fell, hitting his right hip on the toilet and his left shoulder on the floor. He was able to keep most of the quarters from spilling as he fell.

His shoulder hurt very badly as a result of the fall, and he remained on the floor for about three minutes. He called for help but no one was in the area. He finally got up on his own and went back to [476]*476the “Wolf Den” and cashed in his quarters. Mr. Harris then went to his truck to go home but was in too much pain to drive. He returned to the casino and to the bathroom where he fell but no one was there. He then went to the “main” bathroom and found an.attendant, reporting the incident. Security was called and eventually, Ken Hoyt from the casino security responded to take Mr. Harris’ complaint.

As a result of Mr. Hams’ complaint, Mr. Hoyt inspected the bathroom at approximately 11:10 p.m. At that time the floor was dry. Mr. Hams had no idea how long the liquid was on the floor before he fell.

The Mohegan Sun has a written policy that the restrooms are to be “clean and stocked at all times.” The Department of Environmental Services has a duty to maintain the restrooms, inspect them and keep them clean. An attendant is assigned to each restroom, but is not required to be present in a particular restroom at all times. There is no time schedule for frequency of inspections.

DISCUSSION

Jurisdiction is vested in this Court pursuant to Tribal Ordinance 95-4 “An Ordinance Establishing the Gaming Disputes Court” (hereafter referred to as M.T.O. 95-4), and this case is brought pursuant to the provisions of Tribal Ordinance 98-1 “An Ordinance Establishing the Mohegan ToHs Code ” (hereafter referred to as M.T.O. 98-1). Although Plaintiffs complaint refers to Tribal Ordinance 96-2, that ordinance was repealed and replaced with Ordinance 98-1 May 5, 1998. M.T.O. 98-1 provides that:

“(b) Except to the extent that it has been previously waived by the Tribal Council or by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority may be sued solely in the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Disputes Court.
(c) The sovereign immunity of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is waived in the following instances: ...
(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;”

Additionally, a “dangerous condition” is defined in the Ordinance 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 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.
A dangerous condition shall not exist solely because the design of any facility is inadequate nor due to the mere existence of wind, water, ice or temperature by itself, or by mere existence of a natural physical condition. Nothing in this section shall preclude an accumulation of water, snow, or ice from being found to constitute a dangerous condition when the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority fails to use existing means available to it for the removal of such accumulation and reasonable time to act.”

M.T.O. 95-4 states:

“Section SOI — Sources of Tribal Law. The substantive law of the Mohegan [477]*477Tribe for application by the Gaming Disputes Court shall be:

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Bluebook (online)
3 Am. Tribal Law 474, 1 G.D.R. 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-mohegan-tribal-gaming-authority-mohegangct-2001.