Jacqueline Gibson v. Stonebriar Mall, LLC, D/B/A Stonebriar Centre, Xencom Facility Management, LLC. and Mydatt Services, Inc. D/B/A Valor Security Services

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 8, 2019·No. 05-17-01242-CV·Published

Opinion

AFFIRMED and Opinion Filed February 8, 2019

S In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-17-01242-CV

JACQUELINE GIBSON, Appellant V.

STONEBRIAR MALL, LLC, D/B/A STONEBRIAR CENTRE, XENCOM FACILITY MANAGEMENT, LLC. AND MYDATT SERVICES, INC. D/B/A VALOR SECURITY SERVICES, Appellees

On Appeal from the 366th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 366-04270-2016

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Bridges, Partida-Kipness, and Carlyle Opinion by Justice Bridges Appellant Jacqueline Gibson filed suit against appellants Stonebriar Mall, LLC d/b/a

Stonebriar Centre (Stonebriar), Xencom Facility Management, LLC (Xencom) and Mydatt Services, Inc. d/b/a Valor Security Services (Mydatt) after slipping on ice in a parking lot and sustaining injuries. Appellees filed traditional and no-evidence motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motions without specifying the grounds. Gibson raises ten issues on appeal that encompass three general categories: (1) the trial court’s denial of her motion for continuance; (2) the trial court’s granting of the summary judgments; and (3) the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. We affirm the trial court’s judgments.

Background

On the evening of March 4, 2015, a winter storm moved through North Texas causing temperatures to fall below freezing and turning rain into ice and snow. Snow continued to fall and accumulate into the next day with temperatures remaining well below freezing. By March 6, 2015, clear skies returned and temperatures climbed into the forties.

Gibson knew remnants of ice and snow remained in the area when she drove to Nordstrom on March 6, but roads had cleared and people were once again venturing out. Shortly after 11 a.m., Gibson parked in a handicap spot near the front of Nordstrom. She walked up the yellow- painted pedestrian walkway and slipped on what she believed was a patch of black ice. She landed on her wrist and bottom. After she fell, she noticed “grainy material that was either sand or Ice Melt.” She admitted she was not paying attention to the ground as she walked towards the entrance because, “It was a very crowded place,” and she did not want to bump into anyone.

An individual in a security vehicle arrived and sprinkled what looked like a deicing material or sand on the ground. She recalled someone saying, “someone had just fallen in that very same spot 15 minutes earlier.” An ambulance took her to the hospital where she received treatment for a fractured wrist.

On September 23, 2016, Gibson filed an original petition alleging a premises liability claim against Stonebriar for “negligently maintaining the walkway from the parking lot to the sidewalk; negligently creating and/or allowing a dangerous condition to exist by not inspecting the area and failing to make ingress and egress safe or close to the area,” and failing to warn individuals of the unreasonably dangerous condition. Gibson later filed a first amended petition to correct the name of defendant Stonebriar Mall, LLC d/b/a Stonebriar Centre, which she originally misidentified as General Growth Properties, Inc. d/b/a Stonebriar Centre. She also added Xencom and Mydatt as defendants.

Stonebriar and Xencom moved for summary judgment on both traditional and no-evidence grounds. They argued Gibson’s fall resulted from the natural accumulation of ice, which the Texas Supreme Court has held is not an unreasonably dangerous condition. See Scott & White Mem. Hosp. v. Fair, 310 S.W.3d 411, 414 (Tex. 2010). Mydatt moved for summary judgment on both traditional and no-evidence grounds arguing it had no legal duty to Gibson because it did not own the premises and because natural accumulation of ice is not an unreasonably dangerous condition. The motions were set for hearing on July 27, 2017.

On July 18, 2017, Gibson filed a motion for continuance seeking additional time for discovery to adequately respond to the motions. The following day, she filed an amended motion for continuance and a second amended petition. Her second amended petition added negligent undertaking and negligent activity claims against Stonebriar, Xencom, and Mydatt. They did not amend their motions for summary judgment to challenge these causes of actions prior to the summary judgment hearing.

Gibson argued in her summary judgment response that the icy patch she slipped on was the result of negligently piled snow and ice near the ramp that slowly melted and refroze. She asserted, “This unnatural accumulation of deeper snow and ice, in combination with a de-icing product also used nearby on the sidewalk, resulted in an increased runoff of water across the sloping handicap ramp. This water then re-froze overnight.” Gibson attached pictures to her motion showing snow and/or ice accumulation beside the entrance doors to Nordstrom and other areas of the parking lot. She also attached affidavits from herself and Randall Barnett, Stonebriar’s senior general manager.

On July 27, 2017, the trial court granted all three defendants’ traditional and no-evidence motions for summary judgment without specifying the grounds. In separate orders, the trial court

denied Gibson’s motion for continuance and overruled her objection and special exceptions to the defendants’ summary judgment evidence.

Gibson subsequently filed a motion for new trial and requested findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the denial of her continuance motion and the granting of the summary judgments. The trial court denied her motion for new trial. The court did, however, make written findings of fact and conclusions of law that, among other things, found and concluded there was no evidence or insufficient evidence that the naturally occurring ice was an unreasonable risk of harm to Gibson or that defendants were actively negligent in permitting or creating an unnatural accumulation of ice. The court’s findings and conclusions were silent regarding Gibson’s continuance motion. Gibson requested additional findings and conclusions; however, the record does not include any additional findings and conclusions. This appeal followed.

Motion for Continuance

In her first issue, Gibson argues the trial court abused its discretion by denying her motion for continuance because she needed additional time to conduct discovery and obtain controverting affidavits prior to the summary judgment hearing. Appellees respond the trial court did not abuse its discretion because Gibson failed to show a continuance was necessary and failed to exercise diligence in obtaining the discovery.

We review the denial of a motion for continuance for an abuse of discretion. BMC Software Belgium, N.V. v. Marchand, 83 S.W.3d 789, 800 (Tex. 2002). In deciding whether the trial court abused its discretion, three nonexclusive factors are helpful: (1) the length of the time the case has been on file; (2) the materiality and purpose of the discovery sought; and (3) whether due diligence was exercised in obtaining discovery. Joe v. Two Thirty Nine Joint Venture, 145 S.W.3d 150, 161 (Tex. 2004).

Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166a(c) requires that a motion for summary judgment be filed and served at least twenty-one days before the hearing. In Dallas Independent School District. v. Finlan, 27 S.W.3d 220, 235–36 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2000, pet. denied), we held it is generally not an abuse of discretion to deny a motion for continuance if the party has received the twenty-one days’ notice required by rule 166a(c). Id.; see also Chase v. Packing, No. 05-16- 00620-CV, 2017 WL 2774449, at *3 (Tex. App.—Dallas June 27, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op.). Gibson has neither alleged that appellees failed to give her notice nor tried to explain why her motion should be an exception to the general rule we articulated in Finlan.

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Jacqueline Gibson v. Stonebriar Mall, LLC, D/B/A Stonebriar Centre, Xencom Facility Management, LLC. and Mydatt Services, Inc. D/B/A Valor Security Services, (Tex. Ct. App. 2019).

Jacqueline Gibson v. Stonebriar Mall, LLC, D/B/A Stonebriar Centre, Xencom Facility Management, LLC. and Mydatt Services, Inc. D/B/A Valor Security Services (Jacqueline Gibson v. Stonebriar Mall, LLC, D/B/A Stonebriar Centre, Xencom Facility Management, LLC. and Mydatt Services, Inc. D/B/A Valor Security Services) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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