Jones v. Delaware City School Dist. Bd. of Edn.

2013 Ohio 3907
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 10, 2013
Docket2013 CAE 01 0009
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 2013 Ohio 3907 (Jones v. Delaware City School Dist. Bd. of Edn.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Delaware City School Dist. Bd. of Edn., 2013 Ohio 3907 (Ohio Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

[Cite as Jones v. Delaware City School Dist. Bd. of Edn., 2013-Ohio-3907.]

COURT OF APPEALS DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

JUDGES: RONALD L. JONES, II. : Hon. W. Scott Gwin, P.J. : Hon. Patricia A. Delaney, J. Plaintiff-Appellee : Hon. Craig R. Baldwin, J. : -vs- : : Case No. 2013 CAE 01 0009 DELAWARE CITY SCHOOL : DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION : : OPINION Defendant-Appellant

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Civil appeal from the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 10 CVH 12 1850

JUDGMENT: Affirmed

DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: September 10, 2013

APPEARANCES:

For Plaintiff-Appellee For Defendant-Appellant

KATHLEEN ST. JOHN JOHN C. ALBERT ANDREW R. YOUNG CRABBE, BROWN & JAMES, LLP Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy 500 South Front Street, Ste. 1200 1370 Ontario St., Ste. 100 Columbus, OH 43215 Cleveland, OH 44113-1708 [Cite as Jones v. Delaware City School Dist. Bd. of Edn., 2013-Ohio-3907.]

Gwin, P.J.

{¶1} Appellant Delaware City School District Board of Education appeals the

December 31, 2012 opinion and order from the Delaware County Court of Common

Pleas denying its motion for summary judgment.

Facts and Procedural History

{¶2} Delaware Hayes High School has an orchestra pit in its auditorium. When

the stage expanders are in place, the orchestra pit is not visible and the surface of the

stage is expanded. The expanders are in place most of the time, except when the

school is having musicals or plays. It takes several employees between four to eight

hours to open or close the pit.

{¶3} On April 26, 2007, a student was injured at Delaware Hayes High School

when he went into the dark auditorium to retrieve something and fell into the open

orchestra pit. Subsequent to this incident in the spring or summer of 2007, changes

were made to the stage in response to legislation known as “Jarod’s Law.” Jarod’s Law,

which has since been repealed, was enacted to improve school building safety. The

Delaware County Health Department notified the school that it had to define the edge of

the stage so that anyone approaching the edge would be aware of that there was a

drop-off into the orchestra pit. The school then used phosphorescent glow tape around

the edge of the stage and placed LED night lights in the orchestra pit to define the outer

edge of the stage and show that there was a height differential between the stage and

the orchestra pit.

{¶4} There is no dispute that, on October 30, 2009, the LED lights were not

present in the orchestra pit and the glow tape was not around the edge of the stage. On Delaware County, Case No. 2013 CAE 01 0009 3

October 30, 2009, appellee Ronald L. Jones, II, a senior at the school, was making a

movie about bullying for a contest sponsored by the Strand Theatre project. The project

was not for a class or for a grade. Appellee received permission from the school’s front

office to use the auditorium that day and appellee filmed the first few scenes of his

project in the school’s main office. After filming the scenes in the main office, appellee

and Officer Glazer, the school’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (“D.A.R.E”) officer,

proceeded to the auditorium to film additional scenes for the project. Appellee and

Office Glazer went through the school hallway and went outside the school building to

where the exterior doors to the auditorium were located. Officer Glazer went back

inside the school to unlock the door for appellee while appellee waited outside a locked

emergency exit with the remote control car he was using in the film.

{¶5} According to appellee, after Officer Glazer unlocked and opened the door,

appellee held the door open so that Officer Glazer could drive the remote control car

into the area. Appellee then followed Officer Glazer and the remote control car into the

auditorium and onto the stage. After they entered the auditorium, the doors to the

auditorium closed behind them, leaving the auditorium dark. Appellee followed behind

the remote control car at a distance of less than a foot and Officer Glazer was

approximately three feet in front of the remote control car. Once the doors to the

auditorium shut, appellee was not able to see the car because it was too dark.

{¶6} Appellee then heard Office Glazer state he was going to turn on the lights

so appellee could film. While Officer Glazer went to turn on the lights, appellee turned

to his left and walked forward with a camera in his hand. Appellee took approximately

three steps before falling into the orchestra pit. Appellee stated he was a member of Delaware County, Case No. 2013 CAE 01 0009 4

the school orchestra. However, he was unaware there was an orchestra pit in the

auditorium because, when he was previously on stage, the orchestra pit was covered

with the stage expanders.

{¶7} On December 29, 2010, appellee filed a complaint against appellant,

alleging that appellant was negligent in allowing and maintaining the configuration of the

orchestra pit as a physical defect as provided in R.C. 2744.02 and in failing to warn of

the existence of the physical defect. Appellant filed a motion for summary judgment on

April 2, 2012, arguing appellee was precluded from recovery under the open and

obvious doctrine and that appellee was guilty of comparative negligence pursuant to the

step-in-the-dark rule and precluded from recovery. Appellant also contended it was a

political subdivision and was immune from liability and that it was immune from

insurance subrogation claims, noting that UnitedHealth Care was pursuing recovery for

medical bills paid on behalf of appellee. Appellee filed a memorandum in opposition to

appellant’s motion for summary judgment on April 26, 2012, and also filed appellee’s

affidavit on April 26, 2012. Appellant filed a motion to strike appellee’s affidavit, arguing

it contradicted his deposition testimony and was self-serving. Appellee filed a response

to appellant’s motion to strike on May 18, 2012.

{¶8} On December 31, 2012, the trial court denied appellant’s motion for

summary judgment and motion to strike. The court found appellee’s affidavit did not

contradict his prior deposition testimony and simply supplemented his deposition

testimony. The trial court also found, with or without appellee’s affidavit, there was

sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether appellant

was liable under R.C. 2744.02(B)(4) and whether the open and obvious doctrine barred Delaware County, Case No. 2013 CAE 01 0009 5

appellee from recovery. Finally, the trial court found that, with or without appellee’s

affidavit, there was a genuine issue of material fact regarding the parties’ relative fault

for the injury. Appellant filed an appeal of the trial court’s December 31, 2012 decision

and raises the following assignments of error on appeal:

{¶9} “I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING DELAWARE CITY

SCHOOL’S POLITICAL SUBDIVISION IMMUNITY.”

Summary Judgment

{¶10} Civil Rule 56 states, in pertinent part:

“Summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings,

depositions, answers to interrogatories, written admissions, affidavits,

transcripts of evidence, and written stipulations of fact, if any, timely filed

in the action, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that

the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. No evidence or

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2013 Ohio 3907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-delaware-city-school-dist-bd-of-edn-ohioctapp-2013.