Keller v. Willow Springs Long Term Care Facility, Inc.

548 S.E.2d 761, 144 N.C. App. 433, 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 421
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJune 19, 2001
DocketNo. COA00-74
StatusPublished

This text of 548 S.E.2d 761 (Keller v. Willow Springs Long Term Care Facility, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keller v. Willow Springs Long Term Care Facility, Inc., 548 S.E.2d 761, 144 N.C. App. 433, 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 421 (N.C. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

THOMAS, Judge.

Plaintiff Joanne Keller filed a complaint alleging defendant Willow Springs Long Term Care Facility, Inc. was negligent by creating a hidden and dangerous condition which resulted in serious injury to her back. From the grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment, plaintiff appeals.

Plaintiff was employed as a physical therapy assistant for Home Health Agency of Chapel Hill, Inc. Her duties included caring for several residents of a rest home in Carrboro being operated by defendant.

On 21 December 1993, plaintiff went to the room of Peter Koutouzakis (Koutouzakis), a stroke victim, in order to provide physical therapy. She had previously provided care for him including exercise, transfers (moving him from bed to wheelchair and return) and gait training. According to plaintiffs allegations, she noticed Koutouzakis sitting on the edge of his bed, agitated, with one of defendant’s employees attempting to assist him into a wheelchair. The employee was not trained to care for patients, had not locked the wheelchair and had failed to put a leg brace or gait belt on him. As plaintiff entered the room, the employee backed away and Koutouzakis began to slide off the bed. Plaintiff rushed to his aid, putting her knees in front of him to prevent his fall. Plaintiff then placed a gait belt around Koutouzakis and transferred him to the wheelchair. In catching him and placing him in his wheelchair, however, she suffered injury to her back resulting in permanent and total disability.

According to plaintiff, “the situation which existed in the room” was the hidden and dangerous condition caused by the actions [435]*435and inactions of defendant. According to the defendant, plaintiff in effect is arguing that Koutouzakis himself was the dangerous condition.

The trial court allowed defendant’s motion for summary judgment on 20 September 1999, which plaintiff assigns as error.

The standard for granting a motion for summary judgment is well-established. A party is entitled to summary judgment only “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that any party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1 Rule 56.

The party moving for summary judgment has the burden of establishing the lack of any triable issue. Caldwell v. Deese, 288 N.C. 375, 218 S.E.2d 379 (1975). The movant may meet this burden by proving that an essential element of the opposing party’s claim is non existent, or by showing through discovery that the opposing party cannot produce evidence to support an essential element of his claim or cannot surmount an affirmative defense which would bar the claim. Bernick v. Jurden, 306 N.C. 435, 293 S.E.2d 405 (1982); Dickens v. Puryear, 302 N.C. 437, 276 S.E.2d 325 (1981).

Mozingo v. Pitt County Memorial Hosp., Inc., 331 N.C. 182, 187, 415 S.E.2d 341, 344 (1992) (citing Collingwood v. General Electric Real Estate Equities, Inc., 324 N.C. 63, 66, 376 S.E.2d 425, 427 (1989)).

Here, plaintiff alleges defendant was negligent in that it: a) failed to exercise ordinary care to keep and maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition; b) created a hidden and dangerous condition by failing to properly medicate Koutouzakis; c) failed to train its employees and agents and properly staff its facility; d) failed to timely toilet him; e) failed to transfer him to an intermediate care facility to provide more extensive medical care and supervision when his health condition deteriorated; f) failed to warn plaintiff of hidden perils and unsafe conditions of which defendant knew or, by reasonable inspection, could have discovered; g) failed to reasonably inspect him and to correct unsafe conditions which such an examination would have revealed; and h) generally failed to warn plaintiff of these hidden and dangerous conditions.

In order to establish negligence, plaintiff must show that: 1) defendant owed a legal duty to the plaintiff; 2) the defendant breached the duty; 3) plaintiff sustained injuries; and 4) the plaintiff’s [436]*436injuries were proximately caused by defendant’s breach. Pulley v. Rex Hospital, 326 N.C. 701, 392 S.E.2d 380 (1990).

In the instant case, plaintiff bases her negligence claim on a premises liability theory. She contends a lack of proper care for Koutouzakis caused an unsafe condition which breached a duty to plaintiff as a business invitee.

Our Supreme Court has held that landowners owe a duty to exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of their premises to all lawful visitors. Nelson v. Freeland, 349 N.C. 615, 507 S.E.2d 882 (1998), reh’g denied, 350 N.C. 108, 533 S.E.2d 467 (1999). The Court in Nelson also eliminated the distinction between licensees and business invitees for the purposes of premises liability and instead imposed a duty on landowners to exercise reasonable care to all lawful visitors. Landowners have a duty to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition for their intended use. Pulley v. Rex Hospital, 326 N.C. 701, 392 S.E.2d 380 (1990).

To withstand summary judgment under a premises liability theory, plaintiff must demonstrate substantial evidence showing defendant failed to exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of its premises. Nelson, 349 N.C. at 633, 507 S.E.2d at 893.

Plaintiff argues that a staff shortage resulted in Koutouzakis not being toiletted and properly medicated prior to his 10:00 a.m. appointment with plaintiff. She says this failure created a hidden and dangerous condition which resulted in her injury. In essence, plaintiff advances the novel theory that the rest home resident himself became a dangerous condition. Some of the dangerous conditions recognized by North Carolina Courts have included uneven and/or broken sidewalks, indentures in walkways, a dirt filled ditch, uneven stairs and/or the absence of handrails, wet floors, and unlighted parking lots. See Newsom v. Byrnes, 114 N.C. App. 787, 443 S.E.2d 365 (1994); Rappaport v. Days Inn of America, Inc., 296 N.C. 382, 250 S.E.2d 245 (1979). Additionally, this Court has held that a hospital owes a duty to protect a patient against foreseeable assaults by another patient. Burns v. Forsyth County Hosp. Authority, Inc., 81 N.C. App. 556, 344 S.E.2d 839 (1986). There is no reasonable analogy from any of these holdings to the present case.

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Related

Dickens v. Puryear
276 S.E.2d 325 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1981)
Branks v. Kern
359 S.E.2d 780 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1987)
Pulley v. Rex Hospital
392 S.E.2d 380 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1990)
Newsom v. Byrnes
443 S.E.2d 365 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1994)
Bernick v. Jurden
293 S.E.2d 405 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1982)
Mozingo v. Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Inc.
415 S.E.2d 341 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1992)
Nelson v. Freeland
507 S.E.2d 882 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1998)
Caldwell v. Deese
218 S.E.2d 379 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1975)
Burns v. Forsyth County Hospital Authority, Inc.
344 S.E.2d 839 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1986)
Rappaport v. Days Inn of America, Inc.
250 S.E.2d 245 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1979)
Collingwood v. General Electric Real Estate Equities, Inc.
376 S.E.2d 425 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
548 S.E.2d 761, 144 N.C. App. 433, 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 421, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keller-v-willow-springs-long-term-care-facility-inc-ncctapp-2001.