Lackey v. Disney Vacation Development, Inc.

101 F. Supp. 3d 849, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42842, 2015 WL 1505832
District Court, D. Arizona·Decided April 1, 2015·No. No. 2:13-cv-2074-HRH·Published

Opinion

ORDER

H. RUSSEL HOLLAND, District Judge.

Motion for Summary Judgment

Defendants move for summary judgment.1 This motion is opposed.2 Oral argument was requested and has been heard.

Facts

Plaintiffs are Michael and Kalin Lackey. Defendants are Disney Vacation Development, Inc. and Disney Vacation Club Hawaii Management Company, LLC.

On October 15, 2011, plaintiffs flew from Arizona to Portland, Oregon, where they stayed overnight at the Ramada Airport Hotel. The next day, on October 16, 2011, plaintiffs flew to Honolulu, Hawaii. Upon arrival in Honolulu, plaintiffs checked in to the Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa, which had opened on August 29, 2011.

Plaintiffs stayed at the Aulani until October 21, 2011. While there, plaintiffs changed rooms three different times because, as Mrs. Lackey explained, the Aula-ni “didn’t have openings continually in one [851] room, so we had to switch to whatever they had available to fit our schedule.”3 Each time plaintiffs switched rooms, they packed their own bags and handed them to the bellman for transfer to their new room.4 Plaintiffs never saw a spider or any other bugs in any of the rooms in which they stayed.5 During their visit, plaintiffs spent time off the Aulani property.

On the morning of their departure, Mr. Lackey noticed a small red mark on his right middle finger, which felt like it was tingling. Plaintiffs thought it looked like a bug bite. Plaintiffs did not mention the mark to any employee of the Aulani.

On October 21, 2011, plaintiffs stayed overnight in Portland, Oregon and then flew home to Phoenix on October 22, 2011. Over the next two days, Mr. Lackey's finger began to swell and became redder. On Monday, October 24, 2011, Mr. Lackey saw his primary care provider, Dr. Deb Grischo. Mr. Lackey testified that Dr. Grischo told him that he had “some kind of a bite, it could be a possible infection. She took a culture of it and put me on some antibiotics.”6 The lab culture revealed that Mr. Lackey had a Staphylococcus aureus infection.

Over the course of the week, Mr. Lackey's finger worsened and on Friday, October 28, 2011, he went to the emergency room. He was transferred to a different hospital, where Dr. Reece, a hand surgeon, performed surgery (radical debridement) to remove the infected tissue from Mr. Lackey’s finger. Due to an infection that developed, Dr. Reece performed a second “radical debridement of tissue that almost resulted in the loss of [Mr. Lackey’s] right middle finger.”7 Dr. Reece opined that Mr. Lackey’s wound was “consistent with what I’ve seen from brown recluse spider bites.”8 Dr. Reece also opined that Mr. Lackey’s “Staph aureus infection ... was consistent with a spider bite as 90 percent of spider bites will have a Staph aureus type contamination in their jaws.”9

On August 28, 2013, plaintiffs commenced this action in state court.. The action was subsequently removed to this court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. In their amended complaint, plain[852] tiffs assert a claim of negligence-premises liability, and Mrs. Lackey asserts a loss of consortium claim. Plaintiffs allege that defendants owed them a duty to ensure that the areas they occupied at the Aulani were free of dangerous spiders.10 Plaintiffs allege that defendants breached this duty of care by, among other things, failing to inform them of this dangerous condition, by failing to keep the premises free of dangerous spiders, and by failing to have an adequate pest control program.

The Aulani’s pest control program includes quarterly treatment of guestrooms for pests, including spiders.11 Tanya Peak Smith, referred to by plaintiffs as defendants’ internal pest control expert, acknowledged that this suggested that defendants “had an understanding that there could be venomous and nonvenomous spiders in guest rooms[.]”12 The guestrooms at the Aulani were treated on August 9 and August 23, 2011.13

The grounds of the Aulani are treated on a monthly basis for pests that may invade the indoors, including spiders.14 Peak Smith testified that she has “seen spiders on the Aulani property[.]”15 She testified that she saw “[g]arden spiders”, which are spiders that “mostly live outside. They build big elaborate webs, catch insects.” 16 Peak Smith testified that garden spiders are the only type of spider she has ever seen on the Aulani property and that unless “they were like on every single bush or something”, no particular treatment would be done.17 She testified that “one or two, which is all that I ever saw, you know, is not enough to do anything.”18 Peak Smith also testified that she had “read some papers” about reports of the Mediterranean recluse spider being present in Hawaii but had “never seen one or heard a complaint of one[.]”19

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Lackey v. Disney Vacation Development, Inc., 101 F. Supp. 3d 849, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42842, 2015 WL 1505832 (D. Ariz. 2015).

101 F. Supp. 3d 849 (Lackey v. Disney Vacation Development, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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