Mariano v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority

6 Am. Tribal Law 492
CourtMohegan Gaming Disputes Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 2, 2006
DocketNo. GDCA-T-05-500
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Am. Tribal Law 492 (Mariano v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mariano v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, 6 Am. Tribal Law 492 (Mo. 2006).

Opinion

DECISION ON APPEAL

WILSON, Judge.

The plaintiff initiated this civil action to recover damages for personal injuries he sustained in a fall at the Mohegan Sun Casino, a gaming facility operated by the Defendant. From a judgment in favor of the defendant, the Plaintiff appealed to this Court. We affirm.

I.

The background and the findings of fact as reported in the decision of the trial [494]*494court (Mariano v. MTGA, 2 G.D.R. 130, 6 Am. Tribal Law 541, 2005 WL 0238998 (2005) (Eagan, J.)) are as follows:

BACKGROUND
At approximately 10:00 p.m. on February 1, 2003, the plaintiff, AJcides Mariano, was a patron at the Mohegan Sun Gaming Casino. While walking through the entrance way to the Sky Casino, he fell, landing on his right hand, wrist and forearm, which resulted in severe injuries.
The plaintiff claims that the defendant, Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (“MTGA”) was negligent in that the floor to the entrance way was covered with litter, debris and other substances, which were allowed to remain there creating an unsafe condition. The defendant has admitted that the plaintiff was a patron/invitee lawfully on the premises operated, maintained and controlled by the defendant. The defendant denies the allegation that the cause of the injury was negligence on its part and filed a special defense relying on contributory negligence and the actions of a third party.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. On February 1, 2003, at approximately 10:00 p.m., the plaintiff was a patron/invitee at the Mohegan Sun Gaming Casino.
2. While walking in the entrance to the Sky Casino, he fell, severely injuring his right hand, wrist and forearm. His right arm is his major arm.
3. All of the evidence introduced, including the video of the incident, clearly showed that the area of the fall was clean and in a litter and substance free condition.
4. The plaintiffs fall, while regrettable, was not attributable to litter, debris or-any substance on the floor.
5. While the plaintiff was walking through the entry way, he was inadvertently bumped by a female patron, which diverted his attention and resulted in the fall.
6. Plaintiff stated to the security officer, who arrived on the scene of the fall within minutes after the incident, that “another person bumped into him causing him to lose his footing and fall to the ground injuring his right wrist.” The same security officer also noted no defects and that the area was clean of debris.
7. Plaintiffs resulting injuries were severe; he lost time from work and his disabilities are not exaggerated.

The video to which the court referred was a copy of portions of a digitally recorded surveillance video. Such surveillance videos are routinely made and cover large areas of the casino. (See the opinion of this court in Miller v. MTGA, 1 G.D.A.P. 39, 6 Am. Tribal Law 487, 2006 WL 6174089 (2006)). After the plaintiff's fall was reported, the video was “dubbed” (copied) onto a video tape. Approximately two minutes of time following the plaintiffs fall is missing from the video tape. The video in this case showed the scene of the fall for a period of time prior to the fall, and the plaintiffs fall. A copy of the tape was subsequently turned over to plaintiffs counsel and was introduced by the plaintiff during the trial.

At trial, the plaintiff proffered the testimony of one Mr. Gil, a private investigator hired by the plaintiff. In his offer of proof the plaintiff asserted that Mr. Gil would testify that he visited the scene of the plaintiffs fall on about eight occasions, approximately two years after the plaintiff fell. Mr. Gil documented debris on the floor on each of those occasions. The plaintiff offered this testimony as relevant [495]*495to a continuing course of conduct, or, (as the plaintiff now phrases it) a method of operation of the defendant, which would tend to prove that there was debris on the floor when the plaintiff fell. The court granted the defendant’s motion in limine to preclude Mr. Gil’s testimony, on the grounds that his observations two years after the fact were not relevant, i.e., that the inference which the plaintiff sought would be based on possibilities, surmise, or conjecture, and therefore, inadmissible. Hennessey v. Hennessey, 145 Conn. 211, 214-215, 140 A.2d 473 (1958).

The trial court found that:

[There] was no evidence of any debris or substance on the floor where the plaintiff fell. The video tape introduced in evidence shows a clear floor.
The video also shows the plaintiffs attention being diverted when he was accidentally bumped by a female patron and then the subsequent fall....
There is no evidence from which the court can conclude that the defendant was negligent or in any way breached a duty owed to this plaintiff.

From the judgment entered for the defendant, the plaintiff has appealed.

II.

On appeal the plaintiff assigns as grounds for reversal two rulings of the trial court. First, that the “trial court erred in refusing to allow the plaintiff to present evidence concerning the defendant’s method of operation,” i.e., in excluding the testimony of Mr. Gil; and second, “that the trial court erred in drawing an inference from the defendant’s video tape.”

A.

1.

The plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in excluding the testimony of Mr. Gil, who would have, according to the offer of proof, testified that when he inspected the defendant’s premises approximately two years after the plaintiffs fall, he observed,- on about eight different occasions, debris on the floor in the area where the plaintiff fell. The plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in relying on Hennessey v. Hennessey, Id, because the Hennessey court made a distinction between the duty of care which a defendant owes to a social guest as distinct from a business invitee. Here, unlike Hennessey, the plaintiff was a business invitee, and at the time Hennessey was decided, a higher degree of care was owed to the business invitee than was owed to a social guest.1

That distinction is immaterial to the issue in this case. Here the trial court correctly found that the plaintiff was a business invitee to whom the defendant owed the higher degree of care and the court properly restated the standard of care owed to the plaintiff. 2 G.D.R. 136, 137, 6 Am. Tribal Law 541, 2005 WL 6238993. That standard is to inspect the premises and keep them reasonably safe. Id Neither the plaintiff nor the defendant in this case dispute that. Rather, the issue here is the relevancy of Mr. Gil’s testimony. The Hennessey court’s discussion of the relevancy issue was completely independent of the issue of the standard of care owed by the defendant. The rule as to relevancy is the same whether the plaintiff is a social guest or a business invitee; indeed, it would be the same even if a particular plaintiff were a mere licensee or even a trespasser.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hennessey v. Hennessey
140 A.2d 473 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1958)
Esposito v. Hospital of St. Raphael
111 A.2d 545 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1955)
Meek v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
806 A.2d 546 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2002)
Miller v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority
6 Am. Tribal Law 487 (Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court of Appeals, 2006)
Mariano v. Ohegan Tribal Gaming Authority
6 Am. Tribal Law 541 (Mohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 Am. Tribal Law 492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mariano-v-mohegan-tribal-gaming-authority-mohegangctapp-2006.