Rapoport v. Hume

157 N.E.2d 889, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 119, 1957 Ohio App. LEXIS 1008
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 16, 1957
DocketNo. 3917
StatusPublished

This text of 157 N.E.2d 889 (Rapoport v. Hume) 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
Rapoport v. Hume, 157 N.E.2d 889, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 119, 1957 Ohio App. LEXIS 1008 (Ohio Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

OPINION

By PHILLIPS, J.

On May 16. 1957, defendants owned and occupied a home in Youngstown, Ohio, to which they invited their nephew, a handicapped life long victim of cerebral palsy, aged forty years, to' spend the night as their guest,

[120]*120Defendant, Abraham Hume, assigned and accompanied his nephew to his room on the lowest level of his three level home, on which floor a bathroom was situated. The asphalt tile floor of this bathroom had been waxed and buffed with an electric buffing machine the day before. Such floor concededly was “more, slippier than when it isn’t waxed and polished” (sic).

A small cotton throw rug was placed on the bathroom which allegedly slipped as plaintiff later stepped upon it, injuring him for which injuries a jury in the court of common pleas returned a verdict in his favor for $15,000.00.

Upon defendants’ motion the trial judge entered judgment for defendants notwithstanding the verdict of the jury returned for plaintiff.

Plaintiff appealed from that judgment to this court on questions of law presenting the question whether the trial judge erred to plaintiff’s prejudice in entering such judgment for defendants.

Plaintiff cites the case of Scheibel v. Lipton, 156 Oh St 308, to secure a reversal of the judgment of the court of common pleas.

In the case of Scheibel v. Lipton, supra, the- jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff. The trial judge entered judgment upon the verdict. Defendant appealed to this court on the ground that the trial judge erred to his prejudice in overruling his motion for judgment to be entered in his favor notwithstanding the verdict of the jury entered against him. This court affirmed the judgment of the trial court. The supreme court reversed this court by a five to two decision saying in the third paragraph of the syllabus:—

“A host who invites a social guest to his premises owes the guest the duty (1) to exercise ordinary care not to cause injury to his guest by any act of the host or by any activities carried on by the host while the guest is on the premises, and (2) to warn the guest of any condition of the premises which is known to the host and which one of ordinary prudence and foresight in the position of the host should reasonably consider dangerous, if the host has reason to believe that the guest does not know and will not discover such dangerous condition.”

Plaintiff in this case relies heavily upon the foregoing paragraph of the syllabus in the Scheibel v. Lipton case.

In the case of Ayers v. Woodard, 166 Oh St 138, the second paragraph of the syllabus reads:—

“In order to sustain either a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a motion for a directed verdict, the evidence received upon the trial and the facts established by admissions in the pleadings and in the record must be construed most strongly in favor of the party against whom the motion is made, and, where there is substantial evidence to support his side of the case, upon which reasonable minds may reach different conclusions, the motion must be denied. Neither the weight of the evidence nor the credibility of the witnesses is for the court’s determination in disposing of either of such motions. (Paragraph two of the syllabus of McNees v. Cincinnati Street Ry. Co., 152 Oh St 269, and paragraph one of the syllabus of Durham v. Warner Elevator Mfg. Co., 166 Oh St 31, approved and followed.)”

[121]*121In the case of Rushton v. Winters, 200 Atlantic 60, 331 Pa. 78, likewise cited by plaintiff, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania said:—

“Where defendant knew that porch railing, was unsecure but failed to repair it, and visitor at defendant’s home fell from porch to concrete driveway nine feet below and was injured when railing gave way, defendant was liable for breach of duty to warn visitor of the unsafe condition of railing.”

In the case of Mitchell v. Legarsky, 60 Atlantic (2nd) 136, on which plaintiff likewise relies, the supreme court of New Hampshire said:—

“We are of the opinion that, under the evidence in this case, the plaintiff was a gratuitous licensee, or bare licensee, toward whom the defendants owed only a limited duty of care. ‘As stated in section 342, a possessor • owes to a bare licensee only a duty to exercise reasonable care to disclose to him dangerous defects which are known to him and likely to be undiscovered by the licensee.’ ”

It appears to us that the admonition to the host announced in the case of Scheibel v. Lipton, supra, applicable to the case we review, is:—

“* * * to warn the guest of any condition of the premises which is known to the host and which one of ordinary prudence and foresight in the position of the host should reasonably consider dangerous, if the host has reason to believe that the guest does not know and will not discover such dangerous condition.”

The announced duty of the host to warn the guest is based upon a dangerous condition of the premises known to the host which a guest of ordinary prudence and' foresight should reasonably consider dangerous, which condition the host has reason to believe the guest does not know and will not discover.

The question presented to us is whether defendant created a dangerous condition by placing a throw rug on a highly and recently polished and waxed tile floor.

The settled law seems to be as announced in the case of Bonawitt v. Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent’s Hospital, 43 Oh Ap 347, syllabus one:—

“Visitor slipping on waxed and polished hospital floor could not recover as matter of law, there being no evidence of negligence in method or materials used in waxing or polishing.”

Also see Boles v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 153 Oh St 381.

We discover no evidence of defendants’ negligence in the choice of waxing material nor in the method of its application.

This conclusion forthwith presents the question whether the placing of a throw rug on such floor created an unusual risk for plaintiff.

In the case of Jacobs v. Deshler-Wallick Hotel Co., 67 N. E. (2nd) 922, motion to certify which to the supreme court was overruled, the Court of Appeals of Franklin County held:—

“It is common knowledge that household rugs, in great numbers, possibly a majority of all rugs that are laid upon floors in homes, are placed on hardwood or other slippery wood surface, and the court may take judicial notice of such general and accepted practice.
“Hotel proprietor, following the general and accepted practice of placing rugs on slippery floor, was not chargeable with negligence.
[122]*122“In action by invitee against hotel proprietor for injuries sustained when invitee caught her foot in edge of heavy rug and fell, evidence in support of invitee's claim that rug was so dimly lighted that she was prevented from appreciating its presence and particularly the edge thereof, and that proprietor failed to exercise ordinary care in placing rug on slippery floor was insufficient for jury.”

It is observed that in the case Scheibel v.

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Bluebook (online)
157 N.E.2d 889, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 119, 1957 Ohio App. LEXIS 1008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rapoport-v-hume-ohioctapp-1957.