Ratcliff v. Rainbow Casino-Vicksburg Partnership, L.P.

914 So. 2d 762, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 792, 2005 WL 2851750
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 1, 2005
DocketNo. 2004-CA-01211-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 914 So. 2d 762 (Ratcliff v. Rainbow Casino-Vicksburg Partnership, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ratcliff v. Rainbow Casino-Vicksburg Partnership, L.P., 914 So. 2d 762, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 792, 2005 WL 2851750 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

IRVING, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. Sarah Ratcliff sustained injuries when she fell at the Rainbow Casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and consequently sued Rainbow for her injuries. At the [764]*764completion of discovery, the court below granted Rainbow’s motion for summary judgment. Feeling aggrieved, Ratcliff appeals, arguing that (1) Mississippi should hold casinos to a higher standard of care than other businesses, (2) the stool she tripped over was inherently dangerous or, (3) in the alternative, Mississippi should adopt a requirement that all premises liability claims must go to a jury.

¶ 2. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Ratcliff was gambling at the Rainbow Casino in Vicksburg on March 13, 2001, when she tripped over a stool1 and fell, breaking her hip. Ratcliff was seventy years old at the time of the accident and had been sitting on the same stool for five or six hours, taking breaks only to cash in her tickets or to use the restroom. Rat-cliff consequently sued Rainbow Casino for damages, alleging that Rainbow was negligent in not providing a reasonably safe premises. After discovery, the court below granted Rainbow’s motion for summary judgment.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 4. We employ a de novo standard when reviewing a lower court’s grant of summary judgment. McMillan v. Rodriguez, 823 So.2d 1173, 1176-77(¶9) (Miss.2002). All evidence in the record will be viewed in a light most favorable to the party against whom summary judgment has been entered. Id. Summary judgment will only be affirmed where the non-moving party fails to present any genuine issue of material fact. Id. The burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact rests on the moving party. Id.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

(1) The standard of care owed by casinos

¶ 5. Ratcliff urges this Court to find that casinos should be held to a higher standard of care than other businesses. The current standard of care owed by casinos is “to keep the premises reasonably safe, and when not reasonably safe to warn only where there is hidden danger or peril that is not in plain and open view.” McGovern v. Scarborough, 566 So.2d 1225, 1228 (Miss.1990). This standard applies not only to casinos, but to all business owners. Although numerous Mississippi cases have applied this standard to casinos,2 Ratcliff urges this Court to adopt a new strict liability standard for casinos. Under this standard, a casino would be hable for any injury suffered by its patrons, regardless of fault.3 Ratcliff believes casinos should be held to this higher standard because of the “physical and psychological manipulation of the casino environment.”

[765]*765,¶ 6. We decline to apply a new standard of strict liability to casinos. Rat-cliff has provided no authority to support her argument that strict liability should be applied to casinos. No Mississippi case has ever applied strict liability to a casino. Ratcliff cites a passage from the Restatement Second of Torts that is not directly on point, t\yo dissenting opinions, and other cases that state only the current standard of care owed by casinos. None of these sources provide support for this Court to apply a standard of strict liability to casinos. Under Mississippi law, “failure to cite case law in support of an argument precludes this Court from considering the assignment of error on appeal.” Farm Services, Inc. v. Oktibbeha County Bd. of Supervisor 860 So.2d 804, 810(¶24) (Miss.2003) (citing Hewlett v. State, 607 So.2d 1097, 1107 (Miss.1992)). Therefore, Ratcliff has not presented a valid argument for this Court to review.

¶ 7. We do note, however, that even if the authorities cited by Ratcliff were assumed to be sufficient to overcome the aforementioned procedural bar, we would still decline to impose a standard of strict liability on casinos. Ratcliff argues that casinos are inherently different from other businesses, such as grocery stores, because it is the purpose of a casino to “seduce the invitee to get lost in time and space and to create the [sic] ‘magical effects’ and ‘dream-like state’.” However, Ratcliff fails to point out the examples that are more on point: bars, movie theaters, museums, musicals, nightclubs, amusement parks, state fairs, etc. All these businesses rely on being able to attract and keep customers entertained for hours. All these businesses employ flashy attractions designed to keep customers riveted. All do so for profit. According to Ratcliffs reasoning, all these businesses should therefore have a standard of strict liability imposed upon them. We see no reason to ignore established Mississippi premises liability law and impose a standard of strict liability on casinos and other-similar businesses.

(¾) Summary judgment and inherent danger of stools

¶ 8. Ratcliff also argues that summary judgment was improperly granted in her case because she presented a genuine issue of material fact regarding the inherent safety of the stools employed by Rainbow. We find this argument is without merit. The stools used by Rainbow were standard stools used not only by numerous casinos, but also by any number of other businesses across the country. Ratcliff claimed in her affidavit that the stools were dangerous in part because they did not have backs and that the other casinos she visited had backed stools. However, Ratcliff herself contradicted this statement in her deposition where she testified as follows:

Q. Do you always go to the Rainbow?
A. No. I sometimes go to Harrahs. [sic]
Q. Sometimes Harrahs. [sic] Does Har-rahs [sic] use the same type of stools Rainbow does?
Á. I never have looked at the stools down there. I just sat on them. They probably do.
Q. They look about the same?
A. Uh-huh. [Affirmative].

Ratcliff also offered no evidence to substantiate her claim that stools with backs are easier to occupy or have safer legs. No experts were deposed to support Rat-cliffs claim that backed stools are safer than backless stools. No evidence was presented as to the actual practices of casinos and other businesses and whether the style of stool that Ratcliff was sitting on is considered to be dangerous.

[766]*766¶ 9. More than once Ratcliff alleges, but offered no proof, that Rainbow later replaced the style of stool over which she tripped. Ratcliff does not address the fact that even if she had proof of this, it would be inadmissible at trial under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 407, which bars evidence of subsequent remedial measures when offered to prove negligence. Such evidence is only admissible to prove other facts, such as control, ownership, or feasibility (none of which Ratcliff alleges as an issue). Therefore, we accord little weight to Ratcliffs bare assertion that Rainbow replaced its stools because the previous stools were dangerous.

¶ 10.

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Bluebook (online)
914 So. 2d 762, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 792, 2005 WL 2851750, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ratcliff-v-rainbow-casino-vicksburg-partnership-lp-missctapp-2005.