Rawlings v. Springwood Apartments of Columbus, Ltd.

125 N.E.3d 312, 2018 Ohio 4845
CourtCourt of Appeals of Ohio, Tenth District, Franklin County
DecidedDecember 6, 2018
DocketNo. 18AP-359
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 125 N.E.3d 312 (Rawlings v. Springwood Apartments of Columbus, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Ohio, Tenth District, Franklin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rawlings v. Springwood Apartments of Columbus, Ltd., 125 N.E.3d 312, 2018 Ohio 4845 (Ohio Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

SADLER, J.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, Lisa Rawlings, appeals from the judgment entry of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees, Springwood Apartments Columbus, Ltd. and Elon Property Management Company LLC ("Elon"), on appellant's statutory and common-law negligence claims. For the following reasons, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and *316remand the matter for further proceedings related to the statutory negligence claim.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{¶ 2} In October 2015, appellant moved into an apartment in a 64-unit complex owned and managed by appellees. Appellant's daughter also lived in the apartment and both women are on the lease. The apartment complex includes an uncovered, surface parking lot. Residents of the apartment complex are not assigned a parking spot; tenants and their guests are allowed to park in any open spot. A grassy area lies between appellant's apartment and the parking lot, and a walkway provides access from the apartment to the lot. "[Ninety] percent of the time," appellant would park her car in the first parking spot next to the walkway, which was the closest spot to her apartment. (Rawlings Dep. at 8, 9.) That parking spot was fronted by a concrete block parking barrier, also called a "wheel stop," centered and wholly contained within the lateral confines of that one parking space. (Rawlings Aff. at 1.) The other ten percent of the time appellant would park in "whichever space was available" in the lot. (Rawlings Dep. at 9.) According to appellant, some of those other spaces had a wheel stop and some did not, but she knew there were wheel stops at the parking lot of her apartment complex spaces generally and believed "[t]here are parking blocks in every parking lot." (Rawlings Dep. at 12.)

{¶ 3} On March 1, 2016, appellant's car was parked not in her usual first spot next to the walkway but in the second spot over from the walkway. The second spot from the walkway was also fronted by a wheel stop, but, unlike the first spot, it sat halfway in the second spot and halfway in the third spot, essentially forming a "T" with the white painted line that divided spot two from spot three. Another person's car was parked next to her in spot three.

{¶ 4} Appellant had parked her car in the second spot. In doing so, appellant had not noticed there was a wheel stop in front of the second spot at all and explained that in getting out of her car from the driver's side, she would not have noticed it because of where the wheel stop was situated. Appellant agreed that had she been looking straight ahead when she was pulling her car into the second spot, she would have been able to see the wheel stop; in other words, nothing prevented her from seeing the wheel stop while pulling in.

{¶ 5} At approximately 6:00 p.m. that evening, appellant and her daughter left their apartment to go to dinner. Because her daughter was going to drive appellant's car, appellant headed to the passenger side of the vehicle. Due to flooding in the parking lot behind her car, appellant cut through the grassy area to get to her car instead of taking the walkway and going around the back of her car. It was dark outside. According to appellant, while the grassy area on the other side of the walkway had lighting, the parking lot did not. Before she got to the passenger side door, appellant's right leg caught the wheel stop and she fell to the ground, sustaining numerous physical injuries including a broken arm, a lacerated knee, and injuries to her nose and teeth.

{¶ 6} According to appellant, she was looking "towards the white line," which she could see, and "towards the passenger side" of her car at the time of the fall. (Rawlings Dep. at 14.) At one point in her deposition, appellant stated "[i]f you walked with your head straight down * * *, I probably would've noticed [the wheel stop]" but then separately stated either she "[didn't] know" or was "not really sure" if she would have been able to see the wheel stop had she been looking in *317front of her while walking or that "shadows from the car" would have prevented her from seeing the wheel stop. (Rawlings Dep. at 14-15.) Appellant added she "would imagine * * * I would've noticed it probably about the time I hit it." (Rawlings Dep. at 15.) Appellant said she still lives at the apartment and is able to see the wheel stop she tripped over.

{¶ 7} The day following the accident, appellant's daughter informed Latearia Drumgo ("Drumgo"), the property manager for Elon, of the fall, and Drumgo viewed the area where the fall occurred, completed an incident report, and sent the report to her district manager. According to Drumgo and the service manager for Elon at the time, Alfred Riley ("Riley"), they make rounds of the property daily; Drumgo did not think the parking lot was flooded on the day of the accident. Both Drumgo and Riley believed there is lighting in the parking lot.

{¶ 8} According to Elon's District Manager Michael Bagby ("Bagby"), appellees were not the original owners and managers of the complex, but, rather, the property had been bought and sold multiple times since its initial construction in 1984. Riley and Drumgo were not sure about the exact history of the wheel stops, but both stated the wheel stops were in place since they began working at the property (which preceded appellant's arrival as a tenant), and at no point had wheel stops been removed or added during their tenures. Both Riley and Drumgo also believed the position of the wheel stops-half in one space and half in another space-is consistent throughout the property. Drumgo, Riley, and Bagby stated the purpose of a wheel stop is to prevent cars from rolling onto the grass or into buildings. Appellant had never complained or expressed concern about the positioning of the wheel stops previously, and appellees never received any complaint about the wheel stops and never had an instance where someone was injured because of one.

{¶ 9} On November 1, 2016, appellant filed a complaint alleging common law and Ohio landlord-tenant statutory negligence claims against appellees arising out of a "misplaced cement parking barrier" that caused her to fall and fracture her upper arm and have severe injuries to her teeth, knee, and head including a concussion, contusion of the voice box, and facial lacerations.1 (Nov. 1, 2016 Compl. at 1.)

{¶ 10} After appellant was deposed, appellees filed a motion for summary judgment on January 24, 2018 arguing: (1) appellant's negligence claim fails because the wheel stop was open and obvious; (2) there were no attendant circumstances, such as a shadow from a car or the general darkness outside, to prevent the open and obvious nature of the wheel stop; and (3) Ohio's landlord-tenant law is inapplicable since "there are no sections in R.C. 5321.01(A) that can be applied to a 'misplaced' cement parking barrier." (Jan. 24, 2018 Mot. for Summ. Jgmt. at 8.) Appellees *318pointed to appellant's deposition in support of summary judgment.

{¶ 11} On March 14, 2018, appellant filed a memorandum in opposition to appellees' motion for summary judgment arguing appellees were negligent by positioning a wheel stop, a known tripping hazard, in the aisle between adjacent parking spots where pedestrians are expected to walk.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 N.E.3d 312, 2018 Ohio 4845, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rawlings-v-springwood-apartments-of-columbus-ltd-ohctapp10frankl-2018.