Robbins v. Romad Co.

Superior Court of Maine·Decided October 14, 2011·No. KENcv-10-114·Unpublished

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT KENNEBEC, ss. CIVIL ACTION Docket No. CV-10-)14

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KEITH ROBBINS and JOSEPHINE ROBBINS, individually and as parents and next friends of KEVIN ROBBINS, a minor, Plaintiffs DECISION AND ORDER

V. ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ROMAD COMPANY, L.P., Defendant

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, made pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 56, with respect to Plaintiff's Complaint alleging that Defendant's negligence was the proximate cause of injuries sustained by their son, Kevin Robbins.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs Keith and Josephine Robbins ("Plaintiffs") are the parents and next friends of their son Kevin Robbins ("Kevin"), a minor. The Defendant, Romad Company, L.P. ("Romad"), operates a McDonald's franchise restaurant located at 85 Bangor Street in Augusta, Maine.

The lawsuit stems from injuries Kevin sustained on January 23, 2009, while playing on a slide in the Playplace of Romad's restaurant. On that day, Plaintiffs claim that Kevin went down the slide but stopped short, requiring him to stand up and walk to the end. They further allege that he jumped or stepped from the slide onto the floor,

slipping and injuring himself as a result. At the time of the incident, both Plaintiffs were sitting in a booth near the Playhouse equipment. Keith witnessed the fall. Josephine did not see the fall but witnessed the immediate aftermath of the fall.

When Romad first began operating the McDonald's restaurant, the Playplace and the slide in question already existed at the location. Neither Romad nor McDonald's designed or manufactured any of the Playplace equipment, including the slide. The slide has remained unchanged since Romad began to operate the McDonald's restaurant. A safety specialist inspects the Playplace annually and has never recommended any repairs or modifications to the slide. The distance from the edge of the slide to the floor is slightly less than 13 inches. There is a sign prominently displayed in the Playplace that states: "ALL CHILDREN MUST BE SUPERVISED BY A PARENT OR OTHER ADULT AND MUST NOT BE LEFf UNSUPERVISED." Plaintiffs admit that, at no time, was Kevin left unsupervised. Just before the fall, Keith saw Kevin stand up and walk to the edge of the slide. He was not concerned for his safety nor did he get up to help Kevin off the slide.

In support of their claims, Plaintiffs rely on the report of David Dodge, a safety expert, who spent 30 minutes watching the slide and observed approximately 10 children using the slide. He noted that about half of the children chose to push themselves to the edge while seated, while the other half chose to stand up and walk or run to the edge. Dodge observed that none of the children fell during his inspection, but that "there was the potential to do so due to the fact that the slide surface is, intentionally, smooth, slippery and rounded ... A step on the rounded side of the slide or a step when the child's body weight is not directly over the child's foot could cause an unbalancing and,

as a result, a fall. Both of these events are entirely foreseeable." Additionally, Plaintiffs rely on their own observation that the floor surrounding the slide was "insufficiently padded." 1 On June 28, 2010, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint against Romad alleging that the "construction, maintenance, supervision and/or absence of appropriate warnings associated with the slide apparatus were negligent," proximately causing Kevin to sustain certain injuries. Additionally, that "as a legal and proximate result of Defendant's negligence ... Plaintiffs sustained emotional distress and related damages as bystanders to the accident." Although Plaintiffs are not explicit in identifying their claims, the Court treats these as claims for premises liability, negligent failure to supervise and/or warn, products liability, and negligent infliction of emotional distress on a bystander. On April 13, 2011, Romad filed the present motion for summary judgment.

DISCUSSION

I. Summary Judgment standard Summary judgment is appropriate when review of the parties' statements of material facts and the record evidence demonstrate that there is no dispute over any genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. M.R. Civ. P. 56( c); Beal v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2010 ME 20, ~ 11,989 A.2d 733. A fact is material if it can affect the outcome of the case. Dyer v. Dep't ofTransp., 2008 ME 106, ~ 14,951 A.2d 821 (citation omitted). A genuine issue of fact exists when

1 The padding issue was not raised in the Complaint, but was raised in Plaintiff's Counter Statement of Material Facts.

"sufficient evidence requires a fact-finder to choose between competing versions of the truth at trial." Parrish v. Wright, 2003 ME 90,' 8, 828 A.2d 778 (citation and quotation omitted).

To withstand a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must establish a prima facie case for each element of the claim. Watt v. UniFirst Corp., 2009 ME 47,' 21,969 A.2d 897 (citation omitted). Although summary judgment is usually inappropriate for deciding factual issues, it is appropriate "if the non-moving party rests merely upon conclusory allegations, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation." Flaherty v. Muther, 2011 ME 32,' 51, 17 A.3d 640 (citation and quotation omitted). In testing the propriety of a summary judgment motion, the facts are considered in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Lightfoot v. Sch. Admin. Dist. No. 35,2003 ME 24,' 6, 816 A.2d 63 (citation omitted).

II. Is Romad entitled to summary judgment on the issue of premises liability?

A prima facie case for premises liability, as with any negligence claim, consists of duty, breach of that duty, causation, and damages. Durham v. HTH Corp., 2005 ME 53,' 8, 870 A.2d 577 (citation omitted). A possessor of land generally owes to invitees a duty of "reasonable care in providing reasonably safe premises." Milliken v. City of Lewiston, 580 A.2d 151, 152 (Me. 1990) (citation and quotation omitted)?

The extent of the duty owed depends on whether an alleged dangerous condition is obvious or not. First, a possessor of land does not have a duty to protect invitees from

2 In defining the duty of a landowner, the Law Court has abolished the distinction between invitees and licensees. Poulin v. Colby Coll., 402 A.2d 846 (Me. 1979).

a dangerous condition on his land that is known or obvious unless the possessor should foresee the harm despite its obviousness. Isaacson v. Husson Coll., 297 A.2d 98, 105 (Me. 1972) (adopting Restatement (Second) of Torts,§ 343A(l)). A condition is obvious if "both the condition and the risk are apparent to and would be recognized by a reasonable man, in the position of the visitor, exercising ordinary perception, intelligence, and judgment." Grover v. Boise Cascade Corp., 2003 ME 45, ~ 7, 819 A.2d 322 (citation and quotation omitted).

Alternatively, a possessor of land has a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect his invitees against any condition involving an "unreasonable risk of harm" that he knows or should know about, and that invitees are unlikely to discover or protect themselves against (non-obvious conditions). Isaacson, 297 A.2d at 104-105 (adopting Restatement (Second) of Torts,§ 343)? See also Franklin v. Maine Amusement Co., 133 Me. 203, 205, 175 A. 305, 306 (1934) (Possessor of land owes invitee a duty to keep premises "free from all hidden defects, which by the exercise of reasonable care could have been discovered and guarded against."). 4

3 For simplicity, the Court here depicts § 343 in terms of duty owed. Section 343 actually defines premises liability in terms of overall liability:

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