Sealey-Christian v. Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Inc.

52 V.I. 410
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedNovember 23, 2009
DocketS. Ct. Civ. No. 2008-062
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 52 V.I. 410 (Sealey-Christian v. Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sealey-Christian v. Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Inc., 52 V.I. 410 (virginislands 2009).

Opinion

[414]*414OPINION OF THE COURT

(November 23, 2009)

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY2

SWAN, J.

On November 8, 2002, between 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., Joan Sealey-Christian (“Appellant” or “Sealey-Christian”) was traversing the sidewalk in the rear section of Sunny Isle Shopping Center, (“Appellee” or “Sunny Isle”) in Christiansted, St. Croix on her way to her vehicle in the parking lot. Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Inc. is the owner and lessor of the Sunny Isle Shopping Center. On the same day, Kiddie Time, Inc. d/b/a Little Shoes (“Kiddie Time”) was one of numerous lessees of commercial space at Sunny Isle. A metal service door provides access to the rear of the Kiddie Time Store. (J.A. at 87.) This metal door opened outward, and when in the open position, it encroached upon the rear sidewalk adjacent to Kiddie Time. {Id. at 85, 97.) The metal service door’s interior doorknob had been missing for a few days and possibly up to a week; consequently, a sharp piece of metal for the doorknob was protruding from the door. {Id. at 87.) The trial record reveals that the metal service door was opened infrequently or approximately once per week or less. {Id. at 87, 164.) Appellant has walked in this area of Sunny Isle for approximately thirty-five years and never has seen the metal service door open. {Id. at 190.)

During her walk, Appellant occasionally looked down towards her feet, because it was drizzling and the rain was making her pathway wet. {Id. at 70.) Therefore, she wanted to avoid falling. {Id.) As Appellant approached the metal service door, it unexpectedly opened, causing Appellant to collide with the door, injuring her shoulder. {Id. at 70.)

Appellant sustained a cut from the door, accompanied by excruciating pain in the area of her injury. {Id. at 73.) Appellant visited the local hospital’s emergency room later that day and has seen one other doctor concerning the injury she sustained. She also has visited a rehabilitation center for medical treatment of her injury. {Id. at 195.)

[415]*415Jason Tuitt (“Tuitt”), an employee of a security firm hired by Appellee, was one of two security guards on duty the day of Appellant’s accident. Tuitt testified in his deposition that he normally walks pass the rear of Kiddie Time at least twice a day. (J.A. 158.) Tuitt’s main duties included patrolling and inspecting the exterior and common areas of Sunny Isle, as well as areas inside the various stores in the shopping center. (Id. at 160.) Tuitt would also report unsafe or dangerous conditions he discovered to the individual store owners or to Sunny Isle’s management. (Id.) Tuitt did not notice anything unusual with Kiddie Time’s rear metal service door. (Id. at 162.) David Glasgow (“Glasgow”), Appellee’s maintenance manager of physical assets at Sunny Isle, is Sunny Isle’s contact person to whom security personnel would normally report any unsafe condition they discovered on the premises. (Id. at 162.) Glasgow stated that if there was a problem with Kiddie Time’s rear door, and it needed to be repaired or replaced, it is the lessee’s responsibility to make the needed repairs. (Id. at 184.) Eulogio Ruiz (“Ruiz”), owner of Kiddie Time, never informed Appellee about the missing doorknob. (Id. at 85, 93.)

The commercial lease between Sunny Isle, Lessor, and Kiddie Time, Lessee, provides that Kiddie Time is responsible for all repairs to “the doors.”3 Unlike the doors to the front entrance of Kiddie Time, the metal service door at the rear entrance of the store was part of the premises when Sunny Isle and Kiddie Time consummated their lease agreement.4 [416]*416(J.A. at 93.) The lease agreement contains various clauses that regulate the use of the premises, regulate repairs to the premises, regulate liability considerations concerning Sunny Isle’s walkways, and regulate use of the sidewalk adjacent to Kiddie Time. Among these clauses is one that makes Kiddie Time responsible for maintaining in “good order, condition and repair” doors and entrances. (Id. at 121-22.) However, the lease simultaneously gave Sunny Isle the right to enter Kiddie Time’s premises at any reasonable time to inspect and to make repairs.5 Further, the lease regulated the time and place of deliveries to Kiddie Time, by providing that “loading and unloading of goods, shall be made only by way of the rear of the Demised Premises or at any other reasonable location designated by the Lessor, and only at such reasonable time designated for such purpose by Lessor[.]” (Id. at 152.)

Several persons hired by Appellee regularly patrol its premises. Security personnel patrol the premises on a daily basis, including the premises surrounding Kiddie Time. (J.A. at 94.) Similarly, Appellee’s maintenance personnel patrol the premises on a daily basis, including the area around Kiddie Time. (Id. at 91, 168.) Additionally, maintenance personnel inspect the exterior of the building “pretty often[;]” at least once per month. (Id. at 166.) Finally, the personnel who clean Sunny Isle were also “walking the [C]enter . . . most of the day . . . .” (Id. at 177.)

On December 10, 2002, Appellant filed her Complaint in the Superior Court against both Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Inc. and Kiddie Time, [417]*417Inc.,6 alleging, among other things, that the premises were unsafe because, when in the open position, the metal service door encroached upon the sidewalk with a broken piece of metal protruding from the door’s interior door knob. (J.A. at 31.) Appellant made similar allegations in her Deposition (see, e.g., id. at 70.) and in her Responses to Appellee’s Interrogatories, (see, e.g., id. at 202.). Also, Appellant alleged that Appellee had failed to provide any warning about the unsafe condition on its premises. (Id. at 32.) In its Answer to the Complaint, Appellee responded, in pertinent part, that it “is not responsible for [Appellant’s] injuries[,]... was not negligent,... [and that Appellant’s] own fault and carelessness was the cause of his [sic] injuries[.]” (Id. at 33-34.)

Subsequently, on October 12, 2004, Appellee filed a Motion for Summary Judgment wherein Appellee stated that it could be held liable “only if it owed a legal duty to plaintiff on the facts alleged in the complaint.” (J.A. at 37.) Appellee argued that “an open door on the sidewalk” was not a dangerous condition that merits a warning, and that Appellant has provided no direct evidence to disprove that contention. Likewise, Appellee contended that Appellant “will be incapable at trial to present any evidence whatsoever slight,” to show that the open door was the proximate cause of Appellant’s accident. (Id. at 39-40, 43.) Appellee also stated that the open metal service door was a known or obvious danger. (Id. at 41.)

In Appellant’s Opposition to Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Inc.’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Appellant argued that the trial court should not grant Appellee’s Motion because of the existence of three genuine issues of material fact; namely, (1) “whether Sunny Isle failed to keep its sidewalk safe[,]” (2) “whether such failure proximately caused [Appellant’s] injuries[,]” and (3) “whether the danger of the door encroaching upon the sidewalk was known or dangerous.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 V.I. 410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sealey-christian-v-sunny-isle-shopping-center-inc-virginislands-2009.