Washburn v. Lawrence County Board of Commissioners

720 F.3d 347, 2013 WL 2321342, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10732
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMay 29, 2013
Docket12-4011
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 720 F.3d 347 (Washburn v. Lawrence County Board of Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Washburn v. Lawrence County Board of Commissioners, 720 F.3d 347, 2013 WL 2321342, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10732 (6th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge.

Ashley Washburn sued the Lawrence County Commissioners and Attitude Aviation after an airplane-hangar door blew off during a storm and seriously injured her. All parties moved for summary judgment, and the district court granted Lawrence County’s and Attitude Aviation’s motions and denied Washburn’s motion. The district court held that the County and Attitude owed no duty of care to Washburn because they had no control over the airplane hangar. Washburn appeals the district court’s judgment. We AFFIRM the district court.

I.

On July 20, 2008, Ashley Washburn was seriously injured when the door of an airplane hangar, T-hangar 12, blew off and hit her in the face and torso during a storm at an airpark owned by Lawrence County and operated by Attitude Aviation. The airpark consisted of a runway, a row of T-hangars, a row of “box” hangars, a fixed-base operator office, a maintenance hangar, and a tractor shed. The County had leased the T-hangars to individual airplane owners and, since 2002, it had leased the grounds of the airpark to Attitude Aviation.

Cleo Watson had leased T-hangar 12 for over twenty years and the lease was in effect at the time of the accident. In the lease, Watson agreed to assure that his “aircraft and other items incidental to the operation of said aircraft are kept in a safe, clean condition at all times so as not to risk the safety or hinder the operations of other tenants or persons on airport property.” Watson also agreed to be “responsible for damages to the (original open Hangar configuration) or (Hangar that has walls and doors)” and not to “destroy, deface, impair, or remove any part of said Hangar.” Watson was allowed to make “[pjhysical or structural improvements,” as long as the County approved.

Twenty years ago, the previous airpark operators instructed Watson to install doors on his T-hangar at his own expense in exchange for a reduced monthly rent and a lifetime lease. Watson understood that the doors would remain with the hangar if he ever decided to vacate the premises. The doors were twenty to twenty-four feet wide and mounted on hanging tracks so that they could be opened fully. The “[l]ocks were mounted on hasps at the centerline of the doors, and two steel pins or bolts at the bottom of each door inserted into a hole cut into the concrete.” Watson testified that on one or two occasions children tried to break into the hangar and that they removed the steel pins in the bottom of the door. Watson testified that he had replaced the pins.

T-hangar 9 is leased by Larry Lemaster, the owner of Tri-State Skydivers. Lemas-ter operated Tri-State Skydivers from his hangar. Clients and friends of Tri-State Skydivers, Washburn among them, often congregated outside of the hangar, eating and socializing between jumps.

The rest of the grounds were leased by Attitude Aviation, who acted as the air- *350 park’s fixed-base operator. In its agreement with the County, Attitude agreed to comply with “all FAA regulations and local, state and federal law,” and to enforce “airport rules, supervise] safety programs, perform! ] needs assessments, promote] community support, train[ ] employees, [provide] accounting and financial services, and ground care.” 1 The County did not assign Attitude any of the hangar leases, and Attitude had to enter into a separate lease for the maintenance hangar. In an addendum from January 31, 2002, the County and Attitude agreed that hangar leases with airport tenants would be negotiated between the tenant, the County, and Attitude Aviation. However, deposition testimony revealed that despite Attitude’s repeated requests, Attitude was never included in any of the hangar lease negotiations or lease renewals. Even though Attitude leased the grounds, the County also permitted a soccer team to practice on part of the airpark field at no charge.

In addition to the County-Attitude lease, sometime after 2001 the County began accepting federal grant money through the Federal Aviation Administration to assist with a few airpark projects, such as a drainage ditch project. The County received $150,000 in grant funds. Grant recipients are required to make certain grant assurances, including that the grantee will “operate and maintain in a safe and serviceable condition the Airport and all facilities thereon and connected therewith which are necessary to serve the aeronautical users of the airport....” An Airport Compliance Handbook (FAA Order 5190.6B) provides additional detail on the structures that the grant assurances cover.

On July 20, 2008, Washburn arrived at the airpark with no intention to skydive. Instead, she wanted to socialize with the Tri-State Skydiving group. That evening, the winds picked up at the airpark, and Washburn helped the skydiving group take down some of the tents and bring TriState’s gear back into the hangar. While she was assisting, T-hangar 12’s door flew off its hinges and over the other hangars and hit Washburn, causing serious injuries including facial fractures, skull fractures, a traumatic brain injury, and a spleen laceration.

In June 2010, Washburn sued Attitude and the Lawrence County Commissioners, alleging two claims of negligence, one under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Washburn filed a partial summary-judgment motion, arguing that Attitude and the County had owed her a duty of ordinary care and that they had breached that duty. The County and Attitude responded with their own motions for summary judgment. The district court denied Washburn’s motion for partial summary judgment and granted the County’s and Attitude’s motions. Washburn appealed, arguing that the district court erred and that as a matter of law the County and Attitude owed her a duty of ordinary care, which they breached because they never inspected the hangar doors.

II.

We review grants of summary judgment de novo. Dowling v. Cleveland *351 Clinic Found., 593 F.3d 472, 477 (6th Cir.2010). Summary judgment is proper if the materials in the record “show[ ] that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The court must draw all inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

This is a diversity case and both parties agree that Ohio law applies.

III.

Washburn argues that “courts uniformly recognize that the landowner or property manager typically has at least some control” over the premises when the defective condition that causes injury is on the exterior of a leased space. In support of this argument Washburn cites one Ohio case, Friedl v. Lackman, 136 Ohio St. 110, 23 N.E.2d 950, 951 (1939), and cases from Arizona and California.

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720 F.3d 347, 2013 WL 2321342, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washburn-v-lawrence-county-board-of-commissioners-ca6-2013.