Wilson v. Norristown Area School District

42 Pa. D. & C.4th 160, 1999 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 136
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County
DecidedJuly 30, 1999
Docketno. 94-09819
StatusPublished

This text of 42 Pa. D. & C.4th 160 (Wilson v. Norristown Area School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Norristown Area School District, 42 Pa. D. & C.4th 160, 1999 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 136 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1999).

Opinion

ALBRIGHT, J.,

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiffs initiated this action by complaint filed on August 25,1994, alleging that Littissia Wilson, a minor, sustained serious injuries to her face, mouth, teeth, and chin, when she fell on an indoor staircase while participating in a drill during a field hockey practice on October 21, 1993. Defendant, John Meissner, an adult individual, was employed as a coach at the East Norriton Middle School and was supervising the aforementioned field hockey practice when Ms. Wilson was injured. Initially, the practice was held outside, but inclement weather necessitated that Meissner move the practice indoors. Inside the East Norriton Middle School gymnasium, the field hockey team first played a relay tag game. Thereafter, coach Meissner divided the girls into two teams and directed that they go to one of two wings of the building at which site staircases were located. The girls were instructed to participate in a tag race whereby they would start at the bottom of one set of stairs, climb a series of 13 steps, run through a hallway, down two steps, continue running along a wall, finally descending a second set of stairs to tag another girl waiting at the bottom. Ms. Wilson was descending the stairs on the last leg of the race when she lost her footing and stumbled down the remaining four to five stairs, falling to the floor and causing her to sustain the injuries complained of.

A jury trial was conducted before the undersigned on October 14 through 16, 1998, and, at the conclusion of [162]*162the plaintiffs’ case in chief, the court granted a compulsory nonsuit against the plaintiffs and in favor of the defendants. The court, giving the plaintiffs the benefit of every reasonable inference and resolving all of the evidentiary facts in their favor, was constrained to find no liability on the part of the defendants, as the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any theory of recovery within any of the enumerated exceptions to governmental immunity as set forth in the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §8541 et seq., specifically the real property exception, 42 Pa.C.S. §8542(b)(3), which might otherwise allow them to prevail against either the defendant Norristown Area School District or its agent and employee, John Meissner.

On October 26,1998, the plaintiffs filed a motion for post-trial relief seeking the grant of a new trial. Following oral argument held on January 27, 1999 and February 26, 1999, and, upon consideration of the parties’ memoranda of law, plaintiffs’ motion was denied by this court by order dated February 26,1999. In response, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal, and, pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) and this court’s order dated April 1, 1999, filed a concise statement of matters complained of on appeal on April 12, 1999, in which the following issues have been raised verbatim:

“(1) The court erred as a matter of law in concluding that the defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
“(2) The court erred in finding and concluding that no liability exists as to the defendants under the facts and circumstances presented as a matter of law so as to warrant the entry of a nonsuit.
“(3) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the claim of the [163]*163plaintiff did not fall within the real property exception of the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act; to wit 42 Pa.C.S. §§8542(a)(l), 8542(a)(2) and 8542(b)(3).
“(4) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the East Norriton Middle School facility was not under the care, custody and control of the defendant, Norristown Area School District and its employee John Meissner, during the field hockey practice session which gave rise to plaintiff’s injury.
“(5) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the stairs and hallways of the East Norriton Middle School in which the field hockey session was conducted were not under the care, custody and control of the defendant, Norristown Area School District and/or coach Meissner as its employee, at the time of the field hockey practice session which gave rise to the plaintiff’s injury.
“(6) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the stairs did not constitute an artificial condition or defect in the real property which caused the plaintiff’s injury.
“(7) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that coach Meissner’s conduct in requiring the field hockey team members to engage in a tag relay race on the stairs of the East Norriton Middle School constituted the failure to supervise the conduct of students.
“(8) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the direction and use of the East Norriton Middle School stairs for the running of tag races by the field hockey team did not constitute a dangerous condition of the real estate for field [164]*164hockey team conditioning, despite the fact that it was a use of the stairs for a purpose for which the stairs were not intended.
“(9) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that using the stairs for the running of tag relay races did not create a dangerous condition of the real property.
“(10) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that a dangerous condition of the real property was not created when the stairs were directed to be used for the running of tag races by the field hockey team during practice.
“(11) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the use of the East Norriton Middle School stairs for field hockey practice constituted a defect of the real property in the care, custody and control of the school facility.
“(12) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the use of the stairs for tag relay races by the field hockey team during their practice session was not a use of the premises that was a reasonably foreseeable use which would cause injury to the plaintiff (or others).
“(13) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the plaintiffs failed to establish a cause of action under the common law under the facts and circumstances premised on Restatement of Torts §323 rendering a possessor of land liable for physical harm to an invitee by the condition of the land when one knows, or by the reasonable exercise of care would discover that running on the stairs involves an unreasonable risk of harm, and that the minor plaintiff would not discover or realize the danger, and would [165]*165not protect herself against it, or reasonably fail to exercise reasonable care.
“(14) The court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in finding/concluding that the Norristown Area School District by and through its employee/coach was not negligent with respect to the care, custody or control of real property under the factual circumstances presented.

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Bluebook (online)
42 Pa. D. & C.4th 160, 1999 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-norristown-area-school-district-pactcomplmontgo-1999.