Nelson, Zoe E; Bailey, Nora R.

Williams Parker

Motion for Summary Judgment Granted

Stuart Associate, Zoe Nelson prevailed on a Motion for Summary Judgment in a premises liability/personal injury matter styled Plaintiff v. Property Owners. Plaintiff alleged that she sustained personal injury when she tripped and fell in a sand/gravel parking lot while leaving a bar on or about December 21, 2019, resulting in approximately $256,000.00 in medical bills from left hip and femur fractures and a left knee injury, all requiring multiple surgeries. At her deposition, the Plaintiff admitted that prior to the fall, she had consumed approximately three margaritas and ingested cannabis. Furthermore, the Plaintiff could not identify what specifically caused her to fall. Ms. Nelson argued that (1) the property owners did not maintain the exclusive care, custody, control, or possession of the property where the Plaintiff fell as it was leased to the bar; (2) a gravel/sand parking lot, alone, is not an unreasonably dangerous hazard and constitutes an open and obvious condition; and (3) because Plaintiff could not identify what specifically caused her to trip, she relied on a stacking of inferences to purport that the property owners had notice of a dangerous condition, and it was equally as plausible that she tripped due to her own intoxicated state rather than an allegedly dangerous condition. Judge Paulk agreed and granted the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment in full.