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Trans-Vaughn Development Corp. v. Cummings5/26/2005
BLACKBURN, P. J., MILLER and BERNES, JJ.
Defendant Trans-Vaughn Development Corporation appeals from the trial court's order denying its motion for summary judgment. Trans-Vaughn contends the trial court erred in denying its motion because the undisputed material facts show that plaintiff Shelley Cummings had equal knowledge of the alleged dangerous condition of the entranceway where she slipped and fell. We agree and reverse.
Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Botterbusch v. Preussag Intl. Steel Corp., 271 Ga. App. 190 (609 SE2d 141) (2004). In evaluating whether summary judgment is proper, the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom must be construed in the light most favorable to the non-movant. Id. With these principles in mind, we turn to the facts of the present case, relying for our decision only on those facts that are not in dispute or that have been construed in the light most favorable to Cummings.
The Slip and Fall Incident. Cummings was injured in a slip and fall incident that occurred when she was exiting from the premises occupied by her employer, the Coweta County Department of Family and Children Services ("DFCS"), which in turn leased the premises from Trans-Vaughn. Cummings began working as a case manager for DFCS on April 16, 1999. From the time she began her tenure with DFCS until the time of the slip and fall incident, Cummings worked in the office building where the incident occurred.
On the date of her injury, February 6, 2001, Cummings arrived at work with her infant son because she had to take him to a doctor's appointment later that morning. It was a typical February morning - a little cloudy, but not dark and no rain. While carrying her son in an infant car seat, Cummings entered the office building through the same rear entrance that she always entered to get to her office. She had been through the same entrance before carrying her son in the carrier. Nothing had changed about the rear entrance, which had four outside steps without a handrail or stairway landing, since the time she began working for DFCS. Cummings "was well aware that the rear stairs were of uneven height, that the door opened out directly onto the staircase, that the door handle was difficult to grab, and that there was no landing or handrail." Cummings also was aware that the door to the rear entrance had always been "free-swinging" and lacked "tension" to prevent it from flinging open.
Later that morning, Cummings attempted to leave the building through the same rear entrance while carrying the infant carrier in her left hand. She opened the door with her right hand, and as the door swung open and she started down the stair steps, Cummings slipped and fell, severely injuring her knee and leg. There was nothing on the steps, such as a leaf or other object, that would have caused the fall. Rather, Cummings alleges that she fell and injured herself because the stairs did not have a landing at the top but instead dropped off immediately below the door to the first step, and since there was no handrail for her to grab onto and prevent her fall once she lost her balance.
The History of the Office Building and Rear Entrance. In 1992, Trans-Vaughn purchased the office building where the incident occurred and subsequently leased the space to DFCS in 1993. At the time it was purchased by Trans-Vaughn, the building was used as commercial office space, but it had previously been a skating rink and bowling alley. Prior to when DFCS took occupancy of the building, Trans-Vaughn had the space remodeled in order to fit the specific needs
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