Court Error on Sloping Stairs Leads to Summary Judgment Reversal

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appealed from an order granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. On July 31, 2018, the plaintiff allegedly fell while descending a staircase on the defendant’s premises, sustaining personal injuries. It is well settled that, in order for a landowner to be liable in tort to a plaintiff who is injured as a result of an allegedly defective condition upon property, it must be established that a defective condition existed and that the landowner affirmatively created the condition or had actual or constructive notice of its existence. Here, the court erred in granting the defendant’s motion. The plaintiff’s expert witness stated that the treads on the staircase were “uneven and pitched forward,” creating an “inherent walking hazard,” and that the “out-of-level and sloping condition” affected “the entire staircase,” thus, establishing the defective condition existed. Additionally, the evidence proffered in support of the defendant’s motion failed to establish that the unlevel and sloping condition that allegedly caused the plaintiff to fall amounted to a latent condition and could not have been discovered upon a reasonable inspection. Therefore, the appellate court reversed the order granting the defendant’s motion. 

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