In a decision marked "Non-precedential"
[Why mark any decision non-precedential?!] in the case of
Bywater v. Conemugh Mem. Med. Ctr., No. 1072 WDA 2023 (Pa. Super. Aug. 5, 2024 Kunselman, J., Murray, J., and McLaughlin, J.) (Op. by Kunselman, J.), the Pennsylvania Superior Court addressed the liability of a Defendant landowner in a black ice case.
According to the Opinion, at the time of the incident, in a medical center’s parking lot, the Plaintiff slipped and fell against her car when she stepped out of her vehicle. The Plaintiff then perceived that her clothes were wet. However, at her deposition, she did not testify that she saw or felt any ice in the area where she allegedly slipped.
According to the Opinion, no precipitation had recently fallen. There was snow on the ground and the sidewalks were salted. Temperatures had remained below freezing during the week leading up to the incident.
The reproduced record before the Court revealed that, at her deposition, the Plaintiff stated that she looked around and “there was nothing there.” As to why she believed that ice was involved, the Plaintiff stated that, “...[b]ecause you can’t see black ice. Why else would I fall?”
The Superior Court affirmed the entry of summary judgment in favor of the Defendant landowner given that the case established that the Plaintiff only assumed that she slipped on ice, which she never actually saw or detected.
The appellate court also noted that there was no other witness to confirm whether or not any black ice was involved in the incident.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court in affirming summary judgment noted that, “[s]imply stated if [the Plaintiff] could not see the ice that she allegedly fell upon, neither could anyone working for the medical center. If the medical center’s staff could not see the ice, then the medical center neither knew nor should have known that a dangerous, icy condition existed in its parking lot on the morning [the Plaintiff’s] fall.”
Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this
LINK.
I send thanks to Attorney Walt McClatchy of McClatchy Law in Philadelphia for bringing this case to my attention.
Source of image: Photo by Egor Kamelev on www.pexels.com.