Organizer of Sports Tournament Who Required Attendees To Stay At a Hotel Dismissed as a Defendant in Premises Liability Case

In the case of E.Z. v. JSKLD Hospitality Enterprise, LLC, No. 2-23-CV-835-RJC (W.D. Pa. March 14, 2025 Colville, J.), a federal district court granted a Motion to for Judgment on the Pleadings in favor of a certain Defendant sued by a Plaintiff in a premises liability case.

In this matter, the Plaintiff sued the owner of the hotel where the accident happened along with a Defendant entity that ran ice hockey tournaments and who required the participants in the tournament to stay at the hotel.

The entity that ran the ice hockey tournaments filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings seeking to be dismissed on the grounds that it had no duty to maintain the premises where the accident happened.   

In this matter, the district court reaffirmed the general rule of law that premises liability does not extend to parties who are not in control of the relevant premises. Rather, the premises liability is focused on the relationship between the individual or entity in control of the premises and the business invitee who ventured on the premises.

The court ruled that the Plaintiffs cannot impute a premises liability duty upon a third-party who is not affiliated with the property.

More specifically, the court ruled that the fact that the organizer of the tournament merely place a hotel on an approved list for the attendees of the tournament did not impose a duty on the organizer of the tournament to inspect that hotel. Furthermore, any such alleged duties were entirely duplicative of the duties already imposed upon the hotel operator itself.

The court offered the additional rationale in support of its Motion to Dismiss by asserting that extending duties to persons without control over the property has no social utility and would, instead, reduce the safety incentives for the actual property owner.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


I send thanks to Attorney James M. Beck of the Reed Smith office in Philadelphia for bringing this case to my attention.

Co-Owner of Premises Not an Indispensable Party to a Slip and Fall Lawsuit Where that Co-Owner Does Not Exercise Control Over the Premises

In the case of Simone v. Alam, No. 35 MAP 2024 (Pa. March 20, 2025) (Op. by Mundy, J.), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in a slip and fall concluded that a tenant in common who did not exercise possession or control over the property is not an indispensable party in a premises liability action.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff was a resident in a multi-tenant building, who slipped and fell on ice in a common area.

The Plaintiff sued the owner of the premises and asserted that he was responsible for the common areas.

The trial court had dismissed the Plaintiff’s Complaint for failure to join an indispensable party, that being the owner’s brother, who was a co-owner of the property. The trial court had held that all co-owners must be joined in a premises liability action. The Superior Court affirmed.

As noted above, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed. The Supreme Court found that liability in premises liability cases is based upon possession and control, not mere ownership. The court noted that, since the record revealed that the owner who was sued was the sole manager who controlled the property, the owner’s brother was not an indispensable party under the circumstances.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


I thank the Plaintiff’s attorney, Jacqueline Morgan, as well as Michael W. Landis, of the same law firm of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. in Bala Cynwyd, PA for brining this case to my attention.