Case Title: Menard v. Lavoie

Citation: 174 Vt. 479, 806 A.2d 1004

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 2002-07-08T00:00:00Z

Document:
Menard v. Lavoie (2001-355); 174 Vt. 479; 806 A.2d 1004

[Filed 08-Jul-2002]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2001-355

                               MAY TERM, 2002


  Sandra Menard	                       }	APPEALED FROM:
                                       }
                                       }
       v.	                       }	Addison Superior Court
                                       }	
  Mark and Nancy Lavoie	               }
                                       }	DOCKET NO. 183-8-00 Ancv

                                                Trial Judge: Mary Miles Teachout

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:


       Plaintiff Sandra Menard appeals from a superior court decision
  granting summary judgment to defendants Mark and Nancy Lavoie.  Plaintiff
  claims issues of fact remain regarding the trial court's determination that
  a "social guest" relationship existed between the parties.  Alternatively,
  plaintiff argues that this Court should abandon the current status-based
  standards of landowner liability in favor of a general standard of
  "reasonable care."  Because we find that defendants were not negligent
  under any standard of care, we affirm.  	

       Defendants own their home, sharing it with Mary Lavoie, the mother of
  defendant Mark Lavoie.  Mary Lavoie originally owned the home with her
  husband, but sold it to defendants in 1978.  Upon purchasing the property,
  defendants built a garage-apartment where Mary lived until 2001.  As part
  of these renovations, defendants installed a spiral staircase connecting
  Mary's apartment to the rest of the house.  Mary used this staircase while
  she lived in the garage-apartment.  The staircase had guardrails at its
  top, but did not have railings along its sides.
   
       Sandra Menard is Mary Lavoie's daughter and the sister of Mark Lavoie. 
  Throughout the 20 years that Mary lived in the garage apartment, plaintiff
  made annual visits to defendants' home.  Plaintiff had used the staircase
  only once because, as she testified in her deposition, it made her nervous. 
  Instead, she chose to use an alternate staircase in a different part of the
  house.  On September 14, 1999, while visiting her mother, plaintiff chose
  to descend the spiral staircase.  Not watching the stairs, she missed the
  first step.  Plaintiff was not holding on to the railing and fell
  completely off the stairs.  She dropped nine feet to the floor below,
  breaking her leg.  She brought suit in superior court against defendants,
  seeking damages for her injury.  The trial court found that a "social
  guest" standard of care applied to the situation, which requires a
  plaintiff to prove affirmative negligence.  Finding insufficient evidence
  to support this claim, the court granted summary judgment to defendants.  

 
        
       Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in granting summary
  judgment because issues of fact remain regarding the relationship between
  defendants and herself.  She argues that the determination of a "social
  guest" relationship was in error, as Mary Lavoie engaged in a
  landlord-tenant relationship with defendants.  As such, plaintiff argues
  that she was entitled to be treated as a "business invitee," which imposes
  a higher standard of "reasonable care" on defendants.  See Ball v. Melsur
  Corp., 161 Vt. 35, 43,