Opinion ID: 1167606
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: assumption of the risk/obvious danger

Text: As a final issue, appellant argues that the district court erroneously applied assumption of the risk and the obvious danger rule as a complete bar to recovery. We agree. PP & L and Weldon Dunn do not address this issue on appeal, and it might be assumed they have conceded it. [10] Nevertheless, we will consider the issue briefly. Distinctions between assumption of the risk and contributory negligence have not been recognized by this Court. Barnette, 622 P.2d at 1361; Brittain v. Booth, 601 P.2d 532 (Wyo. 1979). Before the enactment of the comparative negligence statute, Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109 (1977), contributory negligence, and assumption of the risk as included therein, was an absolute defense to a negligence action. Barnette, 622 P.2d at 1361; Brittain, 601 P.2d at 534. With the advent of comparative negligence legislation, however, assumption of the risk, as a form of contributory negligence, became a basis for an apportionment of fault and no longer operated as a complete bar to recovery. Barnette, 622 P.2d at 1361; Brittain, 601 P.2d at 534. Thus, if appellant was negligent, it was for the jury to measure the relative degrees of fault. Our recent decisions with respect to the obvious danger rule compel a similar conclusion. In O'Donnell v. City of Casper, 696 P.2d 1278 (Wyo. 1985), we addressed the impact of comparative negligence on the obvious danger rule, concluding that those situations wherein the obvious danger rule operates to negate a duty on behalf of the property owner  i.e., operates as an absolute bar to recovery  were narrowly limited to dangers presented by naturally existing conditions, particularly accumulations of ice and snow. We held in O'Donnell that, where the plaintiff in that case encountered an obviously dangerous condition created by the municipal defendant, the negligence of the plaintiff was to be compared to the negligence of the defendant. We stated in that case: Gone are the days when a scintilla of negligence by the plaintiff will bar recovery. Id. at 1284. In Jones, 718 P.2d at 897-98, we quoted from O'Donnell and noted the limited application of the no duty obvious danger rule: Under the obvious-danger rule, an owner of property has no duty to his invitees to correct an obvious and known danger resulting from natural causes. O'Donnell v. City of Casper, Wyo., 696 P.2d 1278, 1282 (1985); see also Note, The Obvious Danger Rule  A Qualified Adoption of Secondary Assumption of Risk Analysis, 21 Land & Water L.Rev. 251 (1986). But the obvious-danger rule does not apply when a dangerous condition is created by the owner or his servants. O'Donnell v. City of Casper, supra, at 1283. (Emphasis added.) Thus, we held in Jones that, even if the danger created by the defendant property owner was perfectly obvious to the plaintiff, it was the jury's function under the comparative negligence statute to compare the plaintiff's negligence with that of the defendant. Jones, 718 P.2d at 898. The same is true in the instant case. To the extent the district court relied upon assumption of the risk and the obvious danger rule in granting summary judgment to PP & L and Weldon Dunn, it was in error. To summarize, we hold that appellant failed to demonstrate a genuine factual issue with respect to the culpable negligence of co-employees Rand Haapapuro, Leonard Gradert, and Danny Foster, and the summary judgment for those appellees is affirmed. Alternatively, the record does disclose genuine issues of material fact as to the negligence of appellees PP & L and Weldon Dunn, and, therefore, we reverse the summary judgment entered in favor of those appellees. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.