Opinion ID: 6323357
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: [¶2] The following facts are undisputed. See McDonald v. City of Portland, 2020 ME 119, ¶ 2, 239 A.3d 662. On or about January 6, 2019, Klein drove her vehicle to the University of Maine’s Orono campus for the purpose of conducting business at Fogler Library. Klein was instructed by the University to use a parking lot contiguous to Holmes Hall. Fogler Library is located across Moosehead Road from Holmes Hall. The parking lot is used primarily by faculty and staff working at Holmes Hall and by faculty, staff, and visitors using Fogler Library. [¶3] After parking her vehicle, Klein walked through the parking lot, crossed Moosehead Road, and entered Fogler Library. A few hours later, Klein exited Fogler Library, walked across Moosehead Road, and walked into the parking lot, where she slipped and fell on a patch of untreated ice and sustained injuries. No road construction, street cleaning, or repair was being performed at the parking lot, and the University has no insurance that would cover the incident. See 14 M.R.S. § 8116 (2021). [¶4] After her fall, Klein filed a complaint in the Superior Court alleging that the University was negligent in its maintenance and operation of the parking lot. The University filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming 3 immunity from Klein’s suit pursuant to the MTCA. Klein opposed the motion, arguing that the parking lot fell within the “public building exception” to the MTCA’s otherwise comprehensive grant of immunity. See 14 M.R.S. §§ 8103(1), 8104-A(2) (2021). On February 5, 2021, the court entered an order granting the University’s summary judgment motion on the grounds that the parking lot was not an appurtenance as that term is used in section 8104-A(2) and therefore that no exception to governmental immunity applied. Klein timely appealed. See 14 M.R.S. § 1851 (2021); M.R. App. P. 2B(c)(1).