Opinion ID: 2405691
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Arkansas Case

Text: The only Arkansas case that discusses even a part of the issue in this case is Ben M. Hogan Co. v. Krug, 234 Ark. 280, 351 S.W.2d 451 (1961). The majority opinion tacitly admits that case does not expressly exempt a possessor of land from the duty to exercise ordinary care in the maintenance of land. Thus, there is no law providing immunity for a possessor of land who allows ornamental shrubs to grow so that they block the vision of motorists. The holding of this court then should be that the possessor of land has a duty to exercise ordinary care of land so that ornamental shrubs do not obstruct the vision of motorists. Further, the cited case actually supports this dissent. In that case we held that the circuit court erred in denying the defendant landowner's motion for summary judgment because the defendant's maintenance of a gravel pile was not negligent and was not the proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries even though the pile obstructed the view of drivers at an intersection. Negligence and intervening cause were issues only because a duty was owed to motorists. In the case we wrote: That brings us to a consideration as to whether or not the appellant was negligent in maintaining on its property a gravel pile which it is alleged obscured the vision of the appellee as she drove the car toward the intersection of the haul road and the County Line Road where the accident occurred. This lessening of her sight distance by the gravel pile and the presence of growth of various kinds is alleged by the appellees to have brought about the accident. The piling of the gravel on his own property by Hogan was not of itself negligent and the only time that the gravel itself could have brought about an injury would have been if Hogan had negligently piled it on the County Road in such a way that a car might strike it or had it been stacked so close to the County Road that part of it had sloughed off and damaged vehicles or persons on the County Road. So far as the gravel piling is concerned, it could have remained in that spot at that height indefinitely without causing any damage. Therefore it cannot in any way be said that the gravel pile was of itself the proximate cause of the injuries of which the appellees complain. Id. at 284, 351 S.W.2d at 453. We then discussed proximate cause and articulated the applicable rule as follows: [T]he rule is that the injury must be the natural and probable consequence of the actsuch a consequence, under the surrounding circumstances of the case, as might and ought to have been foreseen by the defendant as likely to flow from his act; the act must, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any new cause, operate as an efficient cause of the injury. Id. at 285, 351 S.W.2d at 453-54 (quoting Comment, TortsProximate CauseIntervening Force, 1 Ark.L.Rev. 148, 152 (1947) (emphasis supplied by the court)). We concluded the opinion by holding that the hauling of gravel by a third person and the operation of the truck and trailer by that third party intervened and were sufficient to stand as the cause of the injury. Again, we would not have discussed negligence and proximate cause if there were no duty. In summary, the general rule is that one has a duty to use ordinary care for his or her own safety and for the safety of others, unless a statute or rule of law provides otherwise. Neither of the parties nor the majority opinion cites a statute or rule of law of this State providing immunity to the landowner. The general rule should apply, and the possessors of the land should be held to have owed a duty to maintain the ornamental shrubs so that they did not obstruct the vision of motorists.