Court Opinion

ID: 9628738
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:30:48.18287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:10.732589
License: Public Domain

The opinion of the court was delivered by
Fatzer, J.:
This was an action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff-appellant, Mrs. Carrie D. Ralls, as a result of a slip and fall sustained in the home of the defendantappellees, Dan and Mabert Caliendo.
The case was tried to a jury and at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, the defendants moved to dismiss the action, or in the alternative, for a directed verdict. After hearing argument, the district court made findings of fact, and sustained the motion to dismiss and discharged the jury. The plaintiff has appealed.
The parties will be referred to as they were designated in the district court, or as Mrs. Ralls, Mrs. Caliendo or Mr. Caliendo.
The depositions of both Mr. and Mrs. Caliendo were taken by the plaintiff prior to the trial and both testified as witnesses for the *85plaintiff at the trial. Portions of both depositions were read to the jury and the plaintiff includes in her statement of points erroneous rulings of the district court excluding portions of both depositions.
The plaintiff and her daughter, Lucille R. Thomas, at the express invitation of the defendants, went to their home on December 25, 1963, to attend a family Christmas dinner. The plaintiff is an aunt of Mrs. Caliendo. She was an elderly woman eighty-five years of age, and prior to December, 1963, had broken one of her ankles. However, she had completely recovered and was rather active prior to her fall in the defendants’ home on Christmas Day as hereafter related, although she had some limitation with respect to her vision.
Upon arriving at the defendants’ home, the plaintiff walked throughout the house, and prior to the serving of dinner, she walked from the living room and dining room into the kitchen toward the recreation or family room. To reach the family room, one would walk through the kitchen to a comer where a refrigerator with an ice making machine was located, past the refrigerator into a narrow entrance and down two or three steps to the family room. The defendants owned a dog and kept its water pan which had a “tippy” base, near the refrigerator. There was always water spilled around the dog pan.
When the plaintiff entered the kitchen, Mrs. Caliendo and her mother were busy preparing the dinner for fifteen or sixteen people. Mrs. Caliendo testified she saw her aunt walking through the kitchen but did not pay much attention or caution her; that she was “kinda weak and frail,” and was, “holding onto the refrigerator”; that, “she went around the side of the refrigerator to hold onto the wall evidently because I turned around just as she was pawing at the wall and the wall ran out and she just went out into the other room (family room) but she slipped on something right there,” near where the dog pan was.
Mrs. Caliendo further testified she knew the plaintiff was an elderly woman but expected her to walk through the kitchen; that she was aware of her ankle injury and that she was not as capable of getting around or as steady on her feet as an ordinary person; that she (Mrs. Caliendo) knew ice cubes had fallen on the floor that day prior to the accident because the children had been filling water glasses with ice cubes out of the ice making machine and her husband was mixing drinks for the guests and used ice cubes from the machine; that she cautioned the children to, “Be careful; *86quit making such a mess”; that ice cubes would fall and she would kick them or the children would kick them under the refrigerator and they would melt and run out, not in the direct path to the family room but in the path the plaintiff took; that, “there had been water on the floor in times past, plenty of times, they are always dropping ice cubes,” and that she knew there was water on the floor in this particular area before the accident but just did not stop to mop while she was getting dinner. She further testified her husband had previously fallen in the area where the plaintiff fell.
Mr. Caliendo testified he was a builder and that the- kitchen had a vinyl linoleum covering with a smooth finish and the floor was in good repair at the time of the plaintiff’s fall; that he had a. bar in the kitchen near the refrigerator and was mixing drinks for 'guests; that he would get ice cubes out of the ice making machine and that, “you drop one or two ice cubes when you get a handful from the ice maker”; that when he would mix drinks for guests he would “frequently grab a handful of ice cubes from a tray and more often than not one slips and this wasn’t the first time that there had been water there as a result of melting ice cubes and as a result of one of these cubes falling from my hand”; that it had “happened a dozen times,” and, “that’s why after the plaintiff’s fall I immediately saw that there was water there right at the threshold (to the family room) which I assume was the cause of her slipping.” He further testified the narrow opening between the kitchen and the family room was reasonably close to the refrigerator; that the dog pan located there was unsubstantial and had since been replaced with a substantial one; that immediately after the plaintiff’s fall, he saw water on the floor at the threshold; that the “puddle of water” was at the landing where the vinyl ends and the steps begin, but there was no water in the family room, and that it was his opinion the plaintiff slipped on some water that existed near the threshold, causing her to fall. Mr. Caliendo did not see the plaintiff fall and testified he was satisfied he knew there was water there prior to the accident; that after the accident he told his wife to wipe up the water so no one else would slip, and that it “appeared to be a dangerous condition.”
As indicated, the district court made findings of fact which read:
“That the Plaintiff walked through the kitchen into the family room or rumpus room.
“That she fell.
*87“That there was water on the floor at the time that she walked through.
“That the water came from either the dog pan or from the melting of ice cubes.
“That the Defendants should have known that the water might be there.”
In sustaining the motion to dismiss, the district court stated:.
“To me, that is the most favorable light that we have as far as the Plaintiff is concerned. The Plaintiff in this case is a licensee, and therefore the duty of the Defendants was such that their actions or omissions would have, to be reckless in order for the Plaintiff to recover. As I understand it, in this jurisdiction the term ‘recklessness’ is a stronger term than that of ordinary negligence; that their conduct must be such as to evince disregard of or indifference to the consequences under the circumstances, involving danger to life or safety of others.
“Under the facts, as I see it, most favorable to the Plaintiff, the acts or omissions of the Defendants constitute nothing more than ordinary negligence which is not sufficient to sustain a cause of action or entitle the Plaintiff to recover for the injuries she received as a result of this fall.”
While the plaintiff concedes the accepted rule in Kansas is that, “a host owes to his licensee guest a duty to refrain from willful, wanton or reckless conduct,” this court has not had occasion to inquire into the status of a social guest, that is, one who is expressly invited to the owner or occupier’s home, and the duty owed to him by his host. Where, as here, the plaintiff is a social guest in the defendants’ home, the great weight of Anglo-American authority classifies him as a bare licensee, even though he was expressly invited. (Southcote v. Stanley, 1 H. & N. 247 [Ex. 1856]; Sanders v. Brown, 73 Ariz. 116, 238 P. 2d 941; Laube v. Stevenson, 137 Conn. 469, 78 A. 2d 693; Comeau v. Comeau, 285 Mass. 578, 189 N. E. 588; Vogel v. Eckert, 22 N. J. Super. 220, 92 A. 2d 633; Curren v. O’Connor, 279 App. Div. 1018, 111 N. Y. S. 2d 714; cases collected in Note, 25 A.L.R. 2d 598.) See, also, Busch v. Gaglio, 207 Va. 343, 150 S. E. 2d 110; Goldberg v. Straus, 45 So. 2d 883 (Fla. 1950); Harper on Torts, 3d Ed., Sec. 98; Restatement of the Law of Torts (1934), Sec. 342; Anno. 92 A. L. R. 1005.
Our decisions conform to the foregoing general rule. The plaintiff must be regarded as a mere licensee in the defendants’ home at the time she slipped and fell, causing her injuries. In Steinmeyer v. McPherson, 171 Kan. 275, 232 P. 2d 236, it was held:
“A licensee is a person who is privileged to enter or remain upon land by virtue of the possessor’s consent, whether given Py invitation or permission.
“Ordinarily the only duty an owner or occupant of premises owes to a mere licensee is the duty to refrain from willfully, intentionally or recklessly injuring him.” (Syl. ff 3, 4.) (Emphasis supplied.)
*88See, also, Bessette v. Ernsting, 155 Kan. 540, 127 P. 2d 438; Backman v. Vickers Petroleum Co., 187 Kan. 448, 357 P. 2d 748, 94 A. L. R. 2d 1; Hogan v. Hess Construction Co., 187 Kan. 559, 358 P. 2d 755; Blackburn v. Colvin, 191 Kan. 239, 380 P. 2d 432. In Blackburn it was said:
“In order for the plaintiff to recover, it was not necessary that his evidence establish a formal and direct intention to injure any particular person. It was sufficient if it indicated that degree of indifference to the rights of others which may justly be characterized as reckless. Reckless is an indifference whether wrong is done or not — an indifference to the rights of others. (Stout v. Gallemore, 138 Kan. 385, 391, 26 P. 2d 573.) In popular use and by our decisions ‘recklessness’ is a stronger term than mere or ordinary negligence. (K. P. Rly. Co. v. Whipple, 39 Kan. 351, 18 Pac. 730.) In State v. Custer, 129 Kan. 381, 282 Pac. 1071, it was said:
“ ‘. . . To be reckless, conduct must be such as to evince disregard of or indifference to consequences, under circumstances involving danger to life or safety of others, although no harm was intended.’ (l. c. 395.) ” (p. 246.)
In view of the foregoing, did the evidence, considered in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and giving her the full benefit of all reasonable inferences for which it supplies a foundation, entitle her to have her cause submitted to the jury? We think not.
The plaintiff makes no claim the defendants were guilty of willful or wanton negligence; it is claimed only the factual circumstances were such the plaintiff was entitled to a jury’s consideration whether the defendants’ conduct was reckless, that is, whether it was such as to evince disregard of or indifference to consequences involving danger to the plaintiff. It is argued tire defendants had created the condition or circumstances and knew of its presence; that they failed to momentarily warn the elderly plaintiff of its presence or assist her in any manner prior to her fall, notwithstanding the fact one of them had previously fallen in the area for similar reasons, and it was considered a dangerous condition.
Based upon the standard of proof announced in Blackburn, supra, we are of the opinion the evidence was not such as to authorize a jury to consider the defendants’ acts or omissions as that entire want of care which would raise the presumption of a conscious indifference to consequences, justly characterized as reckless. It is unnecessary to restate the evidence. At most, the defendants’ conduct constituted nothing more than, as the district court concluded, ordinary negligence which is not sufficient to permit the plaintiff to recover or to have her cause submitted to a jury.
*89The foregoing conclusion makes it unnecessary to consider the plaintiff’s statement of points of claimed erroneous rulings o,f the district court excluding portions of both the defendants’ depositions. The evidence excluded tended to prove ordinary negligence; none of it tended to prove conduct such as to evince disregard of or indifference to consequences for the plaintiff’s safety.
We have fully examined the record and find no error, and we conclude the judgment of the district court must be affirmed. It is so ordered.