Court Opinion

ID: 9746627
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:30:25.735188+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:15.502257
License: Public Domain

KELLEHER, Justice,
with whom MURRAY, Justice, joins,
dissenting.
I respectfully disagree with that portion of the Chief Justice’s opinion which holds that the Rickeys’ claim against Boden is barred by Mrs. Rickey’s assumption of the risk. Assuming that Mrs. Rickey was well aware of the risk she incurred by using the stairway to the bank’s twelfth floor, there is evidence in the record which would support a finding by the jury that Mrs. Rickey’s options as to how she would arrive at the twelfth floor for her mid-morning coffee break were somewhat limited.
The trial justice, in directing the verdict, gave no reasons why he believed that Mrs. Rickey had assumed the risk. However, when he granted the new-trial motion, he observed that there was an alternate route available to Mrs. Rickey-the freight elevator.7 In making this observation, the trial justice apparently overlooked Mrs. Rickey’s testimony when she told the jury that one of her supervisors, the elevator starter, had told the operators that, if possible, they were not to use the freight elevator. Later in the trial, the building superintendent acknowledged that during the morning hours the freight elevator was “usually used to transport freight.” This testimony would support a finding that, contrary to the trial justice’s belief, Mrs. Rickey had little choice at coffee-break time. If she wished to enjoy a twelfth-floor sip of coffee, it would be necessary to take the elevator to the eleventh floor and from there ascend the curving staircase to the twelfth floor.
When the Chief Justice mentions an opportunity whereby Mrs. Rickey could leave the building and enjoy her coffee break elsewhere, he overlooks the fact that Mrs. Rickey’s fall occurred in the midst of the 1971 winter. The record is completely barren as to what were the meteorological conditions at the time of her fall, to wit, January 22, 1971. The defense presented no evidence as to whether on that particular day it was cold, warm, raining, snowing, or whether the sidewalks were sheathed with ice.
I would vote for a new trial since in his grant of the conditional new-trial motion, the trial justice found that there was an absence of proof of the lack of a railing on the right-hand wall being the proximate *546cause of her injury. He also emphasized that, in his opinion, the jury verdict was the result of sympathy generated by the fact that Mrs. Rickey at trial was the victim of a disease which was totally unrelated to her fall. There is evidence in the record which seems to support both conclusions. If such a new trial were to become a reality, the litigants might then present evidence as to whether Boden, since he is a corporate officer, should be treated as part of the corporate alter ego and thus be immune from suit or as a co-employee who can be accountable in a suit against him for damages. See Clark v. Jackson, 455 F.Supp. 537 (D.N.H.1978); Stevens v. Lewis, 118 N.H. 367, 387 A.2d 637 (1978); Steele v. Eaton, 130 Vt. 1, 285 A.2d 749 (1971); Garchek v. Norton Co., 67 Wis.2d 125, 226 N.W.2d 432 (1975); Annot., 21 A.L.R.3d 845, §§ 3(a), 4, 6, and 8 (1968).
DORIS, J., participated in all proceedings but deceased prior to the filing of this opinion.

. The freight elevator was the only elevator that ascended to the twelfth floor.