Court Opinion

ID: 9623218
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:30:02.68027+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:27.199654
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent as it is my view that the majority improperly takes the place of a jury in finding (as a matter of law) that defendants M. P. Equities of Atlanta, a New York General Partnership *595(“M. P. Equities”) and Adventist Health System/Sunbelt, Inc. (“Adventist Health”) exercised ordinary care in maintaining and inspecting the common areas of their medical complex. I believe a jury would be authorized in finding that the eroded fissure where Armenise fell had been in existence for a substantial period of time, and that “it was large enough to have been observable during routine mowing and maintenance. . . . ‘Where an obstruction is in some way hidden, camouflaged or intrinsically unsafe, the question of ordinary care should be one for the jury.’ Forde v. C & S Ga. Corp., 178 Ga. App. 400, 403 (343 SE2d 164) (1986). See also Begin v. Ga. Championship Wrestling, [172 Ga. App. 293, 294-295 (322 SE2d 737)].” Lawless v. Sasnett, 200 Ga. App. 398, 399 (408 SE2d 432).
On the morning of August 15, 1991, Sebastian Sam Armenise dropped Sandra Farley off at a medical office building (adjacent to Smyrna Hospital) for outpatient surgery. He later returned to the medical complex, parked his car in a nearby lot and made his way up a grassy berm to the office building. After finding Farley in her physician’s waiting room “still kind of woozy and . . . laying on the couch” and deciding to ease his friend’s burden, Armenise headed back to the parking lot so that he could drive his car as close to the medical building as possible. But while returning down the grassy berm to the parking lot, Armenise fell “and heard the worst snap [he] ever heard in his whole life.” Sprawled on the ground and suffering with “a terrific burning sensation,” Armenise rolled over and tried to pull his foot from a “hole.” This effort, however, proved futile so Armenise “grabbed the top of [his] pants and put [his] foot up.” He then observed raw leg bones protruding from his skin and fell dazed. Armenise’s foot was dangling opposite the appropriate direction.
Learning that the office building is owned by M. P. Equities and that the hospital is owned by Adventist Health, Armenise asserted personal injury claims against both M. P. Equities and Adventist Health (defendants) based on allegations that defendants failed to exercise the requisite degree of care in keeping the grassy berm safe. Defendants denied the material allegations of the complaint and filed motions for summary judgment.
The evidence and pleadings, construed in a light most favorable to Armenise’s claims, Hoffman v. Atlanta Gas Light Co., 206 Ga. App. 727, 728 (1) (426 SE2d 387), reveal that the grassy berm is a common area in a medical complex that benefits both defendants; that the berm gradually slopes upward toward a common driveway separating the lot where Armenise parked from the nearby office building, and that Adventist Health is in charge of maintaining this *596area.2 The grassy berm, which extends over 300 feet along the medical complex’s common driveway and is adorned with a thick coat of grass and a neat line of dogwood trees, not only appears to be the most convenient route to M. P. Equities’ office building, but defendants were aware (before Armenise fell) that it was routinely used by patrons to reach the medical office building. It is alleged that the eroded fissure where Armenise fell was caused by an underground utility line owned by Adventist Health. Photographs of the accident scene, as well as eyewitness testimony, indicate that the fissure was obscured by thick grass at the time Armenise fell.3
Although Adventist Health does not own the area where Sam Armenise was injured, Adventist Health owns the lower half of the grassy berm, assumed full responsibility for maintaining the landscape at the medical complex and carried out these duties for its own benefit as well as the benefit of M. P. Equities. Further, the record indicates that Adventist Health is responsible for the buried utility line that allegedly caused the eroded fissure and led to Sam Armenise’s fall. Under these circumstances, I believe a jury would be authorized in finding that Adventist Health is (at very least) charged as joint occupier of the grassy berm, along with M. P. Equities. See Davis v. Garden Svcs., 155 Ga. App. 34, 35 (270 SE2d 228). And compare Ramey v. Pritchett, 90 Ga. App. 745 (84 SE2d 305), and Intl. Paper Realty Co. v. Bethune, 256 Ga. 54, 55 (344 SE2d 228). I therefore believe the circumstances of the case sub judice would authorize a finding that Sam Armenise was an invitee as to both defendants. See N. L. Indus. v. Madison, 176 Ga. App. 451, 452 (1) (336 SE2d 574), and Flint River Cotton Mills v. Colley, 71 Ga. App. 288, 291 (30 SE2d 426).
“ ‘Where an owner or occupier of land, by express or implied invitation, induces or leads others to come upon his premises for any lawful purpose, he is liable in damages to such persons for injuries caused by his failure to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe.’ OCGA § 51-3-1. ‘An occupier of premises is under a duty to inspect the premises to discover possible dangerous conditions of which he does not know and to take reasonable precautions to protect the invitee from dangers which are foreseeable from *597the arrangement and use of the premises. Prosser, Law of Torts (4th ed.) 393, § 61. An invitee enters upon the premises under an implied representation, or assurance, that the land has been prepared and made ready and safe for his reception. The invitee is entitled to expect the possessor will exercise reasonable care to make the land safe for his entry. 2 Restatement of Torts 216, § 343.’ Begin v. Ga. Championship Wrestling, 172 Ga. App. 293, 294[, supra].” Lawless v. Sasnett, 200 Ga. App. 398, 399, supra.
Decided December 5, 1995
Reconsideration denied December 20, 1995
Barnes, Browning, Tanksley & Casurella, Roy E. Barnes, for appellant.
Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Randall L. Hughes, Adrienne E. Marting, Anne L. Thompson, Sharon L. Ware & Associates, Robin P. Lourie, for appellees.
In the case sub judice, Wendell R. Rust, Adventist Health’s man in charge of maintaining the landscape at the medical development, testified that “I go out weekly and look for broken glass in the parking lot or a sprinkler head [and] I have looked there, but I never noticed that there was a settlement there.” Rust admitted, however, that he did not actually cut the grass or maintain the landscape. He explained that over 90 percent of the landscaping work is performed by independent contractors. I believe that this admission, along with photographs indicating that the fissure is long, narrow and dry, would authorize a jury’s finding that the hazard “had been in existence for a substantial period of time and that it was large enough to have been observable during routine mowing and maintenance. . . . ‘Where an obstruction is in some way hidden, camouflaged or intrinsically unsafe, the question of ordinary care should be one for the jury.’ Forde v. C & S Ga. Corp., [supra]. See also Begin v. Ga. Championship Wrestling, supra, 172 Ga. App. at 295.” Lawless v. Sasnett, 200 Ga. App. 398, 399, supra.
I, therefore, believe the trial court erred in granting defendants’ motions for summary judgment.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Pope joins in this dissent.

 The top half of the berm (where Armenise fell) is owned by M. P. Equities, and the lower half of the berm is owned by Adventist Health.

 Although Adventist Hospital points out that Sam Armenise was not sure of the precise location of his fall and argues that a more definitive explanation in his affidavit is contradictory, Sandra Farley identified a photograph showing a point on the grassy bank where she observed Armenise lying immediately after the fall. This photograph depicts Farley sinking her foot ankle-deep in a hole which is camouflaged by a thick crop of grass and (according to Farley) is the exact spot where Armenise fell. Farley testified that this photograph was taken about a week after Armenise fell.