Court Opinion

ID: 9846091
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:34:30.588844+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:33.205727
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
dissenting. I dissent from the majority opinion and the judgment of reversal. It is my opinion that a homeowner who maintains a home in which there is constructed a one-door opening to the bathroom and a completely similar door within inches next to it, opening to a direct descent by open stairs which are steep with no railing or platform into the basement which is unlighted, is liable to a guest known to be in the home, and known by the defendant to be on her way to the bathroom, in not warning her as to which door she should use. Or, the door which led to the basement should have been marked or in some way differentiated from the door to the bathroom. The homeowner knew that the bathroom would be used time'and again each day whereas the door leading to the basement would be seldom used, and yet, so far as this record shows, both doors were álike and equally accessible to those desiring to use the bathroom. None of the cited cases deals with a similar problem, that is, of two doors which are alike, one which leads to safety, and one which'leads to danger. As is set forth in the majority opinion: "It is usually wilful or wanton not to exercise ordinary care to prevent injuring a person who is actually known to be . . . within the range of a dangerous act being done. Mandeville Mills v. Dale, 2 Ga. App. 607, 609 (68 SE 1060).” See also Cooper v. Anderson, 96 Ga. App. 800 (101 SE2d 770) and cases cited at page 805; Murray Biscuit Co. v. Hutto, 115 Ga. App. 870 (156 SE2d 132).
*87To go one step further, suppose the basement had been filled with wild animals? Would there have been a duty on the part of the homeowner to give some kind of warning that this door led to danger? It did in fact lead to danger, in that the descent started immediately and was unlighted. Many people who open a door have already prepared for the next step, and oftentimes it is too late to check themselves after discovering that the next step leads straight down. Homeowners know that guests who are hurrying to the bathroom to answer the call of nature may not be prepared to stand and wait and carefully consider the next step after opening the door. Therefore, I would affirm the trial court in denying summary judgment since it is a jury question as to whether or not the defendant, by his omission, made himself liable, under the circumstances, to the plaintiff.
I am authorized to state that Judge Pannell concurs in this dissent.