Court Opinion

ID: 9846530
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:43:16.123282+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:37.331042
License: Public Domain

Justice MARTIN
dissenting.
I find that the evidence in this case viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff is sufficient to require a jury determination with respect to the issue of res ipsa loquitur. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority.
The evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff on this issue shows that the defendant owns the lounge where the plaintiff was injured. Plaintiff was an invitee for the purpose of attending a dance at the time in question. On each side of the *53dance floor, the defendant maintains stacks of speakers, each stack consisting of two speakers about two and one-half feet in height (the stacks are about five feet high); the speakers weigh between three and four hundred pounds each. Some of the speakers are owned by the defendant, while others are brought in by different bands which are employed by the defendant to play at the lounge. The defendant directs the bands where to set up their speakers, but does not provide any devices for anchoring or fastening the speakers in any fashion. The defendant does have three or four security personnel when the lounge is open who have the duty of insuring the safety of the patrons. At about 11:00 p.m. on the evening in question, the plaintiff was dancing with a partner near a stack of speakers. Without any apparent reason, the upper speaker suddenly fell from its top location and struck the plaintiff’s left knee causing her serious and permanent injuries.
The issue in this case is whether there was sufficient evidence for a jury determination of whether the instrumentality involved was under the exclusive control or management of the defendant. Sharp v. Wyse, 317 N.C. 694, 346 S.E.2d 485 (1986). In order for an instrumentality to be under the defendant’s exclusive control or management, the defendant must have the right and power of control over the instrumentality and the opportunity to exercise it. Snow v. Power Co., 297 N.C. 591, 256 S.E.2d 227 (1979).
In this case defendant clearly had both the right and the power to determine how and where the speakers were placed, and defendant had ample opportunity to exercise such power and actually did so. Defendant’s representative testified that he had exclusive control over the lounge and everything within it. He further testified that if he noticed anything about the speakers that he deemed a problem, he would make the band correct the problem or change whatever was necessary.
Furthermore, the defendant in this case had a nondelegable duty to the plaintiff to provide reasonably safe premises for the use of the plaintiff. Under such circumstances the defendant is responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries that are a proximate result of the placement of the speakers. In Snow, this Court held that exclusive control within the meaning of this doctrine could be shown even though the instrumentality in question was owned and installed by another party. The relevant factor as to exclusive control was that the power company had a duty to inspect and maintain *54the instrumentality in question. The Court held that a jury could reasonably infer that the defendant in Snow in effect maintained exclusive control over the instrumentality in question.
Likewise, the defendant maintained control and power over the speakers while they were in the lounge, even though they were the property of the band. Defendant’s representative told the band where to set up the speakers and prevented placement of the speakers so as not to block the exits. Further, the defendant’s representative testified that if the defendant determined that the speakers looked dangerous or had dangerous potential, defendant’s representative had the power to make the band change them or to do “whatever was necessary.”
The law is clear that defendant owed the plaintiff a nondelegable duty to provide reasonably safe premises for plaintiff’s benefit at the time in question. A dance hall proprietor who invites others to enter its place of business is under a legal duty to its patrons to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition for the use for which it was designed or intended and to give warning of any hidden dangers or unsafe conditions. Revis v. Orr, 234 N.C. 158, 66 S.E.2d 652 (1951).
Therefore, it appears to me that plaintiff’s evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to her, establishes a prima facie case sufficient to survive the defendant’s motion for directed verdict, and that the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial court’s dismissal of the case.
Although this case is apparently not of major significance to the jurisprudence of the State, it is of utmost importance to the litigants. I believe that the evidence is such that plaintiff is entitled to have a jury pass upon the issues presented by her. I vote to reverse the Court of Appeals.
Justice MITCHELL joins in this dissenting opinion.