Court Opinion

ID: 9754105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:44:01.999084+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:48.825168
License: Public Domain

SONNER, Judge, dissenting.
The majority holds that the Fireman’s Rule barred recovery to Jonathan Hart for the injuries he sustained when he fell down an open stairwell as he approached a blazing building. In so doing, it usurps the role of the fact-finder and answers the ultimate question of recovery, which the trial court rightfully directed to the jury. I must respectfully dissent.
*86The Fireman’s Rule preludes firefighters from recovering tort damages “for injuries sustained in the course of their employment.” Rivas v. Oxon Hill Joint Venture, 130 Md. App. 101, 107, 744 A.2d 1076 (2000). The rule alters the traditional analysis for premises liability in that if it applies, as a matter of law, the property owner cannot be held to have owed the ordinary duty of care to the firefighter.
On the facts of this case, I would hold that there was a sufficient basis to conclude that the Fireman’s Rule did not apply. The open stairwell was not an anticipated or foreseeable risk of Hart’s job. He could expect the limited visibility, brought on by smoke, snow, and darkness, but Tucker v. Shoemake, 354 Md. 413, 731 A.2d 884 (1999), teaches us that such limited visibility does not relieve an owner of responsibility for an otherwise dangerous and unnatural condition upon the property. As Hart writes in his appellate brief, both he and the officer in Tucker were “injured while making a tactical approach to a building wherein a dangerous situation existed.” Neither man could be held to have expected that an opening in their path would impede their safety mission.
Conversely, the open stairwell should not be likened to an open elevator shaft. The stairwell was open before the fire in the same way it was open during the fire. An elevator shaft, on the other hand, usually is open during a fire because of the fire itself; elevators are programmed to stop working when an alarm is triggered. Firefighters are trained to expect the possible hazard of an open elevator shaft, but they cannot be prepared for every open hazard that exists on a property, irrespective of the fire.
Because, in my opinion, the Fireman’s Rule did not apply, Swaroop owed Hart a duty of ordinary care. See Rivas, 130 Md.App. at 111, 744 A.2d 1076. The succeeding questions of whether there was breach, causation, and damages were issues for a jury to resolve. It was entirely correct, then, for the trial court to deny Swaroop’s motion for summary judgment and motions for judgment because they wrongly encouraged the court to withdraw these questions from the jury’s *87purview. Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Md. Rule 2 — 501(e); see also Rivas, 130 Md.App. at 106, 744 A.2d 1076. Here, the jury could read the evidence to find a breach, or not find a breach, to find a causal link, or not, so Swaroop certainly was not entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Likewise, “[a] judge must grant a civil defendant’s motion for judgment as a matter of law if the plaintiff failed to present evidence that could persuade the jury of the elements of the tort by a preponderance of the evidence.” Darcars Motors of Silver Spring, Inc. v. Borzym, 379 Md. 249, 270, 841 A.2d 828 (2004) (emphasis deleted). In ruling upon a motion for judgment during a jury trial, the judge must “consider all evidence and inferences in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is made.” Md. Rule 2-519(b). Given these standards, it would have been inappropriate for the court to grant the motions and relieve the jury of its obligation to sift through the credible evidence presented by the parties.
For the same reasons, I would answer “yes” to Swaroop’s fourth question presented, that is whether the jury’s verdict conformed to the evidence. I also read no reversible error in the court’s instruction to the jury, as alleged in the third question presented by appellee.
Undoubtedly, this is a close case. My departure from the majority is in its decision to apply the fireman’s rule and usurp the jury’s function in making the final call on whether Hart should be entitled to recover from the motel owner. The jury was in the best position to make that call, and wo do no service to litigants or our own precedents when we interfere with that special jury function. I would uphold the trial court’s actions and affirm the jury award.