Court Opinion

ID: 9847415
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:59:20.362577+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:10.341019
License: Public Domain

TIMMONS-GOODSON, Judge,
dissenting.
Because I conclude that the trial court properly determined that there was no evidence that plaintiff “failed to keep a proper lookout *135or was otherwise contributorily negligent in her fall,” I respectfully dissent.
The majority opinion cites the following facts in support of its conclusion that there was evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that plaintiff contributed to her own injury: (1) plaintiff was holding a Rolodex-brand desktop rotary file in one hand and a “bank bag” in her other hand when she fell; (2) plaintiff had informed her physician that she “suffered from inner ear problems for years;” and (3) plaintiff did not fall on defendant’s steps. The majority fails to explain how these facts, standing alone, support a finding of contributory negligence, nor is such an explanation obvious. There was no evidence, for example, that the fact that plaintiff was holding a bag and a rotary file caused her to become imbalanced. There was no evidence concerning the size or weight of these items, nor was there any evidence that plaintiff’s attention was diverted by these items. Further, there was no evidence that plaintiff could have prevented or stopped her fall by, for instance, holding onto a handrail, had her hands not been occupied. In fact, the evidence showed that defendant’s steps had no handrail.
Plaintiff’s statement to her physician one year after her accident that she “had inner ear problems for years” likewise provides no basis for a finding of contributory negligence. Plaintiff specifically denied that these “inner ear problems” had ever affected her balance, and defendant presented no evidence to the contrary. Nor was there any evidence that plaintiff was suffering from an inner ear problem the day of the incident.
Finally, the majority contends that, because defendant testified that plaintiff did not fall on the steps, but only after having reached the floor of the garage when her “knee gave way,” a reasonable jury could find that plaintiff was contributorily negligent. This statement is illogical, however, given the fact that the jury found defendant negligent. The only evidence of defendant’s negligence presented at trial, and the only possible basis for the jury’s finding of negligence on defendant’s part, was the evidence tending to show that defendant’s brick steps violated applicable building code requirements and otherwise constituted a hidden and dangerous condition. Thus, if the jury believed defendant’s testimony that plaintiff did not fall on the steps, but only after having reached the floor of the garage, there would have been no basis upon which to find defendant negligent. Defendant’s testimony regarding the location of plaintiff’s fall did not demonstrate that plaintiff failed to keep a proper lookout; rather, it *136was evidence of a factual dispute properly and necessarily resolved by the jury in plaintiff’s favor.
Because there was no evidence that plaintiff failed to act as a reasonably prudent person regarding her own safety, I conclude that the trial court properly determined that it erred in submitting the issue of contributory negligence to the jury. See Jacobs v. Locklear, 310 N.C. 735, 736-37, 314 S.E.2d 545, 545 (1985) (holding that where there is no evidence of contributory negligence, the trial court errs in submitting the issue to the jury). I would therefore affirm the judgment of the trial court.