Court Opinion

ID: 9513836
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:41:15.628318+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:03.685820
License: Public Domain

KAPSNER, Justice,
dissenting.
[¶ 16] I respectfully dissent.
[¶ 17] The trial court based its decision to grant summary judgment and dismiss the case on the determination that Beckler had not provided sufficient evidence to show there was water on the school steps.
In this case Beckler asserts that melted snow does accumulate on these steps from time to time and that BPS should have provided signs warning of that possibility. But the undisputed evidence is that BPS regularly mopped up any melted snow and that at the time of Beck-ler’s fall on the steps there was no evidence of any melted snow being present. No deposition testimony of any witness, including Beckler, states that the steps were wet. Beckler herself testified that she wiped her shoes on the rug at the top of the landing before she stepped onto the steps. After her fall she testified she crawled back up to the landing to signal her husband who was waiting outside in them car. She did testify that her pants were wet, but she did not know if that wetness came from the steps or from the rug.
Becker’s claim in her Complaint is that the stairs were wet and that they were wet as a result of melted snow and/or ice. Her expert’s opinion is based on his understanding that the stairs were wet. Her only evidence that the stairs were wet is her conclusion that they get wet every day from 100s of children coming in and out that door from portable classrooms. Paraphrasing our Supreme Court in Fast, Beckler cannot “rely upon unsupported, conclu-sory allegations.” Rather she “must present competent admissible evidence by affidavit or other comparable means which raises an issue of material fact.” The Court finds she has failed to do so.
Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED and Beckler’s Complaint is DISMISSED. Having so held, Plaintiff Annmarie Beckler’s Motion to Amend Complaint is MOOT and is therefore DISMISSED.
[¶ 18] However, this places greater burden on Beckler than is permitted under *178our laws on summary judgment. Whether there was water on the stairs is a fact material to this litigation. On appeal, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, and we give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences which reasonably can be drawn from the evidence. Green v. Mid Dakota Clinic, 2004 ND 12, ¶ 5, 673 N.W.2d 257.
[¶ 19] Beckler has submitted evidence from which a reasonable inference can be drawn that the steps were wet. Beckler testified she went to her child’s school in January, shortly after the noon recess when the children had been outside. There was snow in the schoolyard which she crossed to get to the door she entered. Deposition testimony from the school’s principal, from one of its custodians, and from her daughter’s teacher indicated that water in the entryway and on the stairs was a common occurrence during the winter months. She testified she wiped her shoes on a rug when she entered. After her fall on the stairs, she testified that her pants were wet when she crawled back up the stairs to get her husband to assist her.
[¶ 20] This is all evidence from which a reasonable inference can be drawn that the steps were wet; this material fact is in issue because the school district asserts that those steps were not wet and provided evidence in support of its position.
[¶ 21] The majority opinion says that this evidence becomes “speculative in light of direct evidence that no water was on the stairs on the day she fell.” Majority opinion at ¶ 11. That assertion is contrary to the jurisprudence that requires a reviewing court to give the non-moving party the benefit of all favorable inferences. Makeeff v. City of Bismarck, 2005 ND 60, ¶ 12, 693 N.W.2d 639. The majority recognizes that it is a reasonable inference that wet stairs caused her pants to get wet. “Her pants could have become wet if she crawled up wet stairs.” Majority opinion at ¶ 10.
[¶ 22] The only reason given by the trial court for dismissing the action, that the stairs were not wet, can only be reached by failing to give Beckler the benefit of the favorable inferences of the testimony she provided. This was error.
[¶ 23] Perhaps as troubling, the majority opinion is written as if the trial court had made determinations which the trial court did not make. The majority opinion is written as if the trial court had made a determination that Beckler failed to present evidence that the school district had breached its duty to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition or failed to provide evidence that the school district created a condition that caused her to slip. Majority opinion at ¶ 13.
[¶ 24] The trial court did not comment on the quality of evidence relating to duty or proximate cause. On the narrow ground that the trial court did decide the motion, it did so contrary to the standards for granting summary judgment. I would reverse and remand for further proceedings. Therefore I dissent.
[¶ 25] Carol Ronning Kapsner