Court Opinion

ID: 9597794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:02:56.916692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:27:03.988232
License: Public Domain

*212OPALA, Vice Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the court’s opinion and write separately to underscore the enormity of the defendant’s probative responsibility as a summary judgment movant in this common-law tort action based on the attractive nuisance theory.
It was the defendant’s burden to demonstrate that there was no genuine controversy over whether the underage plaintiff —a child between the age of 7 and 14 years when injured1 — possessed a level of human maturity for self-protection which was on a par with adult persons of ordinary prudence. The evidentiary materials before the trial court at the summary judgment stage fall far short of demonstrating the minor’s adult-like capacity to apprehend danger from the specific offending instrumentality by the required clarity of proof— undisputed evidence that would support but a single positive inference.
In sum, the underage plaintiff’s capacity for the exercise of that degree of due care which is expected of adults with ordinary discretion and prudence stood in a state of factual dispute. The summary judgment for the defendant was hence clearly improper and cannot stand.

. By the norms of Oklahoma’s common law a child over the age of 7 and under the age of 14 is presumed to lack adult capacity for the exercise of due care. The burden is cast on the defendant to overcome by evidence the law’s presumed incapacity. This presumption of incapacity does not apply to children over the age of 14; the latter age group is considered on a par with persons of ordinary discretion or prudence. City of Shawnee v. Cheek, 41 Okl. 227, 137 P. 724, 732 [1913]; Ramage Mining Co. v. Thomas, 172 Okl. 24, 44 P.2d 19, 23 [1935]; Keck v. Woodring, 201 Okl. 665, 208 P.2d 1133, 1135 [1949]; McClelland v. Kothe, 770 P.2d 569, [1989]; see also, 21 O.S.1981 § 152(1) and Collier v. Stamatis, 63 Ariz. 285, 162 P.2d 125, 127-128 [1945].