Court Opinion

ID: 9443586
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:25:21.761636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:32.671569
License: Public Domain

MAGRUDER, Chief Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the opinion and judgment of the court. I also think that defendant was entitled to a directed verdict Because there was nO evidence of a breach of duty by him. It is clear that plaintiff entered the grease pit room for no business purpose; and it would seem at best that plaintiff was only a gratuitous -licensee therein/ Certainly defendant had no duty' to warn plaintiff specifically of the presence of the grease pit, which was open and obvious*in broad daylight. Assuming that there was a slippery condition around the edges of the grease pit, and that defendant was aware of this condition, naturally not ah uncommon one in such premises, yet we think defendant was not under a legal duty to warn plaintiff of the danger of slipping near the edge of the pit. Plaintiff’s call at defendant’s garage was for a purpose not involving any incidental use of the grease pit room, which was off from the main part of the garage. When defendant left plaintiff seated safely in the car and went into the office to check the charts so as to determine how much Zerone to put into the radiator, he had no reason to anticipate that plaintiff would have occasion to come near the slippery edge of the grease pit. As stated in Am.L.I.nst., Restatement of Torts § 342, Comment f: “A ■ possessor of land who permits gratuitous 'licensees to enter thereon, is subject to liability' for bodily harm caused to them by the dangerous state in which he permits-a natural or artificial condition to remain, if, but only if, he not only knows of the condition but also realizes it involves, an unreasonable risk of causing bodily harm to the particular licensee harmed thereby. In determining whether the possessor should realize that a known condition involves not only a risk but an unreasonable risk, the character of the invitation or permission is' important. A condition, no matter how dangerous to those who come in 'contact with it, can.'involve risk to a particular licensee only if he may be expected to encounter it' in- the exercise of his license.”