Bentley v. Hamden Post 88, Inc.

• Decision Date: 14 March 1967
• Docket Number: No. 71317,71317
• Citation: 27 Conn.Supp. 56,229 A.2d 32
• Court: Connecticut Court of Common Pleas
• Parties: Richard BENTLEY v. HAMDEN POST 88, INC.

Page 32

229 A.2d 32

27 Conn.Supp. 56

Richard BENTLEY v. HAMDEN POST 88, INC.

No. 71317.

Court of Common Pleas of Connecticut, New Haven County.

March 14, 1967.

Sid M. Miller, Hamden, for plaintiff.

Gormley & Gormley, New Haven, for defendant.

DeVITA, Judge.

The plaintiff, Richard Bentley, with his wife and children attended a picnic on defendant's property on July 14, 1963. The plaintiff is a member of the defendant, Hamden Post 88, Inc., and had purchased tickets to attend this affair. As a member of the clean-up committee on the day of the picnic, at about 5 p.m. the plaintiff, while carrying a box of trash to the incinerator, stepped on a nail that was protruding from a wooden board in defendant's parking lot. The plaintiff is seeking damages for his injuries.

The court finds that the price paid by the plaintiff for the tickets to this picnic was a charge or fee rather than a donation. He was an invitee at this picnic. The price for each ticket had been established by the defendant to pay for all the food, with a small profit left over for the defendant.

The steward of Post 88 testified that he takes care of the sidewalk, lawn, shrubbery etc. He is an officer of this Post and is in charge of the bar and the maintenance of the building. He testified that he was aware over a period of more than three years that there were two four-by-four wooden rails placed on the parking area at right angles to keep the cars within a specific area. These rails were affixed with 20-penny nails to wooden posts that were buried in the ground. He also knew that this type of fastening was not good because cars would hit the rail at the edge of the parking area and the rail would turn over, exposing the nails. It then became necessary to turn the rail and nail it back to the posts. He testified that this was almost a daily occurrence. He was familiar with this rail, and it was old and bleached by the sun.

On the day of the picnic, no cars were permitted to park in the parking area. Chairs and tables were carried out that morning and set up in this parking area. The incinerator or trash can was located beyond this area, and it was necessary to walk over this rail to reach it. At about 5 p.m. in the afternoon, the plaintiff was carrying a box filled with leftovers to the trash cans. In walking through this parking area, he stepped on the wooden rail, which had been partially covered with corn husks and picnic debris, and a nail went through his sneaker and into his right foot.

The court believes that defendant had knowledge of the dangerous and defective condition of these rails, which required attention on almost a daily basis. On the day of the picnic, no inspection was made of this railing to see that it was affixed properly. It could only be turned over by an automobile pulling it or knocking it off the imbedded posts, and since no automobiles had been allowed to park there that day, it can be concluded that this rail was turned over with the nails exposed at least from the very morning of the picnic.

The defendant is under a duty to use reaonable care to keep its premises in a reasonably safe condition for such use as the defendant knew was being made of them. The defendant did not use reasonable care to make its premises reasonably safe for...