Bohenko v. Grzyb
| Decision Date | 11 February 1986 |
| Citation | 488 N.E.2d 804,21 Mass.App.Ct. 961 |
| Parties | Rita BOHENKO v. Richard GRZYB. |
| Court | Appeals Court of Massachusetts |
David William Sugarman, Worcester, for defendant.
Jerry E. Benezra, Melrose, for plaintiff.
Before BROWN, CUTTER and FINE, JJ.
RESCRIPT.
Could a jury reasonably have found that the defendant, Richard Grzyb, was negligent in failing to keep a light on at the unlocked rear entrance to his home in Dudley at 1:00 A.M. on Sunday August 24, 1980? Considering the evidence at trial from a perspective most favorable to the plaintiff, Rita Bohenko, we answer that question in the negative. We, therefore, reverse the judgment entered for Bohenko after a special jury verdict finding Bohenko and Grzyb each fifty percent causally negligent, the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence of negligence having been properly raised by a motion for directed verdict.
Grzyb and Bohenko were close friends. When he saw Bohenko on August 21, 1980, Grzyb suggested that she drop over to his house Friday or Saturday to pick up some pickles and apples. There was discussion that she might come late, that he'd be watching a baseball game, that the door would be open, and that she should just come in. On Saturday, August 23rd, Bohenko spent the evening in the company of her daughter and a friend. They patronized a club where they drank and danced. After midnight, Bohenko and her friend were driving around when they decided to stop at Grzyb's home. Bohenko had been there on one prior occasion and had entered through the rear door. The two friends drove into the driveway and parked near the rear entrance, which was unlighted. They saw a light on in the front of the house. Bohenko climbed the stairs to the back door, opened first a screen door and then an inner door, both of which were unlocked, and, without knocking or otherwise making her presence known, closed the door behind her and entered a narrow hallway, which was dark. To her left down the hallway was a doorway leading to the kitchen. Bohenko groped in the dark and found another door, which she opened. As she called out to Grzyb, she took a step forward in the dark and fell down a flight of stairs to the basement. She sustained injuries on the basis of which the jury found damages in the amount of $19,320.
There was no evidence that the stairs were defective or that there was anything about the condition of the premises that was unusual. The only failure on Grzyb's part claimed to be negligence was the failure to have the area of the rear entrance and rear hallway of his house lighted while the back door was unlocked. Bohenko testified that the outside illumination from a street light was...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Eaton v. McLain
...v. Waters, 594 S.W.2d 385, 387 (Tenn.1980); Roberts v. Roberts, 845 S.W.2d 225, 227 (Tenn.App.1992). See also Bohenko v. Grzyb, 21 Mass.App. 961, 488 N.E.2d 804, 805 (1986) (premises owner not negligent as a matter of law for failing to leave light on for friend attempting to enter home lat......
-
Sweet v. Cieslak
...Mass. 717, 248 N.E.2d 654 (1969). Compare Polak v. Whitney, 21 Mass.App.Ct. 349, 353, 487 N.E.2d 213 (1985); Bohenko v. Grzyb, 21 Mass.App.Ct. 961, 962, 488 N.E.2d 804 (1986). Contrast Marston v. Auto Laundries, Inc., 356 Mass. 743, 255 N.E.2d 730 (1970). 3. There is nothing in Mounsey v. E......
-
Wilson v. Copen
...Copen was not liable as a matter of law. In making its rulings, the district court stated that it regarded Bohenko v. Grzyb, 21 Mass. App. Ct. 961 (1986) (rescript opinion), as instructive. Bohenko reversed a verdict in favor of a plaintiff who, with the permission and foreknowledge of the ......
-
McKinnon v. Collins
...terrain in darkness, without mentioning any defects [memorandum and order pursuant to Appeals Court rule 1:28]); Bohenko v. Grzyb, 21 Mass.App.Ct. 961, 962 (1986) (noting absence of "evidence that the stairs were defective or that there was anything about the condition of the premises that ......