Brinson Ford, Inc. v. Alger

• Decision Date: 15 June 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-0722.,05-0722.
• Citation: 228 S.W.3d 161
• Parties: BRINSON FORD, INC., Individually and d/b/a Brinson Ford Lincoln Mercury, Petitioner, v. Connie W. ALGER, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

228 S.W.3d 161

BRINSON FORD, INC., Individually and d/b/a Brinson Ford Lincoln Mercury, Petitioner, v. Connie W. ALGER, Respondent.

No. 05-0722.

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 15, 2007.

Christopher J. Pruitt, John R. Lively Jr., Brown Pruitt Peterson & Wambsganss, P.C., Fort Worth, for Petitioner.

Carl D. Tillery, Tillery & Tillery, Dallas, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Connie Alger fell from a pedestrian ramp while visiting a car dealership and brought this premises liability action for the injuries she sustained. The trial court granted summary judgment in the premises owner's favor without specifying the ground. A divided court of appeals reversed, holding that fact issues existed as to the premises owner's actual or constructive knowledge of the condition, whether the condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm, and whether the premises owner failed to exercise reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk of harm. 169 S.W.3d 340. We hold that Alger presented no evidence of a premises condition that posed an unreasonable risk of harm, and reverse and render judgment in Brinson Ford's favor.

Connie Alger went to Brinson Ford, Inc. to pick up friends who were having work done on their car. Alger entered the dealership through a side entrance, but exited through the front door where a pedestrian ramp leads to the parking lot. Although there were handrails along most of the ramp as it sloped down to ground level, a small portion of the ramp extended beyond the handrails to the sidewalk. The highest point of this unrailed section was four inches above the sidewalk, and it was marked by yellow paint along the ramp's edges and around the parking space next to the ramp. The ramp is the dealership's main entrance, and Brinson Ford had no record that anyone had ever fallen from it in the nearly ten years between the business's opening and Alger's fall. Alger testified that when she reached the point where the handrails ended, she thought the ramp had ended too. When she turned to walk toward her car, Alger stepped off the unrailed portion of the ramp and fell.

Alger sued Brinson Ford alleging that the ramp's configuration was a premises condition posing an unreasonable risk of harm, Brinson Ford knew or should have known of the danger, and Brinson Ford failed to exercise ordinary care to protect her from it. The dealership filed a motion for summary judgment under sections (c) and (i) of Rule 166a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The motion asserted a number of grounds, including that there was no evidence of a premises condition that presented an unreasonable risk of harm; alternatively, Brinson Ford contended the evidence established as a matter of law that the condition of the premises did not pose an unreasonable risk of harm. In response to the dealership's motion, Alger submitted the affidavit of its safety engineering expert, Jack T. Madeley. Madeley's affidavit identifies the safety requirements of the Texas Accessibility Standards established by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation¹ and the Standard Practice for Safe Walking Surfaces², and acknowledges that the ramp meets both sets of requirements. But Madeley opines that:

[t]he ramp in question is deceiving in appearance. The upper level of the ramp has railing down the sides. The lower part does not. This can give a visual cue...