Cruthirds v. RCI, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 August 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-2876,78-2876
• Citation: 624 F.2d 632
• Parties: Bettye CRUTHIRDS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RCI, INC., d/b/a Red Carpet Inn of Beaumont, Texas, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 632

624 F.2d 632

Bettye CRUTHIRDS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RCI, INC., d/b/a Red Carpet Inn of Beaumont, Texas,

Defendant-Appellant.

No. 78-2876.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 21, 1980.

William B. Coffey, Jr., Beaumont, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

Peterson, Petit & Peterson, Thomas A. Peterson, Beaumont, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Before MORGAN, CHARLES CLARK and TATE, Circuit Judges.

LEWIS R. MORGAN, Circuit Judge.

Bettye Cruthirds brought this personal injury action against RCI, Inc., d/b/a Red Carpet Inn of Beaumont, Texas, for injuries she had suffered in a fall down the steps of a darkened lounge at RCI's motel. The first trial resulted in a jury verdict for RCI, but the district court granted Cruthirds' motion for a new trial on the grounds that the court had erred in its use of a general verdict, and that the verdict was against the great weight of the evidence.

Most of the circumstances leading to Cruthirds' accident are not disputed. Cruthirds stopped at RCI's motel with her daughter Mary, and two friends, Sylvia and Gloria Gibson, on her way home to Sulphur, Louisiana after a day-long outing to Houston on January 27, 1976. Neither she nor her companions had ever visited the Beaumont Red Carpet Inn before.

After entering through the well-lit lobby of the motel, the four women walked to the Coach and Horses Lounge, located in a room adjacent to the lobby. The lighting in the lounge had been dimmed for atmosphere. Cruthirds and the rest of her party were led single file through the lounge by a host toward a table in the main bar area known as the "pit."

Along the way from the lounge entrance to the pit were two descending steps. At the time of Cruthirds' accident there were no handrails by the steps, but the path was inconspicuously illuminated by riser lights. Whether the riser lights were sufficiently visible to guests entering the lounge from the brighter lobby or outdoors is one of the hotly contested issues of this case.

Also contested is whether the host stood by the steps to give a warning until each of the women had passed. The host was not called as a witness by either party, but Terry Bucher, an employee of Red Carpet, testified that it was the practice of the host to warn guests of the steps, and that the host was positioned by the steps when Cruthirds fell. Cruthirds and two of her companions testified, however, that the host proceeded to the table, followed by Mary and Gloria, before Cruthirds and Sylvia had reached the steps.

As Bettye Cruthirds approached the pit, she noticed the first step just as she came to the edge. She stepped down without difficulty, and with both feet on the middle tread turned to warn Sylvia Gibson of the step down. Cruthirds then turned in the direction of the pit to look for Mary and Gloria. Believing she was on the main floor, she stepped forward without looking down and missed the second step, and in falling severely injured her left arm.

Douglas Steinman, an architect who was called as an expert witness by Cruthirds, testified that the illumination cast on the floor by the riser lights was blocked by the step and made invisible to persons approaching the steps from the upper level. The illumination became visible only as one came to within three and a half feet from the edge of the steps. Steinman further testified that the general lighting of the room, measured at less than two watt candlepower, presented a special hazard to those whose eyes had not yet adjusted to the dark.

Many of the simple visual cues typically found on or around steps were absent from the lounge steps. Steinman noted that since the steps were located across a corner of the lounge, the tread was splayed and its intersection with the wall hidden from view to those approaching from the entrance. He also suggested that adequate warning to guests could easily have been provided without destroying the atmosphere of the lounge, by installing a handrail or by covering the steps with carpeting of a color different from that of the upper and lower levels.

August Ward, General Manager of the Red Carpet Inn, testified that there had been no serious accidents on the steps until Cruthirds' injury, but he admitted that he may have received complaints about the steps from his employees. One of the motel's employees, Terry Bucher, testified that she had observed many guests and employees miss either the first or second step, and that she had often discussed the problem with management.

Under the law of Texas, an owner-occupier owes to his guests the duty to correct any unreasonable hazard on the premises if the owner-occupier knows or should know of the hazard and should expect that his guests will not discover the hazard. Adam Dante Corp. v. Sharpe, 483 S.W.2d 452 (Tex.1972). In return, guests owe a duty to watch for obvious hazards and to exercise reasonable caution in moving about the premises. Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge Co. v. Null, 578 S.W.2d 774 (Tex.Civ.App.1978).

If the owner-occupier is found to have been negligent in failing to make the premises reasonably safe for his guests, the contributory negligence of the guest is not an absolute defense unless the guest was more negligent than the owner-occupier. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 2212a. If the guest's negligence is less than or equal to that of the owner-occupier, the damages recoverable must be reduced in proportion to the guest's share of fault. Id.

Thus, the issues submitted to the jury in the trial of this case were whether the dim lighting of the lounge made the steps dangerous to invitees unfamiliar with the lounge; whether the installation of riser lights was a reasonably adequate precaution; whether RCI knew or should have known of any lingering unreasonable danger; and whether Cruthirds was negligent to a greater, equal or lesser decree than RCI in failing to spot the second step. A verdict for RCI could only be supported by a finding that RCI was not negligent, or that Cruthirds was more negligent than RCI.

The district court stated two grounds for disregarding the verdict and granting a new trial. First, the court was concerned that its charge to the jury with respect to comparative negligence, and its use of the general form of verdict, were "erroneous under the circumstances of this case. . . . " Second, the court found that the verdict was "against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. . . . " A third ground stated by the court, that a new trial was needed "to prevent a miscarriage of justice," is not really a separate ground for a new trial but only a statement of the function of a new trial.

A motion for a new trial is addressed to the trial court's discretionary authority, and the trial court's decision on the motion may be reversed only for an abuse of discretion or misapprehension of the law. Sulmeyer v. Coca Cola Co., 515 F.2d 835 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 934, 96 S.Ct. 1148, 47 L.Ed.2d 341 (1976). Great latitude in the trial court's authority is especially appropriate when the motion cites some pernicious error in the conduct of the trial....