Eckerson v. Ford's Prairie School Dist. No. 11 of Lewis County

• Decision Date: 15 April 1940
• Docket Number: 27780.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: ECKERSON v. FORD'S PRAIRIE SCHOOL DIST. NO. 11 OF LEWIS COUNTY.

101 P.2d 345

3 Wn.2d 475

ECKERSON v. FORD'S PRAIRIE SCHOOL DIST. NO. 11 OF LEWIS COUNTY.

No. 27780.

Supreme Court of Washington

April 15, 1940

Department 2.

Action by Joan Eckerson, by her guardian ad litem, Harold Eckerson against Ford's Prairie School District No. 11 of Lewis County, Washington, for personal injuries sustained by Joan Eckerson while playing on school grounds of defendant school district. From a judgment entered on a verdict for plaintiff defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

In action against third-class school district for injuries received when 12-year-old school girl, while entering basement, was cut by glass in outside basement stairway door which was "slammed" shut by another pupil after school girl, while playing "tag", stumbled on top step, which was elevated above surface of surrounding playgrounds, whether school girl was guilty of contributory negligence was for jury.

Appeal from Superior Court, Lewis County; C. A. Studebaker, judge.

Lloyd B. Dysart, of Centralia, for appellant.

W. Grant Armstrong, of Chehalis, for respondent.

STEINERT Justice.

Plaintiff, a minor girl, brought suit by her guardian ad litem to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by her while playing on the school grounds of defendant school district. The jury returned a verdict in her favor. From a judgment entered thereon, defendant has appealed.

The assignments of error raise only two questions: (1) Whether or not respondent's evidence was sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and (2) whether or not respondent was chargeable with contributory negligence.

Viewing the evidenc, as we must, in the light most favorable to respondent, the facts, as the jury was entitled to find them, are as follows: Appellant is a school district of the third class. Its school grounds embrace approximately three acres on the east side of Pacific Highway, about a mile northwesterly from Centralia. The school building is a two-story frame structure with a full basement. In the basement are located a furnace room, two recreation rooms, and the boys' and girls' lavatories.

The building has two main entrances, one in front, facing the Pacific Highway, and the other directly opposite, in the rear, facing the main playgrounds. Approach to the rear, or east, door, is made from a concrete veranda and one or two steps on the outside of the building. Inside the entrance, one flight of stairs leads upward to the main hall, and another leads downward to the basement. Similar conditions obtain on the front, or west, side of the building. The two main entrance doors are equipped with devices called 'stoppers,' by which term the parties evidently refer to the usual type of door checks that serve the double purpose of closing doors gently and of keeping them closed.

On the outside of the building, about twenty feet south of the rear entrance, is a concrete stairway and pit leading forward from the playgrounds to the furnace room in the basement. Inasmuch as this stairway is the place where the accident occurred, some detail of description is required.

The stairway, which is three feet, nine inches wide, inside measurement, consists of five concrete steps, with treads about twelve inches wide, and risers about six and one-half or seven inches high. Bordering the sides and outer end of the pit is a concrete ledge, or apron, twelve inches in width. This apron forms the first step of the stairway and is elevated three and one-half inches above the level of the adjacent playground, which is composed of gravelly soil mixed with clay. This situation, with respect to the apron, has existed for a number of years.

At the foot of the stairway, the depth of the pit is two feet, eight and one-half inches. The distance from the bottom step to the door of the furnace room is one foot, eleven inches. The distance from the outside edge of the top step, or apron, to the door is six feet, eleven inches.

The door leading to the furnace room is three feet, eight inches wide, and seven feet high. Its upper part contains four glass panels, each of which is one foot, four inches square; the lower part has the usual wooden panels. The distance from the lower edge of these glass panels to the bottom of the pit is three feet, nine inches. Thus, the bottom of the glass panels is a little more than one foot above the ground level outside the stairway. The door opense inward and is not equipped with stoppers, nor is there any screen in front of the glass panels.

During the time with which we are presently concerned, and for some time prior thereto, the school had four teachers, including the principal, and an average of one hundred pupils, distributed over eight grades.

During the noon recesses and other intermissions, if the weather permitted, the pupils were required to play outside, on the school grounds, where they were supervised by the teachers; when the weather was inclement, the children played in the basement where they were likewise supervised. Although the concrete stairway was primarily intended for ingress to and egress from the furance room, the children were not only allowed to use it as a means of communication between the playgrounds and basement, but were also permitted to play on and about it. No rules or regulations preventing such use were posted or otherwise brought to the attention of the children.

November 8, 1937, was a cloudy, drizzly day. It had rained quite hard early in the morning, but, at the time of the accident, precipitation had ceased. However, during the noon recess, the majority of the pupils were playing in the basement.

After eating her lunch, respondent, who was twelve years of age, engaged in a game of 'tag' with six or eight of her schoolmates. The game has been familiar to school children for generations. One of the players is designated 'it,' whose object is to overtake and tag one of the others, who in turn becomes 'it' and thereupon proceeds in an attempt to tag another. The game on this particular day, so far as we are informed, appears to have started inside the building. A boy, Earl Fox, was 'it,' and was pursuing the others, including respondent. The chase led through the main rear door onto the playgrounds. Earl, for some reason or other, then abandoned the pursuit of those outside and returned by way of the same entrance to the inside of the building. Appearently, however, he remained 'it' to respondent and those on the playground.

Respondent, still participating in the game, proceeded toward the concrete stairway and pit, intending to return to the basement by way of the furnace room, the door of which was standing wide open. Although hurrying, she was not running. Her gait was described as being between a run and a walk. Arriving at the stairway, way, she stepped with her right foot onto the twelve inch concrete apron. As she brought her left foot forward, her toe 'sort of kicked' against the front edge of the apron projecting above the level of the ground, and threw her slightly off balance. She succeeded, however, in stepping onto the second step with her left foot, and proceeded forward down the steps in their order, attempting all the while to regain her full equilibrium. Describing her progress, she said: 'I kept on coming though. I did not figure on falling down.' While she was in the act of stepping down upon the bottom step, intending to proceed through the open doorway, a boy who was crouched behind the door, inside the furnace room, suddenly 'slammed' it shut. Respondent, who was then within about two feet from the door, had not yet regained her full balance, and, to protect herself, threw her hands upward and forward. As a result of this movement, her right hand struck against and broke one of the glass panels, causing very serious injuries to her right arm. A girl companion who was descending the steps abreast, or slightly ahead, of her was able to stop without colliding with the door.

Respondent's claim for damages is predicated upon two grounds of alleged negligence: (1) The construction, existence, and maintenance of a dangerous and negligent condition of the premises at the time and place in question, and (2) the failure to establish, promulgate, and enforce adequate rules and regulations governing the play and recreation of students.

The first ground, stated at length, charges negligence in (1) maintaining a ledge at the top of the steps, three or four inches above the level of the payground, (2) failing to maintain rails or a banister along the sides of the steps, (3) having a glass paneled door, unequipped with stoppers, at the foot of the stairway, and (4) having the door hung in such a way that it opened inward instead of outward. The court withdrew from the jury's consideration the second and fourth grounds. The primary charge of negligence, as now contended by respondent, is the maintenance of the top step, or apron, in its elevated position above the surrounding playgrounds.

It is conceded by both parties that the duty of appellant school district was to exercise such care in the maintenance, use, and supervision of its grounds as an ordinary, reasonable, and prudent person would exercise under the same or similar circumstances, and this we conceive to be the correct rule. Rice v. School District 302, Pierce Co., 140 Wash. 189, 248 P. 388.

It may be admitted, for the sake of argument, that the construction of the apron with an elevation above the surrounding terrain was not of itself negligence. Protection of the stairway against seepage of soil and gravel, and against the collection of rubbish, might well have dictated that method of construction. It might be argued, however, that the danger created by the projection might easily have been obviated without...