Field v. Sisters of Mercy of Colo., 16699
| Decision Date | 16 June 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 16699,16699 |
| Citation | 245 P.2d 1167,126 Colo. 1 |
| Parties | FIELD v. SISTERS OF MERCY OF COLORADO. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
McDougal & Klingsmith, Denver, for plaintiff in error.
Bannister, Weller & Friedrich, William H. Hazlitt, Denver, for defendant in error.
Plaintiff in error, plaintiff below, filed her complaint against defendant alleging that on February 11, 1949, during the regular visiting hours, she entered Mercy Hospital to visit a sick friend she supposed was there; that while crossing the lobby from the reception desk to the elevators, she tripped and fell over a suitcase left in the pathway and was injured by the fall; that it was late in the afternoon and defendant negligently and carelessly allowed the reception room to remain in semidarkness, making it impossible for plaintiff to observe the suitcase on the floor; that the suitcase was directly in the path a person would use walking from the reception desk to the elevators; and that defendant was negligent in allowing the suitcase to be placed there. An amendment to the complaint was allowed in the following words, '* * * and defendant knew, or by the exercise of reasonable care, should have known the said suitcase was so placed.'
A motion for dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted was denied and defendant, Sisters of Mercy, answered, admitting that plaintiff was involved in an accident in the hospital; denied all other allegations of the complaint; and set up the affirmative defenses of contributory negligence, unavoidable accident, and assumption of risk. The answer contained no allegation of any specific facts.
Plaintiff's deposition was taken by defendant and is narrated as follows: She received a telephone call from a Mrs. Oatis telling her that she was in the hospital and that the nuns were taking care of her; the name of the hospital was not mentioned and plaintiff assumed, since it was a Catholic hospital, that it was Mercy Hospital, operated by defendants, because that was the closest hospital to the home of Mrs. Oatis. It was late in the afternoon and she heard a radio broadcast that a storm was expected; she thought the battery in her automobile needed charging; and she decided to drive over to the hospital, which drive would charge the battery and she could call on her sick friend. When she arrived at the hospital there were some people in the lobby talking with the hospital registration clerk; plaintiff had to go around one of the posts in the lobby and the light from the door was obstructed by the people; that she could not see anything; that she was aware of the darkness; that it was sufficiently dark to prevent her seeing anything that might be in her path; that she decided to go down this darkened pathway to the elevators and make inquiry of the elevator pilot as to where her friend was located. She did not stop at the information desk, or wait, or make inquiry. She tripped over the suitcase and the fall caused severe injury to her arm and shoulder; that one of the sisters of the hospital took hold of her arm to assist her in getting up and she complains that that caused her further injury; that she was hospitalized overnight and released the next day, driving her car to her home; all of which was aggravation to the injury she had received.
It developed that Mrs. Oatis, plaintiff's sick friend, was not a patient in Mercy Hospital and was not there. With the pleadings and this deposition before the court, defendant moved for summary judgment. The court informed that if defendant admitted the allegations of the complaint, and admitted plaintiff's testimony of the deposition, for the purpose of the motion, such admissions would be final and binding upon defendant thereafter. The court further stated that defendant could not make admissions solely for the purpose of the motion for summary judgment. This statement of the court, with which we do not agree, was off the record, but is related in defendant in error's brief and is not denied by plaintiff. Thereupon counsel withdrew the motion for summary judgment and the case progressed to a pretrial conference, at which defendant raised the legal question of plaintiff's status, claiming that she was a licensee; and also raised the question of her contributory negligence as a matter of law; and on these two propositions of law, if everything plaintiff had stated in her pleadings and deposition were true, she could not recover. The court requested arguments on these questions, which were had at a later date, and it was considered as if on motion for summary judgment, although the motion for summary judgment had been withdrawn when the court made the suggestions above noted. After argument, the court requested briefs from both parties. On April 24, 1951 the court entered its findings, order and decree based on plaintiff's testimony in the deposition, and held that she was a bare licensee; that there was no breach of duty owed by defendant to her as such; and, assuming the negligence charged and testified to by plaintiff was true, it was not such a degree of negligence as would warrant a finding in her favor; and thereupon ordered summary judgment for the defendant and a dismissal of the complaint with prejudice.
Errors are specified, which are, in substance: That the court did not comply with the requirements of Rule 56, R.C.P.Colo. in granting summary judgment; that there are material facts in dispute; in granting a summary judgment upon its own motion; and in holding that plaintiff was a bare licensee instead of a business visitor or invitee; and further complaint, in the way of error, is specified in that the court determined there was a lack of reasonable effort on the part of plaintiff to ascertain the whereabouts of Mrs. Oatis; that the court erred in finding that plaintiff did not go directly...
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