Garret v. W. S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc.
| Decision Date | 03 January 1933 |
| Docket Number | No. 42.,42. |
| Citation | 261 Mich. 262,246 N.W. 57 |
| Parties | GARRET v. W. S. BUTTERFIELD THEATRES, Inc. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Circuit Court, Kalamazoo County; George V. Weimer, Judge.
Action by May Garret, Newton Annis, assignee, against the W. S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals.
Reversed without new trial.
Argued before the Entire Bench.Marvin J. Schaberg, of Kalamazoo, and William E. Vaughan, of Detroit, for appellant.
Glenn R. Faling, of Kalamazoo, for appellee.
Plaintiff, seventh years old, attended defendant's theatre with Mrs. Nelson. They went through the ladies' lounge, a dimly lighted room, to the toilet room, in the floor of which was a step down of four and one-half inches. Mrs. Nelson opened the door, plaintiff went through, fell at the step, and was injured. She had judgment for damages.
The door of the toilet room swung into the lounge. The floor level of the lounge continued into the toilet room about nine inches beyond the door casing. This space was covered with a tile slab of pinkish hue. The floor proper consisted of title blocks about eight inches square, set diagonally to the line of the step and alternating pink and gray or buff. The toilet room was well or brightly lighted. There were no structural defects in the floor or steps.
Different floor levels in private and public buildings, connected by steps, are so common that the possibility of their presence is anticipated by prudent persons. The construction is not negligent unless, by its character, location or surrounding conditions, a reasonably prudent person would not be likely to expect a step or see it. Brown v. Berles, 234 Mich. 353, 208 N. W. 461;Albachten v. Golden Rule, 135 Minn. 381, 160 N. W. 1012;Ware v. Evangelical Baptist, Etc., Society, 181 Mass. 285, 63 N. E. 885;Johnson v. Desmond (Sup.) 165 N. Y. S. 290;Main v. Lehman, 294 Mo. 579, 243 S. W. 91.
Argument is made that the dim lighting of the lounge contrasted with the bright lighting in the toilet room and the color scheme of the toilet floor had such effect upon the visibility of the step as to render the question of negligence in maintaining it for the jury.
Toilets are frequently put in left over spaces and have vagaries of construction. The door was a warning that there might be a difference in floor levels. The act of opening the door towards him would require a person to pause long enough to have ample opportunity to see the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Livings v. Sage's Inv. Grp., LLC
...Restatement (Third) of Torts? , 38 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1, 27 (2005).]This principle was well illustrated in Garret v. W.S. Butterfield Theatres , 261 Mich. 262, 246 N.W. 57 (1933). There, the 70-year-old plaintiff stepped out of a dimly lit lounge into a bathroom with a 4.5-inch step from the......
-
Blackwell v. Franchi
...by steps, are so common that the possibility of their presence is anticipated by prudent persons." Garret v. W.S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc. , 261 Mich. 262, 263, 246 N.W. 57 (1933). Generally, therefore, "steps and differing floor levels [are] not ordinarily actionable unless unique circum......
-
Blackwell v. Franchi
...Court should decide that it is not a danger that needs to come with a warning as a matter of law, citing Garret v. W. S. Butterfield Theatres , 261 Mich. 262, 246 N.W. 57 (1933) and Bertrand v. Alan Ford, Inc. , 449 Mich. 606, 537 N.W.2d 185 (1995), for support. In other words, the dissent ......
-
Nezworski v. Mazanec
...76 Mich. 435, 43 N.W. 308,15 Am.St.Rep. 370;Shorkey v. Great A. & P. Tea Co., 259 Mich. 450, 243 N.W. 257;Garrett v. [W. S.] Butterfield Theatres, Inc., 261 Mich. 262, 246 N.W. 57;Boyle v. Preketes, 262 Mich. 629, 247 N.W. 763;Grand Rapids Bedding Co. v. [Grand Rapids] Furniture Temple Co.,......