Gunlock v. New Frontier Hotel Corp.
| Decision Date | 05 April 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 4456,4456 |
| Parties | Mary GUNLOCK and A. E. Gunlock, Appellants, v. The NEW FRONTIER HOTEL CORP., a Nevada corporation, bankrupt, and Leonard R. Fayle as Trustee of the said New Frontier Hotel Corp., a bankrupt, Respondents. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
Hawkins & Cannon, Las Vegas, for appellants.
Clarence Sundean, Las Vegas, for respondents.
This is an action for personal injury resulting from a fall in a hotel lobby.
While the appellants were paying guests at the New Frontier Hotel, they entered the front door of the dimly lit lobby of the hotel about 10:00 P.M. and walked through the lobby some 30 feet to where an artist was seated painting a picture. Nearby and in front of a large plate-glass window was a planter about two feet wide, extending 30 feet from the front door to where the artist was painting. The planter was in a box, the border of which arose three or four inches above the level of the floor, and was concealed by the artificial foliage which was a foot and a half or two feet high. While she was standing and watching the artist, Mrs. Gunlock started to turn around. A heel of her high-heel shoes caught on the planter box, she fell backward into the planter, and was injured by hitting her head on the plateglass window. The window did not break.
The case was tried by the court without a jury. After the presentation of appellants' evidence, the court granted respondents' motion for an involuntary dismissal made pursuant to Rule 41(b) NRCP. Appeal is from said judgment.
Appellants concede that Mrs. Gunlock fell because she failed to see the planter, and it is apparent that the reason she did not see the planter was because she was moving backwards in the act of turning around.
The only matters for consideration are whether any evidence was presented to show negligence on the part of respondents and, if so, whether Mrs. Gunlock was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.
A motion for an involuntary dismissal admits the truth of a plaintiff's evidence and all inferences that reasonably can be drawn therefrom, and the evidence must be interpreted in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Gordon v. Cal-Neva Lodge, Inc., 71 Nev. 336, 291 P.2d 1054; Corn v. French, 71 Nev. 280, 289 P.2d 173.
Appellants maintain that negligence could be inferred from (1) the dimly lit lobby, and (2) the maintenance of the planter box in a section of the lobby where guests are apt to be. We conclude that on both of these issues the evidence was as a matter of law insufficient to constitute negligence.
It appears from the evidence that the planter ran the length of one side of the lobby for at least 30 feet. There was no evidence that the planter was hidden or concealed. On the other hand, Mr. Gunlock testified that as he entered the room he saw the planter and was able to see for a distance of 30 feet to where the artist was painting. Mrs. Gunlock testified in this regard merely that she had not seen it--not that she wouldn't have seen it if she had looked. Nor was there any evidence tending to establish that the planter was improperly constructed or located.
Plants in a planter, even if artificial, give warning that some sort of supporting material is likely to be present and if the planter is located along the edge of a floor, the danger of stepping into it is obvious. The fact that the supporting material could not be seen because of the foliage did not constitute it a concealed peril necessitating notice thereof. That the planter was separated from the floor by a three- or four-inch guard rail, likewise concealed by the foliage, more aptly would raise an inference of precaution rather than would the omission of such a separator.
With regard to the lighting in the lobby there is no evidence...
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McGarry v. United States
...is obvious, ordinary care does not require a warning from the owner because obviousness serves the same purpose. Gunlock v. New Frontier Hotel, 78 Nev. 182, 370 P.2d 682 (1962), and Worth v. Read, 79 Nev. 351, 384 P. 2d 1017. In a later Nevada case, the Nevada Supreme Court adopted section ......
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