Harpke v. Lankershim Estates
| Decision Date | 28 March 1951 |
| Citation | 103 Cal.App.2d 143,229 P.2d 103 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | HARPKE v. LANKERSHIM ESTATES. Civ. 17860. |
William S. Palmese, Jesse A. Levinson, Los Angeles, for appellant.
Tripp & Callaway and Hulen C. Callaway, all of Los Angeles, for respondent.
Appeal by plaintiff from a judgment of nonsuit in an action for damages for personal injuries sustained by her when she slipped and fell down a marble stairway in an office building operated by defendant.
Plaintiff alleged negligence generally and that without fault or negligence on her part she 'tripped by reason of the defective, unsafe, dangerous and unsound condition of the stairway, and was precipitated and fell down the stairway,' sustaining the injuries for which she seeks recovery. A jury was impaneled and at the close of plaintiff's case the court granted defendant's motion for nonsuit.
It is conceded that plaintiff was an invitee of the defendant corporation and that it was under a duty to exercise ordinary care to maintain the stairway in a reasonably safe condition or to give warning of a latent or concealed peril, if such existed. Plaintiff was the only witness who testified concerning her fall and the condition of the stairway at the time of the accident.
Plaintiff testified she had worked in defendant's building for four or five years prior to March 17, 1947, the date of the accident, and had used the stairway on numerous occasions; that as 'I was leaving work approximately 4:30 in the afternoon and I used the stairs, I walked down from the third to the second, and I left the second floor to go down to the first, and I started down the stairs, and there is a platform outside at this flight, and there were some girls there, I walked around them * * * and started down again, and I got about half way between this landing and the front, and I slipped and fell and didn't gain my balance, and I went down through the plate glass door, my arm extended, I think, and I cut my hand.' With respect to the condition of the stairway she testified 'the stairs are worn, they are rounded edged, they are sort of grooved on the two sides, on the right and left, and they were slippery.' On cross-examination she stated that she noticed no difference in the condition of the stairway from that on any previous day. She further testified:
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...spikes, the trial court had reason to conclude a nonsuit was justified under the authorities before it. (Cf. Harpke v. Lankershim Estates, 103 Cal.App.2d 143, 229 P.2d 103; Vaughn v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 95 Cal.App.2d 553, 213 P.2d Does Rowland v. Christian, Supra, compel a contrary concl......
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...that the railing did not run the full length of the stairway. Marple v. Manspeaker, 88 Cal.App. 682, 263 P. 1022; Harpke v. Lamkershim Estates, 103 Cal.App.2d 143, 229 P.2d 103; and Darrach v. Trustees of S. F. Medical Ass'n, 121 Cal.App.2d 362, 263 P.2d 469, are likewise not controlling, f......
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Allen v. Matson Navigation Company
...That is at least some evidence that hers was a slipping fall. This fact distinguishes this case from that of Harpke v. Lankershim Estates, 103 Cal. App.2d 143, 229 P.2d 103, upon which the trial court The evidence does not disclose why the floor was slippery and it was not encumbent upon th......
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Lightbourn v. Del Mar
...on a defendant's premises. (Darrach v. Trustees of S. F. County Medical Assn. (1953) 121 Cal.App.2d 362, 366; Harpke v. Lankershim Estates (1951) 103 Cal.App.2d 143, 145; see Brown v. Poway Unified School Dist. (1993) 4 Cal.4th 820, 826 ["Experience teaches that slips and falls are not so l......