Light v. Ohio University
| Decision Date | 24 December 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-1889,85-1889 |
| Citation | 28 OBR 165,28 Ohio St.3d 66,502 N.E.2d 611 |
| Parties | , 28 O.B.R. 165 LIGHT et al., Appellees, v. OHIO UNIVERSITY, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Torts--Universities--Use of gymnasium by member of public without fee--Not a "recreational user" under R.C. 1533.18(B).
Use by a member of the public, without fee, of a gymnasium owned by a university does not make such a person a "recreational user" as contemplated in R.C. 1533.18(B).
On February 25, 1983, plaintiffs-appellees, Randall H. and Laura Light, brought suit in the Court of Claims on behalf of themselves and as next friends of their minor daughter, Lisa, against defendant-appellant, Ohio University. The complaint charged appellant with negligence in the placement, maintenance or operation of lockers located in one of its recreational facilities. Specifically, appellees alleged that on September 24, 1982, Lisa, then five years old, was injured when a row of lockers fell on her at Grover Center recreational facility.
Grover Center is on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, and has been available for use by the public, without charge, for many years. Lisa would sometimes accompany her mother to the center, where Mrs. Light would exercise. Mrs. Light would also use the women's locker room to change clothes and shower.
Entry to the locker room is controlled by an electronic "buzz-in" device. Testimony established that this security measure was taken to keep men from entering. The locker room contains tall or full-length lockers which may be rented on a quarterly basis, and small coin-operated lockers available for short-term rental needs. A patron using the center need not use the lockers at all, however, and no fee is charged for use of the locker room generally.
The coin-operated lockers sat on a wooden pallet. The pallet surface conformed to the dimensions of the base of the locker unit. The pallet and lockers sat on carpet and were moved periodically to facilitate cleaning. In the ten years during which these lockers were used, the university was unaware of any reports claiming that they were unstable or unsafe. The locker doors were spring-hinged so that they closed on their own when released. Mrs. Light stated that she occasionally used these coin lockers to store her purse and that Lisa would play with the lockers by putting things into them.
On the day of the accident, Mrs. Light sat on the floor about fifteen feet in front of the coin-operated lockers and had an unobstructed view of Lisa playing with them. While she did not actually see the lockers fall, it was her belief that at the time of the accident, Lisa was putting something into the locker in which Mrs. Light stored her purse. She believed that Lisa may have stood on something to reach the locker and was sure Lisa grabbed the open locker door.
Following the accident, the doors of two of the lockers on the upper left side were found to be damaged in a way that indicated that they were being held open when the lockers fell. The trial court found that the most plausible explanation of the accident was that Lisa had either climbed or was hanging onto the lockers and had pulled them over on herself. The court held specifically that the record was devoid of any evidence that the lockers fell without cause.
Ruling in favor of appellant, the lower court found that the Lights were licensees when they used the center's facilities and that appellant had not breached any duty owed to appellees. Further, the court found that R.C. 1533.18 and 1533.181, Ohio's recreational-user statutes, applied to appellees and served to shield the appellant from liability.
The court of appeals reversed the judgment and remanded the cause to the trial court, ruling that the recreational-user statutes were inapplicable and that appellees were not licensees but were invitees when using the center. The appellate court ruled that " * * * [t]he locker room was, in essence, a commercially operated locker facility * * *" and that " * * * the Lights were business visitors with respect to the locker room, even though on the day in question Mrs. Light had not yet deposited a coin in a locker * * *."
The cause is now before this court pursuant to the allowance of a motion to certify the record.
Crabbe, Brown, Jones, Potts & Schmidt and Kenneth E. Harris, Columbus, for appellees.
Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., Atty. Gen., Becky Moses and Susan Sullivan, Columbus, for appellant.
Whether the appellant is liable to the appellees herein depends upon our determination of the relationship of the parties and whether appellant breached the duty of care arising from that relationship.
We agree with the appellate court that Ohio's recreational-user statutes are inapplicable in this case. R.C. 1533.18(B) reads:
" 'Recreational user' means a person to whom permission has been granted, without the payment of a fee or consideration to the owner, lessee, or occupant of premises, other than a fee or consideration paid to the state or any agency thereof, to enter upon premises to hunt, fish, trap, camp, hike, swim, or engage in other recreational pursuits." 1 (Emphasis added.)
The court of appeals appropriately applied the doctrine of ejusdem generis as an aid in its interpretation of the intent of the General Assembly when the legislature included the phrase "or engage in other recreational pursuits" in the language of this statute. Where general words follow the enumeration of particular classes of things, the general words will be construed as applying only to things of the same general class as those enumerated. State v. Aspell (1967), 10 Ohio St.2d 1, 225 N.E.2d 226 . The guidelines provided by this rule lead us to conclude that while Mrs. Light was engaged in activity of a recreational nature, working out in a gymnasium is not within the contemplation of the recreational-user statutes. This conclusion is supported by the fact that R.C. 1533.18(B) is included in Title 15 of the Revised Code, having to do with conservation of natural resources and is part of ...
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