Nolan v. United States, 6190.
| Decision Date | 29 January 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 6190.,6190. |
| Citation | 186 F.2d 578 |
| Parties | NOLAN v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
William E. Allaun, Jr., Newport News, Va. (Newman & Allaun, Newport News, Va., on brief), for appellant.
John P. Harper, Asst. U. S. Atty., Norfolk, Va. (George R. Humrickhouse, U. S. Atty., Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee.
Before SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges, and WEBB, District Judge.
This civil action was brought in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and tried by the judge, without a jury. Plaintiff (appellant here) sued the defendant, United States, under the Federal Tort Claims Act for $10,000.00 damages suffered in a slip and fall allegedly caused by defendant's negligent failure to maintain its parking lot free from ice and snow. The District Court concluded that there was no negligence, and judgment was entered for defendant. Plaintiff has appealed.
At the time of the accident (January 27, 1948), plaintiff was a schoolteacher at Langley Air Force Base, a Government reservation in Virginia. She was paid in part by the county where the Base was located, and in part from unappropriated federal funds, but it was stipulated that she was not an employee of the United States.
Three days before the accident, on the morning of January 24, four inches of snow fell. This had melted away to 1.2 inches at midnight of the same day; to 0.4 inches at midnight of January 25; and to 0.2 inches at the time of the accident. Early in the morning of January 27, a mere trace of precipitation fell, and just prior to the accident a very light snow began, which had not at the time of the accident increased the measured depth of 0.2 inches. Throughout this period it was cold, the temperature remaining below freezing.
At about eight A.M. on January 27, plaintiff arrived at Langley Base, after driving safely from her home in Newport News, Virginia. She parked her car on a parking lot near the school building and gathered up her lunch, thermosjug, etc. After walking about forty feet across the parking lot in the direction of the school building, "loaded with bundles and materials," she slipped and was injured.
It is plaintiff's theory that water from melting snow had collected in low areas on the parking lot and frozen, and that one of these patches of ice, hidden by the thin layer of snow, caused her fall. The alleged negligence is the failure of the United States to remove this ice or snow, or to treat it so as to make it harmless. Evidence was introduced to show that other persons had slipped on the parking lot. Plaintiff testified that she had walked without any difficulty some forty feet from her car to the point where she slipped. Various witnesses severally described general conditions with the term, "ice and snow;" but none definitely placed ice on the parking lot. Plaintiff and another witness testified that puddles would stand on the lot after a rain.
Against this was the testimony of persons expert in the collection of ice on parking lots, who said that this lot was smoothly paved with six to eight inches of concrete, that there were no undulations or irregularities in its surface, that it had a 1% grade — more than sufficient for proper drainage, and that the collection of water thereon was impossible. The District Judge went to view the lot during the trial. He found it to be in good repair, dry, and without puddles even though a substantial rain had fallen only five or six hours previous. Particular inspection of the spot pointed out by plaintiff as the place she slipped, and the surrounding area, showed no depression in which water could have collected. The District Court found from all of this evidence that there was no accumulation of ice at the spot where plaintiff fell.
This finding can be disturbed by us only if clearly wrong. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 52(a), 28 U.S.C.A. And we cannot find clear error. None of plaintiff's witnesses had testified to a definite knowledge that ice lay under the snow, but each expressed only a belief or surmise to that effect. Weighing this against the testimony of experts and his own observations, is the province of the District Judge. We cannot say that his...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Vandergrift v. United States
...Markets v. Remschel, 181 Va. 171, 24 S.E.2d 430 (1943); Gauldin v. Winn-Dixie, Inc., 370 F.2d 167 (4th Cir. 1966); Nolan v. United States, 186 F.2d 578 (4th Cir. 1951); Barnhart v. American Oil Co., 237 F.Supp. 492 (E.D.Va.1965), aff'd 354 F.2d 659 (4th Cir.); Golden v. United States, 282 F......
-
Barrett v. U.S.
...where the alleged wrongful acts occurred. Richards v. United States, 369 U.S. 1, 82 S.Ct. 585, 7 L.Ed.2d 492 (1962); Nolan v. United States, 186 F.2d 578 (4th Cir.1951). Under New York law one participating in the administration of a dangerous drug to human subjects without adequate warning......
-
Corkery v. Greenberg, 50568
...the condition or realize the risk involved therein; * * *.' In addition to our cases cited above, defendants cite Nolan v. United States, 186 F.2d 578 (4th Cir. 1951); Hoffman v. The Kroger Company, 340 S.W.2D 152 (Mo. App., 1960); Wise v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, 94 Ohio App. ......
-
Hanson v. Town & Country Shopping Center, Inc.
...Brent v. Bank of Aurora, 132 Colo. 577, 291 P.2d 391; Crenshaw v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 72 N.M. 84, 380 P.2d 828; Nolan v. United States (4th Cir.) 186 F.2d 578. There is a further reason for sustaining the directed verdict. In my opinion, requiring a possessor of real estate to remo......