Pierce v. Burlington Transportation Company
| Decision Date | 25 April 1941 |
| Docket Number | 31030 |
| Parties | ANNIE C. PIERCE, APPELLANT, v. BURLINGTON TRANSPORTATION COMPANY ET AL., APPELLEES |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the district court for Lincoln county: ISAAC J. NISLEY JUDGE. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The proprietor of a hotel is not an insurer against accident to persons invited upon the hotel premises, but he must exercise reasonable care to keep the premises reasonably safe for the purposes for which they are to be used.
2. The fact that an invitee in a hotel falls in a lavatory and suffers injury raises no presumption of negligence on the part of the hotel proprietor, and the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur does not apply.
3. Where a recovery is sought for personal injuries sustained as the result of a fall in a hotel lavatory, the burden is upon the plaintiff to prove the negligence of the proprietor, and if a case sufficient to sustain a judgment is not made out, the trial court should direct a verdict for the defendant.
4. The fact that there was a step which plaintiff was required to ascend and descend in going to and from a lavatory does not of itself evidence a want of due care on the part of a hotel proprietor.
5. The mere statement of a plaintiff that she fell because the floor was slippery is not sufficient to sustain a judgment, unless there is evidence of negligence with reference thereto on the part of the person charged with the care and maintenance of the premises.
Appeal from District Court, Lincoln County; Nisley, Judge.
Action by Annie C. Pierce against the Burlington Transportation Company, the Jensen Hotel Company, and Hendryx E. Davis, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff when she slipped and fell in a restroom in a hotel operated by the Jensen Hotel Company. A demurrer to the petition was sustained as to Hendryx E. Davis, and the cause was dismissed as to him. From an order dismissing plaintiff's action on motion by the remaining defendants for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's evidence, the plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
Hoagland, Carr & Hoagland, for appellant.
Shuman & Overcash, J. W. Weingarten, W. P. Loomis, E. H. Evans, Urban Simon and Beatty, Maupin, Murphy & Davis, contra.
Heard before SIMMONS, C. J., ROSE, EBERLY, CARTER, MESSMORE and YEAGER, JJ.
This is an action brought by Annie C. Pierce against the defendants, Burlington Transportation Company, Jensen Hotel Company and Hendryx E. Davis, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained when she slipped and fell in a rest room in the hotel operated by the Jensen Hotel Company. A demurrer to the petition filed by Hendryx E. Davis was sustained and the cause dismissed as to him. At the close of plaintiff's evidence the remaining defendants moved for a directed verdict, which motion the trial court sustained. Plaintiff appeals from the order dismissing her action.
The record discloses that the Jensen Hotel Company was the lessee of the Pawnee Hotel building in North Platte, Nebraska, from the Neville Company. The store space on the first floor was not included in the lease, such space being leased direct to the occupants. The Burlington Transportation Company was a lessee of space for its bus depot, which space was located immediately north of the east entrance to the hotel. The bus depot had one outside entrance and one door leading to the hotel lobby. The busses stop at the bus depot entrance on the east side of the hotel.
On the morning of July 7, 1938, the plaintiff was traveling on a bus belonging to the defendant Burlington Transportation Company from Chicago to Denver. Upon arrival in North Platte the bus was stopped at the bus depot for rest and refreshment, the driver announcing that the stop would be for forty minutes. The bus driver also announced that the men's rest room would be found on the first floor off the lobby and the ladies rest room on the mezzanine floor of the Pawnee Hotel.
It appears from the record that the rest rooms were controlled and maintained by the Jensen Hotel Company for the convenience of its guests and the public generally. It was customary on the part of hotel employees to direct any person making inquiry to one of these rest rooms, whether such person had any business with the hotel or not.
On the morning of the accident plaintiff entered the hotel lobby and, upon making inquiry, was directed to the ladies rest room on the mezzanine floor. Plaintiff entered the small anteroom from the mezzanine floor and from there passed into the rest room proper. The floor level of the rest room was some six or seven inches higher than the floor level of the anteroom, which made it necessary for plaintiff to step up as she passed into the rest room proper. The floors of both rooms were black and white checkered tile and the riser of the step was black. The inner room contained two toilets and two washbowls. The rooms were well lighted and the evidence affirmatively shows that the floors were clean, dry and unobstructed.
Plaintiff testifies that she used a toilet and then returned to use one of the washbowls. While so engaged she slipped and fell over the step and against the wall. As a result she suffered a broken leg and other injuries for which damages are sought.
Plaintiff's evidence is to the effect that the floor was slippery although she admits that it was dry and clean and that she saw nothing on it. The evidence of other witnesses is to the effect that the floor...
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