Roberts v. Bradley

• Decision Date: 06 September 1966
• Docket Number: No. 3,No. 42156,42156,3
• Citation: Roberts v. Bradley, 150 S.E.2d 720, 114 Ga.App. 262 (Ga. App. 1966)
• Parties: James R. ROBERTS v. Hoyt BRADLEY
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 720

150 S.E.2d 720

114 Ga.App. 262

James R. ROBERTS v.Hoyt BRADLEY.

No. 42156.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 3.

Sept. 6, 1966.

Northcutt & Edwards, M. Ken Doss, Atlanta, for appellant.

Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Edward E. Dorsey, John T. Marshall, Atlanta, for appellee.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court

EBERHARDT, Judge.

A petition alleging that plaintiff was invited to the home of defendant for a New Year's Eve party, the weather being cold, rainy, freezing and ice forming on the ground, and that after arriving plaintiff and defendant left by way of the back door to go across the yard to a neighbor's home, defendant preceding plaintiff down the back steps of concrete with ice formed thereon, and that when plaintiff stepped on the top step he slipped, fell and was injured, fails to set out a cause of action.Construing the petition against the plaintiff on demurrer, it must be assumed that he knew of the weather conditions and that the steps, being exposed thereto, were covered with ice.Banks v. Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, 79 Ga.App. 313, 53 S.E.2d 595.There is no duty to warn of the obvious, or of that which the plaintiff already knew or should have known.Gibson v. Consolidated Credit Corp., 110 Ga.App. 170, 179, 138 S.E.2d 77;Lacy v. City of Atlanta, 110 Ga.App. 814(2), 140 S.E.2d 144;Y.M.C.A. v. Bailey, 112 Ga.App. 684, 698, 146 S.E.2d 324.Cf.Cline v. Schuster, 221 Ga 653(2), 146 S.E.2d 732.That plaintiff was beckoned by defendant to follow him down the steps does not alter the rule.'A person cannot undertake to do an obviously dangerous thing, even though directed by another * * * without assuming the risks incident thereto, and without himself being...