Rodgers v. La Quinta Motor Inn, 93-1338
| Decision Date | 18 April 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-1338,93-1338 |
| Citation | 873 S.W.2d 551,316 Ark. 644 |
| Parties | Ann RODGERS, Appellant, v. LA QUINTA MOTOR INN, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
John Ogles, Jacksonville, for appellant.
William M. Griffin III, Betty J. Demory, Little Rock, for appellee.
On May 6, 1991, the appellant, Ann Rodgers, was a business invitee of the appellee's La Quinta Motor Inn located on Shackleford Road in Little Rock. During the night and while in bed, Rodgers felt pain in her lower leg. Rodgers was treated and later underwent surgery for her injury which she was told was probably due to a bite from a brown recluse spider. No spider was ever found.
On August 10, 1992, Rodgers filed suit against La Quinta, alleging the motel breached its duty of ordinary care in properly treating "the hotel rooms for possible spiders that could injure overnight patrons." On April 19, 1993, La Quinta filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that it used reasonable care and no duty to Rodgers was breached. In addition to a supporting brief, La Quinta's motion was accompanied by invoices from Jim Jamison Pest Control showing bimonthly spraying and "specimen labels" for several insecticides used by Jamison's pest control company. To support her position against the motion for summary judgment, Rodgers submitted an affidavit from Thomas Rasul, owner of M & N Pest Control, stating that the information submitted by La Quinta did not indicate adequate applications of insecticide to control spiders.
Following a hearing on La Quinta's motion for summary judgment on July 23, 1993, the trial court granted the motion and dismissed the case with prejudice. Rodgers appeals from that order.
On appeal, Rodgers argues the trial court erred in granting the summary judgment because a disputed fact existed concerning whether her room was sprayed by the pest control company. Rodgers points out that none of the invoices indicated what rooms were sprayed and none indicated that her room was specifically sprayed. Thus, Rodgers argues this omission raises a question of fact as to whether La Quinta breached its duty of care to her as an invitee to keep her room in a reasonably safe condition.
On the other hand, La Quinta argues that Rodgers failed to prove that it had the required knowledge that brown recluse spiders were present on the premises. For support, La Quinta cites Kay v. Kay, 306 Ark. 322, 812 S.W.2d 685 (1991), wherein this court adopted a California rule that the...
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