Security Bldg. Co. v. Lewis, 16884
| Citation | 255 P.2d 405,127 Colo. 139 |
| Decision Date | 24 February 1953 |
| Docket Number | No. 16884,16884 |
| Parties | SECURITY BLDG. CO. v. LEWIS. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Colorado |
Charles W. Sheldon, Jr., Denver, for plaintiff in error.
Creamer & Creamer, Denver, for defendant in error.
Defendant in error joined with her husband in a complaint seeking damages against plaintiff in error, the building company, for injuries sustained by plaintiff wife as a result of falling on a stairway in defendant's building on November 30, 1949. The husband sought damages for loss of consortium. On trial to a jury, November 13, 1951, one verdict was returned in plaintiff wife's favor against the building company for $5,000.00, and in another verdict, the jury found the issues joined for defendant building company against plaintiff husband. Judgment was entered on the verdicts. In this review, sought by the building company, plaintiff husband does not appear.
The remaining plaintiff was an employee for a number of years of a tenant of defendant building company. The offices where she was employed were on the seventh floor of the building and the ladies' rest room was on the sixth floor. During all the years of her employment it was her custom to use the stairway between the sixth and seventh floors in going to and from the rest room, and only occasionally used the elevator. On November 30, 1949, she was descending the stairway about ten o'clock in the morning on her way to the ladies' rest room. The stairway between the two floors consisted of seven steps to a landing and then seven steps down to the next floor. While proceeding down the last series of steps, and on the fourth step from the sixth-floor landing, she fell, and her left leg was fractured. At the time of the fall, she was holding onto the railing provided on the left-hand side of the stairway. It is shown that there is a so-called metal nosing on the edge of each step which extends the entire length of the step.
From plaintiffs' complaint, and plaintiff wife's testimony, it appears in effect that the steps were painted occasionally; that when the paint was worn from the metal strips, it left a smooth, shiny metal area of about one-half inch or less across the length of the leading edge of each step, and that the exposed metal was slippery. Plaintiff wife testified that she was wearing 'wedgies' with a flat surface from heel to toe on the day of the accident; that with her right foot, she slipped on this smooth tip of the metal or nosing.
She further testified that she had slipped on these stairs on other occasions and that the shiny condition of the metal surface on each step was observed by her for a considerable time prior to the time of her injury and she alleged that she knew of other persons having slipped thereon. She at no time made any complaint to defendant or its agents about this condition of the stairway prior to her injury, and we find no evidence of any other accident to anyone on the stairway in question. By testimony of construction engineers and the city building inspector, it is shown that there had been no structural change in the stairway since the erection of the building in 1926; that the stairway and steps were of standard construction made of concrete with a three-inch corrugated safety metal tread on the edge of each step, all of which were of standard dimension and in accordance with good building practices in all respects; that the landing and the steps were painted approximately once each year with gray paint as an aid in cleaning the stairway; further, that the stairway was cleaned each day in the course of the janitor service; that the paint on the metal safety treads, particularly on the edge thereof, wore off in approximately three weeks after painting; the metal safety treads were of corrugated steel and the ridges filled with lead; that these were fixed in the concrete of each step so as to be level with the balance of the tread; and that the edge of the step was covered with this rounded metal nosing. It further is shown that this safety tread was installed as a safety measure and the tread here used was a customary and acceptable pattern and in common usage and approved under the standard building practies. It further is disclosed that there is no requirement of the building code of the City and County of Denver that such metal...
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Turner v. Chicago Housing Authority
...steps, and similar constructions should be changed whenever use might smoothen their surfaces.' In Security Building Co. v. Lewis, 127 Colo. 139, at page 144, 255 P.2d 405, at page 407, the court, in reversing a judgment for plaintiff and ordering that the complaint be dismissed, * * * and ......
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Kopff v. Judd, 18039
...of the trial court in dismissing the first claim was a pure question of law. To like effect are the cases of Security Building Company v. Lawis, 127 Colo. 139, 255 P.2d 405; McClung v. Griffith, 127 Colo. 315, 255 P.2d 973; Platte Valley Elevators Company v. Gebauer, 127 Colo. 356, 256 P.2d......
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Cooley v. Paraho Development Corp.
...567, 272 P.2d 269 (1954). This duty of care included the duty to discover and remedy defects in the premises. Security Building Co. v. Lewis, 127 Colo. 139, 255 P.2d 405 (1953); Restatement of Torts (Second) § 361 (1965). And, because the accident occurred prior to the adoption of any statu......