Willis v. St. Peter's Hospital
| Decision Date | 20 July 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 11906,11906 |
| Citation | 486 P.2d 593,157 Mont. 417 |
| Parties | Gary L. WILLIS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Loble, Picotte & Loble, Helena, Gene A. Picotte and Robert F. Adams, Jr., argued, Helena, for appellant.
Gough, Booth, Shanahan & Johnson, Helena, Ward A. Shanahan and Myron E. Pitch, argued Helena, for respondent.
This is an appeal by plaintiff from an order of the district court of Lewis and Clark County granting defendant's motion for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's case-in-chief. Only one issue is presented for review. Did the trial court err in granting defendant's motion, basing its holding on a recent case of this Court, Luebeck v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 152 Mont. 88, 446 P.2d 921?
Plaintiff is Gary L. Willis, who on January 23, 1969, was a patrolman on the Helena City Police Force. Defendant is St. Peter's Hospital, a corporation of Helena, Montana.
Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on January 23, 1969, plaintiff was on duty in a patrol car and was dispatched by radio to St. John's Hospital to transfer a patient to St. Peter's Hospital. Upon arrival at St. John's Hospital, he found an elderly woman who was having difficulty breathing awaiting his assistance to get her to St. Peter's Hospital. He put her in the patrol car and took her to the emergency entrance of St. Peter's Hospital driving up onto the curb to be as close to the emergency entrance as possible, to facilitate getting the patient into the hospital. Upon stopping his car he opened the door on the driver's side, intending to assist his passenger out of the opposite side of the car. In the process of getting out his left leg went to one side, his body to the other, causing a back injury that later forced him to retire from the police department.
For several weeks previous to January 23, 1969, the city of Helena had been inundated by snow and the streets and parking areas were icy and rutted. The early morning of January 23 found the thermometer at -35 .
St. Peter's Hospital is located in the southeastern area of the city of Helena. Several parking lots and entrances to the hospital are provided, but the emergency entrance, covered by a canopy, is located on the west side of the hospital and faces a hillside cut. Due to the swirling snow created by wind conditions resulting from the hillside cut to the west and the openness on the other two sides, the maintenance people at the hospital had difficulty keeping the parking lot and the emergency entrance clear of snow and ice. James Blankenship, chief engineer for the hospital, testified that his orders were to keep the sidewalks and driveways clear of snow and ice and that both prior to and after January 23 they plowed and used a deicer material to melt the snow and ice; that during the stormy time there was 'at least twenty five or thirty feet under the canopy that was completely clear all winter and was not subject to snow getting in there or snow drifting in there.'
He further testified that a chemical substance used to melt ice was used daily when needed and that often when it was very cold the chemical only partially melted the ice and snow, but he denied that the result of this use of the chemical before January 23 left ice on top of ice that had not been totally melted. The records of the hospital revealed the 4:00 p.m. shift on the 22nd had:
There was also considerable testimony by Mr. Blankenship concerning efforts made to clear the snow on the days previous to January 23, with particular note to a big storm on the night of January 20.
Contra testimony concerning the condition of the west side parking lot and the emergency entrance on and prior to January 23, was given by a number of witnesses for plaintiff. Robert Batch, a police officer and an off-duty ambulance driver, testified that on January 21 it was necessary to back the ambulance up onto the curbing at the emergency entrance in order to unload a patient due to the area being 'slick and snow packed.' He further testified that later, on January 27, he went to the hospital with his own snow removal rig to assist in plowing the snow and clearing the ice. He described the conditions he found at the emergency entrance as follows:
'They would like to get the ruts out and the pack out and I attempted to do this as well as the main entrance to the hospital.'
Officer Batch testified he was unable to cut the ice out of the emergency entrance area even with the use of a hydraulic ram.
One Tony Jurkiewicz, an ambulance driver, testified that all through the month of January he had delivered patients to the emergency entrance of St. Peter's Hospital and the slippery ice and snow conditions continued throughout the month.
Officer Vonada, who drove plaintiff to the hospital after his accident, described the emergency entrance area as being covered with snow and ice.
From the testimony given, up to the granting of the directed verdict at the close of the plaintiff's case, there was evidence for the jury's consideration on whether or not there was a hidden dangerous condition at the emergency entrance and whether the hospital took reasonable precautions under the existing conditions to protect those using the entrance.
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Richardson v. Corvallis Public School Dist. No. 1
...Donna asserts that material questions of fact exist. Specifically, relying on Cereck, 637 P.2d 509, and Willis v. St. Peter's Hospital (1971), 157 Mont. 417, 486 P.2d 593, Donna contends that material questions of fact exist concerning whether the School altered the normal condition of the ......
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Dunham v. Southside Nat. Bank of Missoula
...the instant case; there is no breach of duty, no negligence, and no liability as a matter of law.' Appellant cites Willis v. St. Peter's Hospital, 157 Mont. 417, 486 P.2d 593. Willis can be readily distinguished in the instant case, as it was in Uhl. In Willis there was a jury question as t......
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Boehm v. Alanon Club
...by finding that the natural accumulation of ice and snow had been altered. Cereck is firmly supported by Willis v. St. Peter's Hospital (1971), 157 Mont. 417, 486 P.2d 593. There, a patrolman was injured when he slipped on the pavement at the emergency entrance to the hospital. The maintena......
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Cereck v. Albertson's Inc.
...by the natural accumulation of ice and snow was increased when the snow was piled near the store entrance. In Willis v. St. Peter's Hospital (1971), 157 Mont. 417, 486 P.2d 593, a patrolman brought an action for injuries sustained when he allegedly slipped on an accumulation of ice and snow......