Carolyn Freeman appeals from an order of the Superior Court of Chatham County which granted summary judgment to attorney Benjamin Sheftall Eichholz in this legal malpractice suit. The court concluded that Eichholz was entitled to summary judgment because Freeman could not prove, as a matter of law, that Eichholz’s negligence proximately caused her alleged harm. Specifically, the court found that, despite Eichholz’s failure to timely file an ante litem notice in Freeman’s underlying personal injury suit, Freemen could not recover in that suit for the injuries she sustained when, while visiting an inmate at the Wayne State Prison, the chair in which she sat collapsed. Freeman contends the court should have concluded that she was an invitee, and not a licensee, and that the prison violated its duty of ordinary care to her as an invitee. We agree that Freeman was an invitee. Nevertheless, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment because, regardless of Freeman’s status, the record supports the court’s finding that she could not have prevailed in the underlying suit and, thus, could not establish that her attorney proximately caused her alleged harm. To prevail at summary judgment under OCGA § 9-11-56, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c. A defendant may do this by showing the court that the documents, affidavits, depositions and other evidence in the record reveal that there is no evidence sufficient to create a jury issue on at least one essential element of the plaintiff’s case. Our review of an appeal from summary judgment is de novo. Citations, punctuation, and emphasis omitted. Griffin v. Fowler , 260 Ga. App. 443, 444 579 SE2d 848 2003. So viewed, the record reveals the following relevant facts. Wayne State Prison permits inmate visitation on weekends and holidays. On November 15, 2003, a regular visitation day, Freemen went to the prison to see a friend who was incarcerated there. Freeman had been to the designated visitation area at least eleven times before. After a corrections officer admitted Freeman to the visitation area, she walked to the table where her friend was to be seated, and she sat down in a chair provided by the prison. The chair collapsed, with the plastic back separating from the metal frame. Freeman fell to the floor and struck her head, and she was knocked unconscious by the blow. She suffered injuries to her neck, head, and back.
The chairs used by the prison are stackable. They have molded, one-piece “poly-shell” seats which are attached beneath the seat to a metal frame and chair legs. Freeman’s chair collapsed when the seat became detached from its frame. There is no competent evidence in the record establishing what caused the seat to become detached from its frame. Prison officials deposed that, on the day Freeman was injured, the prison had in place a procedure for inspecting the chairs in the designated visitation area. At the end of each visitation day, corrections officers inspected the chairs for contraband and for damage before they stacked the chairs and stored them in a closet. The officers had a duty to inspect and to make a report of any contraband found. If the officers discovered that a chair was damaged or defective, it was their standard practice to send it to the prison’s maintenance unit to be repaired or replaced. After the chairs were stored, they remained locked away, accessible only by the officers, until they were needed again.
