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Pirkle v. Robson Crossing LLC

The plaintiff could not recover for injuries she received when she tripped and fell off of a parking lot curb at the defendants' shopping center, since the curb's height was open and obvious.

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In this trip and fall static defect case, Rebecca Pirkle sued three defendants, Robson Crossing LLC the owner of Robson Crossing shopping center in Hall County, The Sembler Company the developer and manager of the center, and U.S. Construction, Inc. the builder of the center, alleging that she sustained injuries when she fell from a curb at the shopping center.1 The trial court granted summary judgment to Sembler, Robson Crossing and U.S. Construction, finding that the curb was an open and obvious static condition, that Pirkle failed to exercise reasonable care for her safety, and that she was not entitled to punitive damages or attorney fees. Pirkle appeals, and for reasons that follow, we affirm. Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issues of material fact remain and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.2 On appeal, we review the grant or denial of summary judgment de novo, construing the evidence and all inferences in a light most favorable to the non-moving party.3 Viewed in this manner, the record shows that at approximately 6:15 or 6:30 p.m. on November 19, 2001, Rebecca Pirkle drove to the Robson Crossing shopping center to visit the Cingular Wireless store. It was near dark, and the lights were on in the parking lot.

She parked in the closest available parking place and proceeded across a grass median. The curb she stepped on to access the median was a “normal height curb,” whereas on the opposite side of the median the curb was higher, measuring approximately 23 inches high. She had visited the shopping center on three previous occasions but had never noticed the higher curb on the opposite side of the median, even though she had driven by it.

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