Stephen A. Swanson of our Chattanooga (TN) office secured summary judgment for a client in DeKalb County (GA). This was a premises liability case in which the plaintiff claimed she tripped and fell on overgrown kudzu in a movie theater parking lot.
The court agreed with Stephen’s arguments on two key points. First, the plaintiff was a licensee, not an invitee, because she was walking her dog in the parking lot before the theater had opened and had no business purpose on the property. Second, the kudzu constituted an open and obvious static condition.
The plaintiff had walked through the same area twice a week for approximately three years before her fall and admitted that she saw the undergrowth before stepping into it. The court found there was no material distinction between the visible kudzu and the vines underneath and presumed equal knowledge of the hazard.
Well done, Stephen!
