Rountree v. Lerner Development Co.

Moylan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. ²⁸² On January 15, 1977, the appellant, Ginger Ruth Rountree, slipped and fell on a step covered with ice leading from her apartment in the University Square Garden Apartments in Greenbelt, Maryland. She sustained a fracture of her left shoulder and extensive damage to her right knee cartilage. As a result, she brought suit against the Lerner Corporation and the Lerner Development Company, the owner and operator, respectively, of the University Square Garden Apartments. The case was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, with Judge Samuel Meloy presiding.

At the end of the appellant’s case, Judge Meloy granted the defendant/appellees’ motion for a directed verdict, ruling as a matter of law that the appellant had assumed the risk of her fall. On this appeal from the judgment entered against her, the appellant contends that the trial court erred in directing a verdict against her. In assessing the correctness of the court’s ruling, we proceed to examine the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellant. The appellant and her sister rented an apartment, described at 122 Westway Apartment Number 103, at the University Square Garden Apartments in June, 1975.

The apartment complex is a large one with at least forty separate apartment buildings. It was owned by the appellee Lerner Corporation and managed by the appellee Lerner Development Company. Lerner Development Company was responsible for the exterior maintenance and upkeep of the apartments, including removal of ice and snow from the walkways and steps leading to the apartments. During January, 1977, the metropolitan Washington area experienced heavy precipitation, including snow and ice.

The day before the accident, January 14,1977, the appellant left her place of employment at the Department of Justice around 6:00 p.m. and arrived at her apartment around 6:30 p.m. She thereafter went to Waldorf, Maryland, to a concert. There was a drizzling rain. She left the concert at approximately 10:00 p.m. and returned to her home in Greenbelt at approximately 12:30 a.m.

The weather had become more severe. There was a freezing rain. Conditions ²⁸³ on the street were glassy and slick. She parked her car at the Jewish Community Center parking lot, which she testified was the only safe and available parking area that evening, and walked to her apartment building.

The steps on which she fell the next day were wet but not covered with ice, and she had no trouble going down the steps leading from Westway to her apartment building. On Saturday morning, the appellant awoke at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. She was required to work overtime that day to prepare the Congressional budget charts. She went to her balcony, which faced the 124-126 Westway buildings, and noticed an accumulation of ice and snow.

From her apartment, however, she could not see the steps on which she ultimately fell but only the buildings behind her apartment and the lower sidewalk leading to the rear parking lot. Although she normally started work at 9:00 a.m., because of the weather conditions she decided to leave her apartment late so that the streets and pathways could be cleared. The appellant left her apartment building around 9:00 a.m. Seeing the snow and ice on the sidewalk, she proceeded with great caution.

The sidewalk — between her building and the four steps leading to a sidewalk directly adjacent to Westway — was approximately 160 feet long. She walked alongside the sidewalk, where there was caked snow. When she reached the steps, she got back onto the sidewalk to go across a small drainage culvert and up the steps. She had to use the steps because there was a steep bank next to the steps on both sides which was impassable.

She testified that when she reached the steps, "I knew it was slick and icy, so I would have to be very careful because these steps — you take one or two steps per step and they are downhill; they slant back to you, so that it was going to be extremely difficult for me to get up these steps because of the way they slant.” Additionally, there was no handrail or grip to aid her in ascending the stairs. The steps were wide and elongated. The appellant was able to traverse the first two steps. As she attempted to step from the third step onto the top step, however, her left foot slipped out from under her while she ²⁸⁴ was raising her right foot.

She fell face forward, spread-eagle fashion. She was unable to get back on her feet for some time and kept sliding backwards on the downward-slanted icy steps. When