Treadway v. Ebert Motor Co.
436 A.2d 994, 292 Pa. Super. 41, 1981 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3643 (1981)
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Rule of Law:
A landowner owes the highest duty of care to a business invitee, which includes protecting them from known dangers and those discoverable through reasonable care, and a jury question on negligence is created when an artificial condition (like a metal plate) combines with a natural condition (like snow) to create a potentially unsafe, hidden peril.
Facts:
- On February 1, 1975, William Treadway, a truck driver, went to Ebert Motor Company's place of business to have his tractor inspected.
- It had snowed that morning, leaving a layer of snow covering the ground.
- Several days prior, Ebert Motor Company had installed a large metal plate over a ditch located immediately outside a small doorway.
- Treadway, accompanied by an Ebert employee, attempted to exit the building through this doorway to inspect the tractor.
- As Treadway took his first step out of the doorway, he stepped onto the metal plate, which was completely covered and hidden by the snow.
- Treadway slipped on the snow-covered plate, fell, and injured his knee.
- Treadway did not see the metal plate until after he had fallen.
- No signs were posted warning of the plate or any dangerous condition outside the door.
Procedural Posture:
- William Treadway filed a Complaint in Trespass against Ebert Motor Company in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County (trial court).
- The case was tried before a judge and jury.
- At the close of the plaintiff's case-in-chief on liability, the trial judge granted the defendant's motion for a compulsory nonsuit.
- A panel of trial court judges (the Court En Banc) affirmed the entry of the nonsuit.
- The plaintiff, William Treadway, as appellant, appealed the decision to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (intermediate appellate court).
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Issue:
Does a plaintiff present sufficient evidence of a landowner's negligence to survive a motion for nonsuit by showing that they fell on a metal plate, placed by the landowner immediately outside an exit, which was made slippery and was hidden from view by a natural accumulation of snow?
Opinions:
Majority - Wickersham, Judge
Yes. A plaintiff presents sufficient evidence for a jury to consider by showing that an artificial condition and a natural condition combined to create a potentially unsafe and hidden peril. The defendant, Ebert Motor Company, owed the plaintiff, a business invitee, the highest duty of care, which includes an affirmative duty to protect against not only known dangers but also those discoverable with reasonable inspection. The trial court erred by failing to give the plaintiff the benefit of the reasonable inference that a snow-covered metal plate located unavoidably at an exit creates a dangerous condition. The plaintiff's burden was only to establish a prima facie case of an unsafe condition, not to prove that the plate was 'extremely more slippery' than the surrounding area. Therefore, it was a question for the jury to determine whether the combination of the metal plate and the wet snow created a dangerous condition that the defendant had a duty to remedy or warn against.
Analysis:
This case reinforces the high standard of care property owners owe to business invitees, particularly concerning latent defects. The decision clarifies that a legally cognizable 'dangerous condition' can be created by the combination of an artificial instrumentality and a natural condition, even if neither would be inherently dangerous on its own. It serves as an important precedent by rejecting a heightened evidentiary standard at the nonsuit stage, affirming that a plaintiff need only present evidence of a potentially 'unsafe' condition, not a 'very, very dangerous' one, to have their case decided by a jury. This lowers the barrier for plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases involving complex or combined causes to survive dispositive motions.
