HOUSTON – A passenger who slipped and fell at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport Terminal A while waiting for a flight had a ruling in her favor affirmed.
Justice Russell Lloyd, on the bench of the Texas 1st District Court of Appeals, issued a 15-page ruling on Oct. 9, affirming the Harris County 11th District Court's decision in the lawsuit filed by passenger Marion Crawford against the city of Houston.
"We affirm the trial court’s order denying the city’s plea to the jurisdiction on Crawford’s premise liability claim," Lloyd wrote in the ruling.
Crawford sued the city on grounds of liability since she fell on a floor that was allegedly negligently maintained.
As stated in the ruling, on June 18, 2015, Crawford "was traveling from Little Rock, Arkansas to San Francisco, California on United Airlines with a layover in Houston," when "walking through Terminal A at George Bush Intercontinental Airport," she was "'caused to slip-and-fall due to a negligently maintained floor.'”
On Jan. 19, 2016, Crawford filed the suit against the city, which responded with a plea seeking dismissal of the suit, claiming government immunity in the case. The motion also included a statement from the airport landside operations manager Dana Growden, who said there were no records concerning notice of a dangerous condition or of any slip-and-fall incidents on June 18, 2015.
The lower court ruled in Crawford's favor early this year.
After analyzing the evidences presented to the lower court, Lloyd stated in his ruling that "Crawford has raised a fact issue regarding whether the city adequately warned her of the extent of the dangerous condition."
Lloyd also concluded that "because Crawford presented evidence raising a fact question regarding this element of her premises liability claim, the trial court properly denied the city’s plea to the jurisdiction."
Justices Evelyn Keyes and Jane Bland also concurred in the judgment.
Texas First District Court of Appeals case number 01-18-00179-CV