AUSTIN - On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court reversed an appellate court that held that a fact issue exists as to whether a defect in a grocery store parking lot presented an unreasonable risk of harm.
Court records show Sherie McIntire filed a trip and fall lawsuit against United Supermarkets, which owns a Market Street grocery store in Frisco.
According to the high court’s opinion, McIntire, a regular Market Street customer, drove to the store to do her weekly grocery shopping. When she got out of her Ford F-250 truck’s elevated cabin, one of her heels caught an approximately 3/4-inch divot in the parking-lot pavement. McIntire’s ankles buckled and she fell to the ground, breaking her foot and leg.
Court records show United Supermarkets moved summary judgment, arguing that McIntire had not adduced evidence showing that it had notice of the defect or that it posed an unreasonable risk of harm, and that in any case, the defect was open and obvious.
A trial court rendered summary judgment in favor of United Supermarkets, concluding that the defect that caused the accident “does not rise to the level of being an ‘unreasonably dangerous condition’ as a matter of law,” court records state.
The Texas Supreme Court agreed with the trial court that “the divot is not unreasonably dangerous as a matter of law.”
“In sum, we hold that the divot that allegedly caused McIntire’s injuries was not unreasonably dangerous as a matter of law,” the high court’s opinion states. “We emphasize that in so holding, we make no broad pronouncements on whether pavement defects constitute unreasonably dangerous conditions, and we do not opine on whether another larger or differentially situated defect could pose an unreasonable risk of harm. However, the defect at issue here did not.
“Accordingly, without hearing oral argument, we reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and reinstate the judgment of the trial court.”
Case No. 21-0208