St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta, Inc. v. Gardner Sewell Hall, 344 Ga. App. 1

Background

Hall slipped on invisible/black ice in St. Joseph’s visitor parking deck on Feb. 14, 2014, after an ice storm; he sustained shoulder and elbow injuries and sued for negligence; wife asserted loss of consortium.
The hospital had 24/7 engineering and security patrols during the winter event; engineering spread salt/sand by truck and by hand multiple times (including a 7:00 a.m. walk-through) and security patrolled the deck that morning.
Surveillance showed visible ice/snow remaining in some areas of the deck but not where Hall was sitting after the fall; Hall did not look for ice before exiting his vehicle and did not see the black ice.
St. Joseph’s moved for summary judgment arguing no duty to remove naturally occurring ice, no actual or constructive knowledge of the specific invisible patch, and that Hall failed to exercise ordinary care.
The trial court denied summary judgment, citing factual questions about superior knowledge of the specific black ice and whether remedial efforts made the hazard less obvious; the Court of Appeals granted discretionary review.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether hospital had superior (actual or constructive) knowledge of the specific invisible ice patch	Hall argued hospital’s patrols and remaining ice put hospital on notice of hazardous conditions and created a jury question on knowledge	St. Joseph’s argued it lacked actual or constructive knowledge of that specific patch and had reasonable, executed inspection/clearing procedures	Court held Hall failed to show actual or constructive knowledge; hospital had reasonable procedures actually carried out, so no inference of constructive knowledge
Whether hospital’s remedial efforts created or worsened the hazard such that summary judgment is inappropriate	Hall argued de-icing/unfreezing/refreezing could make the hazard less obvious and hospital voluntarily undertook a duty	Hospital argued the ice accumulation was naturally occurring (including refreezing after treatment) and it did not create ice by affirmative acts	Court held remedial efforts did not create new ice sufficient to impose liability; voluntariness theory fails absent plaintiff’s reasonable reliance; mere fall does not prove negligence
Whether the voluntary undertaking doctrine imposed liability	Hall relied on the hospital’s voluntary patrol/clearance policies to argue negligence in performance	St. Joseph’s argued Hall could not have relied on internal policies he did not know about prior to falling	Court held voluntary undertaking requires plaintiff’s reasonable reliance, which Hall did not show, so doctrine does not defeat summary judgment here
Whether plaintiff exercised ordinary care for his own safety	Hall implicitly asserted he exercised ordinary care and was unaware of the hazard	St. Joseph’s asserted Hall failed to look for ice before exiting and was contributorily negligent	Court did not decide this issue because plaintiff failed to show hospital knowledge of the hazard — summary judgment reversed on that ground only

Key Cases Cited

Robinson v. Kroger Co., 268 Ga. 735 (duty to protect invitees from risks of which owner has superior knowledge)
American Multi-Cinema, Inc. v. Brown, 285 Ga. 442 (plaintiff must show owner’s actual or constructive knowledge and plaintiff’s lack of knowledge caused by owner’s actions or conditions under owner’s control)
Columbus Doctors Hosp., Inc. v. Thompson, 224 Ga. App. 682 (general knowledge of storm conditions insufficient to prove knowledge of specific invisible ice hazard)
Petrosky v. Embry Crossing Condo. Assn., 284 Ga. App. 354 (constructive knowledge inferable from lack of inspection procedure; owner must show reasonable inspection actually carried out)
Watts & Colwell Builders, Inc. v. Martin, 313 Ga. App. 1 (law does not impose absolute liability for latent defects; inspections need not disclose every latent condition)
Dumas v. Tripps of North Carolina, Inc., 229 Ga. App. 814 (owner’s failure to show reasonable inspections can preclude summary judgment in icy-condition cases)
Osowski v. Smith, 262 Ga. App. 538 (voluntary undertaking theory can create jury question but requires plaintiff’s reasonable reliance)