115 Ga. App. 282 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1967
This is an appeal by the plaintiff, a tenant .of rented premises injured by the collapse of a porch floor, from
In her deposition the plaintiff described the incident as follows: “They had the machine on one of the hand carts, bring it up the steps, and then they brought it up to the porch. That’s when the boards, the end of the boards of the porch cracked off, and they waited a second and brought it back up. That’s when the other boards broke.” She further testified that until the boards broke with the machine she noticed nothing ■wrong with the porch. “Q. What do you think [these] men did wrong in delivering this machine? A. I don’t know what they did wrong, but don’t you think they should have checked the porch or should have checked the premises to bring it on? Q. Did it look all right to you? A. Yes, it looked fine to me. Q. Well, aside from checking the premises, was there anything about the delivery of this washing
Knowledge that one part of a floor is defective is not necessarily knowledge that an adjacent part is also defective. Shaddix v. Eberhart, 55 Ga. App. 498 (1) (190 SE 408). Even had the knowledge that the weathered and unsupported board ends crumbled under the weight of the cart wheels been sufficient to put the defendant’s employees on notice that another part of the interior supported porch floor might also be defective, it affirmatively appears that mere visual inspection of the porch floor would not have disclosed this, since the plaintiff testified that she had examined it and found nothing defective or unsteady. Under these circumstances the defendant had a right to rely on the duty of the owner and the occupier of the premises to keep them in repair. The failure of this defendant to discover and avoid this patent defect was not actionable negligence as to this plaintiff, and the trial court properly granted the motion for summary judgment.
Judgment affirmed.