Williams v. Cuyahoga Metro. Hous. Auth.Williams v. Cuyahoga Metro. Hous. Auth.
Civil Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CV-680637
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT
Aubrey B. Willacy
Timothy A. Marcovy
Willacy, LoPresti & Marcovy
700 Western Reserve Building
1468 West 9th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE
Kimberly A. Hrenko
Apelt & Hrenko, LLC
Two Commerce Park, Suite 300
23220 Chagrin Boulevard
Beachwood, Ohio 44122
N.B. This entry is an announcement of the court‘s decision. See
{¶ 1} Appellant, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), appeals the decision of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas that denied its motion for judgment on the pleadings. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
{¶ 2} Appellee, Tonya A. Williams, filed a complaint against CMHA on December 30, 2008. She alleges in the complaint that on January 2, 2007, she was an invitee of a tenant at Crestview Apartments, which is a CMHA apartment complex. She claims that she suffered an injury when a pool table in the recreation room suddenly, and without notice, collapsed onto her leg. She further alleges that CMHA was negligent in constructing, maintaining, and repairing the recreation room equipment, that the defective pool table was a physical defect within the grounds of CMHA‘s property, that CMHA had actual or constructive knowledge that the pool table was not reasonably safe for use, and that CMHA had a duty to warn tenants and their guests of the danger but failed to warn them. Thus, she asserts that CMHA is not exempt from immunity and is subject to liability pursuant to
{¶ 3} CMHA filed an answer denying the substantive allegations set forth in the complaint and setting forth various defenses. Thereafter, CMHA filed a
{¶ 4} CMHA filed this appeal, raising three assignments of error for our review. CMHA‘s first assignment of error provides as follows: “The trial court committed error prejudicial to defendant [CMHA] by denying CMHA‘s motion for judgment on the pleadings, in which CMHA asserted its entitlement to immunity pursuant to
{¶ 5} We review a ruling on a motion for judgment on the pleadings de novo. Coleman v. Beachwood, Cuyahoga App. No. 92399, 2009-Ohio-5560. Motions for judgment on the pleadings are governed by
{¶ 6} The Ohio Supreme Court has outlined a three-tier analysis for determining whether a political subdivision is entitled to immunity under
{¶ 7} Under the first tier of the analysis, the parties do not dispute that CMHA is a political subdivision to which the general rule of immunity under
{¶ 8} We next must consider whether Williams set forth sufficient allegations to establish that a statutory exception to immunity may apply. Williams‘s complaint is premised on the exception set forth in
{¶ 9} In Moore, supra, the Ohio Supreme Court concluded that units of public housing are buildings “used in connection with the performance of a governmental function.” Id. at 460. As such, “a public housing authority may be liable for injuries caused by its employees’ negligence due to a physical defect within one of its buildings.” Bozeman v. Cleveland Metro. Hous. Auth., Cuyahoga App. Nos. 92435 and 92436, 2009-Ohio-5491.
{¶ 10} CMHA argues that the complaint contains conclusory assertions and fails to allege sufficient facts to establish the applicability of this exception.1 We find no merit to CMHA‘s argument and find no basis for imposing a heightened pleading requirement as suggested by CMHA. See Rogers v. Akron School Sys., Summit App. No. 23416, 2008-Ohio-2962 (declining to find a heightened
{¶ 11} Because “Ohio is a notice-pleading state, Ohio law does not ordinarily require a plaintiff to plead operative facts with particularity.” Cincinnati v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 95 Ohio St.3d 416, 2002-Ohio-2480, 768 N.E.2d 1136.
{¶ 12} In this case, Williams‘s complaint provided sufficient notice of her claim. Williams alleges that she sustained an injury when a pool table in the recreation room of a CMHA housing building fell on her. She further alleges that her injury was caused by CMHA‘s negligence in constructing, maintaining, and repairing the recreation room equipment, and that her injury resulted from a
{¶ 13} We recognize that this case presents an issue as to whether a defective pool table may constitute a “physical defect” under
{¶ 14} Finally, under the third tier of the analysis, CMHA did not set forth any defenses against liability in its motion for judgment on the pleadings, and we find no basis for requiring a plaintiff to plead specific facts to counteract a possible defense. See Rogers, supra.
{¶ 15} Accordingly, we overrule CMHA‘s first assignment of error.
{¶ 16} CMHA‘s second assignment of error provides as follows: “The trial court committed error prejudicial to defendant CMHA by denying its motion for
{¶ 17} CMHA argues that it is entitled to a specific grant of immunity by application of
{¶ 18}
{¶ 19} In Moore, 121 Ohio St.3d at 457, the Ohio Supreme Court recognized that ”
{¶ 20} Consistent with Moore, supra, this court must still analyze whether one of the exceptions to immunity listed in
{¶ 21} CMHA‘s third assignment of error provides as follows: “In determining CMHA‘s motion for judgment on the pleadings, the trial court abused its decisional discretion by disregarding its obligations (i) to honor and apply the express statutory provision contained in
{¶ 22} Initially, we must reiterate that our review of a ruling on a motion for judgment on the pleadings is de novo. Under our application of Ohio law, we have determined that the motion for judgment on the pleadings should be denied. Therefore, we find no merit to CMHA‘s third assignment of error.
Judgment affirmed.
It is ordered that appellee recover from appellant costs herein taxed.
The court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate be sent to said court to carry this judgment into execution.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to
SEAN C. GALLAGHER, PRESIDING JUDGE
CHRISTINE T. MCMONAGLE, J., and
LARRY A. JONES, J., CONCUR