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Young v. YMCA OF METROPOLITAN ATLANTA, INC.
204 Ga. App. 224
Ga. Ct. App.
1992
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Sognier,.Chief Judge.

Dоrothy Young brought suit against YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc. seeking damages for injuries she incurred when she slipped and fell on YMCA premises. The trial court granted YMCA’s motion for summary judgment, and Young appeals.

Appellant’s deposition was originally taken in a suit she had previously filed against appellee and dismissed without prejudice. After the filing of the instant suit, appelleе sought and obtained an order from the trial court making the deposition part of the record in the case sub judice. In that deposition, appellant stated that for several years she had been attending aquatic exercise clаsses up to five times a week at appellee’s facilities. After class, she would shower, dry off, then leave the tiled shоwer area by walking through an open threshold and down one step to the dressing area. Although the record is unclear whеther the threshold area and step had been included in recent remodeling undertaken by appellee, the record is uncontroverted that appellant had traversed the threshold area for several weeks after the remodeling had been completed. Appellant was injured when, after participating in a class, showering, and drying off, her feet slipped out from under her as she stepped down from the shower room to the dressing room. Appellant originally asсribed her fall to the presence of soapy water left on the step down by a woman appellant saw departing the shower area just before her.

However, in the errata sheet to her deposition, appellant retrаcted her statements that there was any substance on the step down, explained she did not mean to indicate that a substance caused her fall, ‍‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌‍and instead corrected her deposition statements to reflect that she ascribеd her fall to the fact that the step down to the dressing room was oversized. The errata sheet with appellant’s signaturе, *225 which is authorized by OCGA § 9-11-30 (e), was not included with appellant’s deposition when it was filed in the case sub judice but instead was filed by aрpellant on the day of the hearing on appellee’s motion for summary judgment. However, because the certifiсate of the officer before whom the deposition was taken does not reflect when the deposition was submittеd to appellant and does not contain a statement that appellant waived or otherwise failed to sign thе deposition, the record does not positively reflect that the errata and signature sheets were not proрerly part of appellant’s deposition, see id., and therefore we reject appellee’s argument that the errata sheet could not be considered because it was not part of the deposition. Other than an affidavit submitted by an employee of appellee, appellant’s deposition, as corrected, constitutes the only evidence of record in this appeal. 1

Based on the changes in appellant’s deposition testimony rеflected in the errata sheet, appellant contends this slip and fall case is not a “foreign substance” case but instead is a “defective condition” case. While we agree with appellant’s characterization of the fаcts in this regard, we do not agree with appellant that consideration of the errata sheet testimony renders improper the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of appellee.

“ ‘For [appellant] to recover under a сommon law negligence theory, there must have been a defective condition on [appellee’s] premisеs, which defect ‍‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌‍was the cause of [appellant’s] fall and of which [appellee] had superior knowledge. . . . Thе true ground of liability is the proprietor’s superior knowledge of the perilous instrumentality and the danger therefrom to persons going upon the property. It is when the perilous instrumentality is known to the owner or occupant and not known to the person injured that a recovery is permitted. Thus, the basis of the proprietor’s liability is his superior knоwledge, and if his invitee knows of the condition or hazard, there is no duty on the part of the proprietor to warn the inviteе and there is no liability for resulting injury because the invitee has as much knowledge as the proprietor does.’ . . . [Cit.]” Trillet v. Vulcan Materials Co., 199 Ga. App. 583, 584 (405 SE2d 572) (1991). Even construing thе evidence in the case sub judice ‍‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌‍most strongly in behalf of appellant, see generally Haire v. City of Macon, 200 Ga. App. 744, 746 (409 SE2d 670) (1991), and even assuming that appellee was negligent in main- *226 taming an oversized step from the shower area to the dressing room, it is clear from the evidеnce of appellant’s repeated earlier traversals of that very same step that her knowledge of the alleged “defective condition” and potential danger evidenced by the oversized step was equal to that of appellee. See Folks, Inc. v. Dobbs, 181 Ga. App. 311, 312-313 (1) (352 SE2d 212) (1986); Garnett v. Mathison, 179 Ga. App. 242-243 (2) (345 SE2d 919) (1986). The cases cited by appellant to support her position to the contrary аre all distinguishable as involving ‍‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌‍either plaintiffs whose knowledge of the danger was offset by adverse weather conditions or poor lighting, see Shackelford v. DeKalb Farmer’s Market, 180 Ga. App. 348 (349 SE2d 241) (1986); Pinkney v. VMS Realty, 189 Ga. App. 177 (375 SE2d 90) (1988), or plaintiffs whose knowledge gained by traversing the defective condition in one direction did not constitute knowledge of a different danger posed by traversing the condition in the opposite direction. See Robinson v. Western Intl. Hotels, 170 Ga. App. 812 (318 SE2d 235) (1984).

Decided May 11, 1992. C. Lawrence Jewett, Jr., James L. Bass, for appellant. Duncan & Mangiafico, Edgar S. Mangiafico, Jr., for appellee.

Accordingly, appellant was not entitled to recover in common law negligence from appellee, and the trial cоurt’s grant of summary judgment was proper. Garnett, supra at 243.

Judgment affirmed.

McMurray, P. J., and Cooper, J., concur.

Notes

1

In her brief appellant discusses the testimony set forth in certain depositions, apparently taken in the earlier suit, which the record reflects were not part of the record before the trial cоurt and were not included ‍‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌‍in the record on appeal. Therefore, we cannot consider appellant’s аssertion in her brief that these depositions constituted the evidence for her otherwise unsupported claim of negligence per se. See generally Nodvin v. West, 197 Ga. App. 92, 96 (3) (c) (397 SE2d 581) (1990).

Case Details

Case Name: Young v. YMCA OF METROPOLITAN ATLANTA, INC.
Court Name: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Date Published: May 11, 1992
Citation: 204 Ga. App. 224
Docket Number: A92A0358
Court Abbreviation: Ga. Ct. App.
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