HUNTINGTON – A judge granted Hobby Lobby’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit against it alleging a woman was injured on its property in 2014.
Hobby Lobby and SSC Barboursville are parties to a lease agreement wherein the parking lot adjacent to the shopping center is defined as a common area to be solely maintained and controlled by SSC Barboursville, according to the recent memorandum opinion and order.
“The lease expressly provides that the ‘common area’ includes ‘parking areas’ and ‘[t]he landlord agrees to maintain in good condition the common area of the landlord’s center … including snow and ice removal,’” the order states.
As a result of the lease, Hobby Lobby argued it was entitled to summary judgment and although the plaintiff, Saundra Kaye Morrison argued that a syllabus point in a Supreme Court opinion that Hobby Lobby had cited did not apply, the court was not persuaded.
On Jan. 16, 2014, Morrison was exiting the Hobby Lobby store in Barboursville when she slipped on ice and snow in the parking lot and was injured, according to a complaint filed in Cabell Circuit Court and later removed to federal court.
Morrison claimed the defendants allowed ice to accumulate on the entry/exit of the store, sidewalk and parking lot of the premises, causing these areas of the premises to be extremely slippery, dangerous and unsafe.
The defendants failed to remove the ice or place any warning devices in the subject area so as to put the plaintiff and the rest of the public on notice of the latent slippery, dangerous conditions, according to the suit.
Morrison claims as she traversed the area, she suddenly and without warning, slipped and fell on the ice that the defendants allowed to accumulate on the premises.
The defendant’s actions caused Morrison to suffer a closed head injury and injured her back and neck, among other injuries, according to the suit.
Morrison was seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. She is being represented by Brian L. Ooten of Shaffer & Shaffer PLLC.
The defendants were represented by J. David Bolen and Ellen M. Kist of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 3:16-cv-03813