Shanner v. United States, No. 19-2764 (8th Cir. 2021)
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After plaintiff tripped on an uneven sidewalk outside a veterans' hospital and was seriously injured, he and his wife filed suit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), alleging negligence and loss of consortium.
The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Government, concluding that evidence from the record demonstrates that a reasonable person in plaintiff's position would not have noticed the uneven sidewalk. The court explained that after-the-fact recognition of the uneven sidewalk is not dispositive of what would have been apparent to a reasonable person "exercising ordinary perception, intelligence, and judgment," and plaintiff and his wife produced evidence that the uneven sidewalk would not have been apparent to such a person. The court also concluded that the record is underdeveloped as to whether the hospital would have discovered the uneven sidewalk "by the exercise of reasonable care."
Court Description: [Pitlyk, Author, with Loken and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Federal Tort Claims Act. The district court erred in granting the government's motion for summary judgment in this trip-and-fall case; plaintiff made a showing that a reasonable person in plaintiff's position would not have recognized the danger posed by the uneven sidewalk at the VA hospital; construing the factual record in the light most favorable to plaintiff there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the uneven sidewalk was obvious; additionally, the record here is underdeveloped as to whether the hospital would have discovered the uneven sidewalk by the exercise of reasonable care; reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
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