McDevitt v. Sportsman's Warehouse, Inc., 151 Idaho 280

Summary

The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Sportsman's Warehouse in a premises-liability action arising from a shopper's trip over a recessed irrigation box on a shopping-center sidewalk. The court held that the sidewalk was not part of Sportsman's leased premises, Sportsman's did not control or create the hazard, and the tenant therefore owed no duty to maintain the sidewalk or warn invitees of dangers there. The court also held that neither party was entitled to attorney fees on appeal.

Holdings

1. A tenant in a multi-tenant shopping center does not owe invitees a duty to keep a common-area sidewalk reasonably safe or to warn of conditions on it when the sidewalk is not part of the leased premises and the tenant does not exercise control over it.
2. The court declined to expand Idaho negligence law to impose on a tenant without control of a common-area sidewalk a duty to keep the sidewalk safe or warn of hazards merely because it may serve as a path of ingress or egress.
3. Sportsman's did not create the alleged hazard because Idaho Scapes installed the irrigation box and Eckman & Mitchell Construction poured the sidewalk around it; the record did not establish that Sportsman's created the condition.
4. Neither party was awarded attorney fees on appeal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a tenant in a multi-tenant shopping center owes invitees a duty to keep a sidewalk abutting its leased premises safe or to warn of hazards when the sidewalk is not part of the leased premises and the tenant does not control it.
2. Whether Sportsman's owed a duty because it allegedly created the sidewalk hazard through construction performed under its lease.
3. Whether either party was entitled to attorney fees on appeal.

Disposition

affirmed