Washington v. Topeka Rescue Mission

Summary

The Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the Topeka Rescue Mission in a slip-and-fall negligence action. The court held that the plaintiff lacked evidence that the Mission had actual or constructive notice of water on the dormitory floor and had not shown that the Mission adopted a mode of operation making recurring dangerous conditions reasonably foreseeable. The court declined to extend the Kansas mode-of-operation rule to premises generally open to the public.

Holdings

1. Summary judgment for the Topeka Rescue Mission was proper because Washington offered no evidence that the Mission had actual or constructive knowledge of the water on the dormitory floor and therefore failed to establish the notice required under the ordinary premises-negligence rule.
2. The mode-of-operation rule was inapplicable because Washington presented no evidence that the Mission adopted a particular mode of operation—such as encouraging or permitting baptisms at the shelter—that made recurring dangerous conditions reasonably foreseeable.
3. The court declined to extend the mode-of-operation rule to all premises open to the public, but it did not decide whether the rule could ever apply beyond the self-service industry because Washington failed to produce evidence of a qualifying mode of operation.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court properly granted summary judgment where the Mission had no actual or constructive notice of the water on the dormitory floor.
2. Whether the Kansas mode-of-operation rule should be extended beyond self-service or retail operations to a faith-based homeless shelter.
3. Whether Washington produced evidence that the Mission adopted a particular mode of operation making recurring dangerous conditions reasonably foreseeable.

Disposition

affirmed