Summary
In this Memorandum and Order, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied Bank of America, N.A.'s motion for summary judgment in a premises-liability action arising from Elizabeth Ann Henderson's fall on a concrete path outside a bank branch. The court held that the lease's assignment of maintenance responsibilities to the landlord did not, as a matter of law, eliminate the bank's duty to provide invitees with a reasonably safe means of ingress and egress. The court also declined to grant summary judgment on the related loss-of-consortium and punitive-damages claims.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the lease and related evidence were sufficiently capable of being presented in admissible form at trial to be considered on summary judgment.
- Whether Bank of America was entitled to summary judgment on the premises-liability claim because it did not lease or exclusively control the exterior path where Henderson fell.
- Whether the loss-of-consortium and punitive-damages claims failed because they depended on the premises-liability claim.
Holdings
- The lease could be considered because the defendant represented that it could present the documents at trial in admissible form as business records with proper foundation and authentication.
- Bank of America was not entitled to summary judgment merely because it did not lease the exterior area and the landlord had maintenance responsibilities. The record did not conclusively establish that the bank exercised no control over the area, and Missouri law may impose on a merchant a duty to provide invitees with a reasonably safe means of ingress and egress even absent actual dominion or control over the approach.
- Summary judgment was not warranted on the loss-of-consortium and punitive-damages claims because the premises-liability claim remained viable at the summary-judgment stage.
Key quotations
“If it chose to adopt such steps, walk, slab, and grounds exterior to its building as a safe means of entrance into and exit from its store building, and they were not safe, although not in its possession or under its control, it is nevertheless bound, the same as if they had been in its possession and under its control.” (at 7-8)
Factual background
Elizabeth Ann Henderson tripped and fell on a raised concrete slab on a path leading from Bank of America’s St. Louis branch to the parking area after conducting personal banking. She alleged that the dangerous condition was known or should have been known to the bank, that the bank failed to warn customers or cordon off the condition, and that she sustained substantial physical, emotional, and financial injuries. The bank leased the drive-through and certain interior portions of the property but not the exterior area where Henderson fell; the lease assigned maintenance of the relevant area to the landlord.
Procedural history
Plaintiffs originally filed the action in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Missouri. Defendant removed the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction and moved for summary judgment. The district court denied the motion and set a telephone status conference.