In a  February 28, 2019 judgment, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a Terrebonne Parish judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of a hotel in a slip and fall case. In this case, the plaintiff alleged he sustained injuries when he tripped over an elevated curb near the hotel’s entrance. The case is Primeaux v. Best Western Plus Houma Inn, Docket No. 2018-CA-841. The plaintiff opposed the defendant’s motion for summary judgment with an expert affidavit from an architect, who stated that there were several code violations. The plaintiff alleged violations of Americans with Disabilities Act standards and other building codes, but the court did not find this to be determinative. The trial court found that the curb was painted yellow, and the elevation was therefore open and obvious. The trial court found that because the elevated curb was open and obvious, it was not unreasonably dangerous.

The court of appeal affirmed. It found that the elevated curb would have been obvious to anyone paying attention. Perhaps the result would have been different had the curb been harder to tell apart from the surrounding pavement, as was the case in  Sistler v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 558 So.2d 1106 (La. 1990).

This case suggests that in order to win a slip and fall case alleging injury due to an elevated curb, the plaintiff must show some kind of optical illusion that makes the curb unreasonably hard to see.