6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Concludes That a Wet Hospital Floor was an Open and Obvious Hazard Since Plaintiff Had Actual Knowledge of the Dangerous Condition and Traversing it was Avoidable

Plaintiff had been visiting her mother at Henry Ford Hospital when she got turned around after exiting the elevator. Instead of returning to the elevator or asking for assistance, Plaintiff opted to carefully carry her guide dog over a shiny area of the hallway floor where a worker with a housekeeping cart and bucket was mopping. Plaintiff suffered serious injuries when her shoes began sticking and she fell to the ground, noticing water while falling.

Plaintiff argued that the water hazard was unavoidable and that she was forced to traverse the puddle to return to her mother’s hospital room. In the unpublished case of Evola v. Henry Ford Macomb Hospital the Court rejected Plaintiff’s argument. Plaintiff was unable to show that the dangerous floor was inescapable so there were no special aspects that made it unreasonably dangerous.

Click on the link to read the entire case:

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-ca6-20-02241/USCOURTS-ca6-20-02241-0