ERROR TO ENTER SUMMARY JUDGMENT BASED ON OPEN AND OBVIOUSNESS IN PREMISES CASE—FACTUAL ISSUES AS TO WHETHER DEFENDANT, THROUGH DESIGN OR MODE OF CONSTRUCTION, CREATED A HIDDEN DANGER THAT A PRUDENT INVITEE WOULD NOT ANTICIPATE.
Echevarria v. Lennar Homes, 45 Fla. L Weekly D1567 (Fla. 3rd DCA July 01, 2020):
The plaintiff sustained injuries from a fall while exiting a model home. She fell on a single step transition which the defendant asserted was both open and obvious, and not inherently dangerous. The plaintiff asserted that she could not see the step going down, as she descended the raised front porch on the adjacent walkway.
The court explained that an uncommon design, or mode of construction that creates a hidden danger that a prudent invitee would not anticipate, may transform multiple floors into an inherently dangerous condition. In this case, viewing the record and the reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the court reversed summary judgment, concluding that there was an issue of material fact as to whether the developer had created a hidden danger via an optical illusion, that a prudent invitee would not have anticipated.