Coughlin v. Harland L. Weaver, Inc.

WOOD (Parker), J.

Action for damages for personal injuries. At the close of plaintiff’s ease the defendant corporations made motions for nonsuit. The motion of the Graham Corporation was granted, and the motion of Weaver, Inc. was denied. The verdict was in favor of defendant Weaver, Inc. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment of nonsuit and from the judgment entered on the verdict.

Defendant Harland L. Weaver, Inc., a corporation, was the builder and owner of a dwelling house in Los Angeles. That defendant authorized the defendant Marshall D. Graham Corporation, a real estate broker, to sell the property at a certain price and it agreed to pay the broker a commission for its services. On November 28,1948, a Miss Hanen, who was an employee of the Graham Corporation, was at the property for the purpose of showing the property to prospective purchasers. In front of the house there was a sign which stated “Open for Inspection.” About 4 p. m. of said day the plaintiff, who intended to buy a house, and three of her friends entered the house, upon invitation by Miss Hanen, for the purpose of inspecting it. Miss Hanen proceeded to show the house to them, and as they went from room to room

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she talked to them about the house. They all went into a hall and then two of plaintiff’s friends went into a bedroom. The hall was well lighted. On one side of the hall there was a door to a linen closet and across the hall from that door there was a door to the basement. The basement door was constructed so that it opened away from the hall and over the stairway leading to the basement. There was no landing at the top of the basement stairway—the stairway was flush with the bottom of the door or the floor of the hall. The stairway did not have a handrail. While Miss Hanen and plaintiff’s friend (who remained in the hall) were looking toward the linen closet door, the plaintiff opened the basement door, stepped forward and through the doorway as the door opened, and fell into the basement. No one saw her open the door or • saw her fall.

On the basement door there was a doorknob, and about 5 inches above the doorknob there was a smaller knob which was a part of a bolt lock. The bolt part of the lock was concealed in the wood of the door, and the bolt was operated by turning the small knob. Plaintiff testified that she did not see the lock above the doorknob; she went to the door, put her right hand on the doorknob, and said, “What’s this room ? ”; then she turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped “with it” through the doorway into dark space. Miss Whittle, an employee of the Graham Corporation, who was called as a witness by defendant Weaver, Inc., testified that she opened the house about 10 a. m. on the day of the accident; that she left the house about 2 p. m., after Miss Hanen arrived there; and that the basement door was locked when she left. Miss Hanen, who was called as a witness by defendant Weaver, Inc., testified that she arrived at the house about lp.m.; and that the basement door was locked when she took plaintiff and her friends through the house. Mr. Weaver, president of defendant Weaver, Inc., testified that his company owned several houses in the tract where this house is located; that he had given instructions to the people in charge of the property that all basement doors had to be locked; and that the doors were locked, as a precautionary measure, to keep children from opening them. He also testified that about 4 p. m. on a clear day the visibility at the top of the basement stairway was fair.