Romero v. American Multi-Cinema, Inc. CA4/1

Filed 5/16/23 Romero v. American Multi-Cinema, Inc. CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

ALMA ROMERO, D080327

Plaintiff and Appellant,

v. (Super. Ct. No. 37-2020- 00024796-CU-PO-CTL) AMERICAN MULTI-CINEMA, INC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Gregory W. Pollack, Judge. Reversed. Sullivan, Rivera, Osuna & Sullivan and Luis O. Osuna for Plaintiff and Appellant. Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester, Brian T. Moss, Karen Liao and Mark Wilson, for Defendant and Respondent. In this trip-and-fall case, plaintiff Alma Romero appeals from a judgment entered against her after the trial court granted a defense motion for summary judgment in her premises liability case against defendant American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (AMC). The trial court found that a bolt fragment embedded in a concrete walkway and protruding one-half inch

above the surface about 10 feet in front of the box office of AMC’s movie theater constituted a trivial defect as a matter of law. Based on our de novo review and the holding of Dolquist v. City of Bellflower (1987) 196 Cal.App.3d 261, 267–268 (Dolquist), we conclude that reasonable minds could differ as to whether the defect presented a substantial risk of injury. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. The Incident Between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on July 10, 2019, Romero and her boyfriend, Albert Magana, were taking his nephews to the movies at the AMC Promenade Movie Theater on Dennery Road in San Diego. It was a sunny day, and Romero was wearing flip-flop sandals. She had never been to that movie theater before. As they were walking directly to the movie theater from the parking lot right outside, Romero’s right foot hit a metal object protruding from the walkway about 10 feet away from the AMC box office. Her sandal got stuck on the protrusion, and she lost her balance and fell. She suffered injuries that required medical attention. There were six metal studs protruding from the walkway where Romero fell. They appeared to be the remains of some bolts that had been left there after a light post was removed earlier in 2019. There were construction barricades outside the theater on the date of the incident. Romero tripped on the highest of the bolts. In deposition, she initially estimated that it was about one inch high, but then revised her estimate to a little over one-half inch after she was shown a ruler. Magana also estimated that it was about one-half inch high. The other protruding bolts were less than one-half inch high, and one was almost completely flat.