Goulet vs Brown Jordan
Stephen Smith obtained summary judgment on behalf of an outdoor furniture manufacturer in this personal injury lawsuit in which a partial-paraplegic sustained third-degree burns from contact with the metal surface of the insureds lawn furniture. The lawn furniture, located at the pool area of co-defendant's residential complex had been heated by sunlight. Plaintiff contended that the chair was defective by reason of a lack of any warning on the product that it would become dangerously hot when in sunlight.
In our motion, we argued that any claimed danger in the chair's metal surfaces becoming hot was an was open and obvious condition such that the plaintiff should have been aware of that claimed hazard without the necessity of any warning by the manufacturer. The court agreed and, on that basis, judgment was entered on behalf of the insured.