Pocahontas Cooley v. Paul Kelly

Citations

• 160 A.3d 300
• 2017 WL 2268886
• 2017 R.I. LEXIS 66

Syllabus

In this premises liability case, in which the plaintiff alleged that she was injured after falling through a defective stair, the plaintiff, Pocahontas Cooley, appealed from a decision of the Superior Court granting summary judgment to the defendant, Paul Kelly. The plaintiff argued that the hearing justice erred when he concluded that there was no evidence that the defendant had any notice of a defective condition and that there was no basis for the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. The Supreme Court held that there was no competent evidence in the record to demonstrate that any defect in the step existed for sufficient time to justify charging the defendant with notice. The Supreme Court also held that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur could not properly be applied to the facts of the case because no evidence was submitted to substantiate the plaintiff's claims. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.