201412.12
0

Plaintiff sued our client, a large national retailer. She claimed she tripped and fell on the edge of a tree well within the Common Area of the shopping center. She claimed there was a one inch height differential between the concrete edge and the mulch inside the tree well. Plaintiff claimed that she suffered a disfiguring fracture to her arm that did not heal properly. The Landlord claimed that the lease was amended (unilaterally in writing by the landlord) before the accident, after which our client assumed responsibility for the tree wells. We moved for summary judgment on the ground that our client did not owe a duty to the plaintiff as it had no obligation to maintain the tree wells and, even if a duty was owed, the alleged defect was too trivial to be actionable as a matter of law. Our motion for summary judgment was granted in its entirety. As a result, plaintiff’s case was dismissed as were claims for contractual indemnification by the landlord, which was found to be solely responsible for maintaining the accident location.