Smith v. Butler

On January 15, 1977, the appellant, Ginger Ruth Rountree, slipped and fell on a step covered with ice leading from her apartment in the University Square Garden Apartments in Greenbelt, Maryland. She sustained a fracture of her left shoulder and extensive damage to her right knee cartilage. As a result, she brought suit against the Lerner Corporation and the Lerner Development Company, the owner and operator, respectively, of the University Square Garden Apartments. The case was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince Georges County, with Judge Samuel Meloy presiding. At the end of the appellants case, Judge Meloy granted the defendant/appellees motion for a directed verdict, ruling as a matter of law that the appellant had assumed the risk of her fall. On this appeal from the judgment entered against her, the appellant contends that the trial court erred in directing a verdict against her.