Uhl v. Abrahams

On February 21, 1968, plaintiff Vera Uhl, accompanied by her children, drove to defendants Burger Bar, located on Billings west side, to buy lunch for her children and brother, and to redeem a birthday coupon which entitled her son to a free lunch there. On defendants blacktop parking lot there were two parallel rows of parking spaces facing each other. At the end of each parking space was an individual concrete curbing 5" high and the width of a car. Between each individual parking space, the curbings were separated to enable a person to enter a walkway area between the two parallel rows of parking spaces and on into the Burger Bar building. This walkway was simply a section of the blacktop parking area, utilized to provide pedestrian access to the building. Neither the walkway nor the rest of the parking lot was covered or otherwise protected from the weather. Normal procedure at the establishment was to park against one of these curbings, and to proceed onto the walkway between the curbings, and then along the walkway into the building.