First Court of Appeals in Houston
HOUSTON - The First Court of Appeals has dismissed a slip and fall lawsuit against the City of Houston.
Shadrick Humphries sued the city for negligence, alleging he slipped and fell in a puddle of water and urine in a public restroom at Hobby Airport.
He broke a rib, cracked his rotator cuff, sprained his neck, hurt his back, according to the First Court’s Dec. 9 opinion.
In his suit, Humphries accused the city of negligently failing to warn him of the dangerous condition and inspect the premises.
He alleged that the city waived governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act because his claims were based on a condition of real property and the city would be liable to him if it were a private person.
Humphries further alleged that because he paid for the use of the premises by paying a passenger facility fee, which was included in the cost of his roundtrip ticket, the city owed him the elevated duty of an invitee on private property.
In response to the suit, the city filed a traditional motion for summary judgment based on governmental immunity, arguing that it owed Humphries only the duty owed to a licensee, not an invitee, on private property, and that it did not have knowledge of the premises defect before his fall.
The trial court denied the summary-judgment motion, concluding that the city owed only the duty owed to a licensee.
On appeal, justices found that the city conclusively negated the statutory waiver of governmental immunity, and Humphries did not raise a genuine issue of material fact.
“Because Humphries’s evidence did not show that the City had actual knowledge of the liquid on the restroom floor, we conclude that his evidence did not raise a genuine question of material fact,” the opinion states. “We hold that the trial court erred by denying the City’s motion for summary judgment.
“We reverse the trial court’s order, and we render judgment dismissing Humphries’s claims against the City.”
Appeals case No. 01-25-00276-CV