Opinion

S. Brewington v. City of Philadelphia and Walter G. Smith Elementary School -- Appeal of: S. Brewington and J. Brewington

  • 149 A.3d 901
  • 2016 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 478
  • 2016 WL 6677925
Court
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
Nov 14, 2016
Status
Published
Author
Wojcik
On the bench
Leavitt, Jubelirer, Brobson, Covey, Wojcik, Hearthway, Cosgrove
Cited by
12 cases
Authority
More cited than 70.5%

The opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Syeta Brewington, as parent and :

natural guardian for Jarrett : No. 886 C.D. 2015

Brewington, a minor and Syeta : Argued: October 19, 2016

Brewington in her own right, :

:

Appellants :

:

v. :

:

City of Philadelphia and Walter G. :

Smith Elementary School :

:

Appeal of: Syeta Brewington and :

Jarrett Brewington :

BEFORE: HONORABLE MARY HANNAH LEAVITT, President Judge

HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge

HONORABLE P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge

HONORABLE ANNE E. COVEY, Judge

HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

HONORABLE JULIA K. HEARTHWAY, Judge

HONORABLE JOSEPH M. COSGROVE, Judge

OPINION BY JUDGE WOJCIK FILED: November 14, 2016

Syeta Brewington, as parent and natural guardian for Jarrett

Brewington, a minor, and Syeta Brewington in her own right (Plaintiff) appeals

from the April 27, 2015 order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia

County (trial court) granting summary judgment to Walter G. Smith Elementary

School and the School District of Philadelphia (collectively, Defendants).

The relevant facts follow. On May 9, 2012, nine-year-old Jarrett

Brewington (Student) was injured during gym class at the Walter G. Smith

Elementary School (School). At the time Student was injured, he and other

children were engaged in a relay race whose boundaries were concrete walls at

either end of the school’s gym.1 (Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 86a.) Student

testified: “I was running too fast and I couldn’t stop and I tripped and fell. . . . And

hit my head on the wall. . . . I fell to the ground and blacked out . . . blood ran all

the way down my face.” (R.R. at 79a-80a; 86a-87a.)

Student suffered a concussion that caused him to miss classes for the

final weeks of the spring 2012 semester. His symptoms initially required him to

severely curtail his activities, including watching television and even talking, for

about three months. Student returned to school in the fall, but his memory

problems persisted and his grades dropped. During his February 17, 2015

deposition, Student stated that he still experienced occasional headaches and

intermittent memory problems.

On November 19, 2013, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against the

School, the School District of Philadelphia, and the City of Philadelphia,2 alleging

in part as follows:

10. [Student] was engaged in gym activities when he was

caused to sustain injuries as a result of a defective and

dangerous condition of the premises caused directly by

the actions/inactions of defendants (i.e. gym without

safety mats).

1

The gym had concrete walls and a concrete floor. The School closed in 2012, about a

month after Student’s injury.

2

The City of Philadelphia was dismissed from the action by stipulation and order dated

February 4, 2015.

2

11. Defendants were negligent in maintaining the

property that was within their care, custody and control[.]

* * *

23. [Defendants’] negligence and carelessness consisted

of the following:

(a) defendants caused or permitted dangerous conditions

to exist;

(b) defendants failed to make a reasonable inspection of

the premises, which would have revealed the dangerous

condition created by the defendants;

(c) defendants failed to give warning of the dangerous

condition and failed to erect barricades or to take any

other precautions to prevent injury to [Student];

(d) defendants failed to remove the dangerous condition;

(e) defendants failed to exercise reasonable prudence and

due care to keep the gym in a safe condition for the

minor plaintiff;

(f) defendants violated the ordinance of Philadelphia

County pertaining to maintenance of the premises; and

(g) defendants failed to conform to their own

specifications and standards as to design and

maintenance of the school gymnasium.

(h) defendants’ negligence was a direct cause of injury to

[Student];

(i) defendants were negligent in the care, custody and

control of the premises.

(j) defendants were negligent in failing to maintain the

property in a safe condition;

(Complaint, ¶¶10-11, 23, R.R. at 21a-22a, 24a-25a.)

3

Defendants filed an Answer and New Matter denying the relevant

allegations in the complaint and asserting, among other things, the defense of

governmental immunity. Sections 8541-8542 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S.

§§8541-8542, commonly known as the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act,

(Tort Claims Act). On March 2, 2015, Defendants filed a motion for summary

judgment alleging that they were immune from liability for Student’s injuries

because the real property exception to governmental immunity at 42 Pa.C.S.

§8542(b)(3) does not apply.

The trial court granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment by

order dated April 25, 2015. The trial court first focused on the allegation in

Paragraph 10 of Plaintiff’s Complaint, alleging that Student’s injuries resulted

from a “defective and dangerous condition of the premises caused directly by the

actions/inactions of defendants (i.e. gym without safety mats).” Relying on Rieger

v. Altoona Area School District, 768 A.2d 912 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2001), the trial court

held that a claim that Defendants were negligent in failing to protect the walls with

safety mats does not fall within the real property exception because safety mats are

personalty, not realty. The trial court next determined that, although Plaintiff

adequately pleaded a claim of negligent design or construction, that claim was

“comingled” with Plaintiff’s claim of negligent care, custody and control of real

property and accordingly, the holding in Rieger was dispositive.

On appeal to this Court, Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in

granting summary judgment to Defendants because Plaintiff’s claim falls within

the real property exception to governmental immunity.3

3

On appeal from a trial court’s order granting or denying summary judgment our

standard of review is de novo and our scope of review is plenary. Pentlong Corporation v. GLS

(Footnote continued on next page…)

4

Local government agencies are generally immune from tort liability.

42 Pa.C.S. §8541. However, Section 8542 of the Tort Claims Act waives

immunity for specific categories of tort claims. It states:

(a) Liability imposed. -- A local agency shall be liable for

damages on account of an injury to a person or property

within the limits set forth in this subchapter if both of the

following conditions are satisfied and the injury occurs as

a result of one of the acts set forth in subsection (b):

(1) The damages would be recoverable under

common law or a statute creating a cause of

action if the injury were caused by a person not

having available a defense under section 8541

(relating to governmental immunity generally)

or section 8546 (relating to defense of official

immunity); and

(2) the injury was caused by the negligent acts

of the local agency or an employee thereof

acting within the scope of his office or duties

with respect to one of the categories listed in

subsection (b). As used in this paragraph,

“negligent acts” shall not include acts or

conduct which constitutes a crime, actual

fraud, actual malice or willful misconduct.

(b) Acts which may impose liability. -- The following

acts by a local agency or any of its employees may result

in the imposition of liability on a local agency: . . .

* * *

(continued…)

Capital, Inc., 72 A.3d 818, 823 n.6 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2013). Summary judgment is properly entered

only when, “after examining the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and

resolving of all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact against the moving

party, the moving party is clearly entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Pyeritz v.

Commonwealth, 32 A.3d 687, 692 (Pa. 2011).

5

(3) Real property. -- The care, custody or

control of real property in the possession of the

local agency . . . .

42 Pa.C.S. §8542. In order to fall within the real property exception, “the injured

party must show that (a) the injury resulted from a dangerous condition that (b)

stemmed from the care, custody or control of real property, not personalty.”

Taylor v. Northeast Bradford School District, 101 A.3d 144, 148 (Pa. Cmwlth.

2014); Mellon v. City of Pittsburgh Zoo, 760 A.2d 921, 924 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2000).

Plaintiff asserts that the allegations in the Complaint, the testimony

presented, and Plaintiff’s expert report, (R.R. at 220a-23a), state a claim that the

design and layout of the gym and the construction of its walls were not safe for its

intended purpose. Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in characterizing that

claim as one alleging an injury caused by personalty rather than real property.

Plaintiff cites Grieff v. Reisinger, 693 A.2d 195, 197 (Pa. 1997),

which held that the real property exception to governmental immunity applied to

injuries caused by a fire chief’s alleged negligent care of the fire association’s real

property. In Grieff, our Supreme Court rejected the argument that the exception

applied only to a dangerous condition “of” real property. Noting that the exception

expressly applies to an agency’s negligence related to the care, custody, or control

of real property in its possession, the Supreme Court reasoned that “Grieff’s care

of the . . . property caused the fire that injured Reisinger. While he was removing

paint from the floor, therein caring for the real property, it ignited causing the

resultant injuries to Reisinger. Under the real property exception’s plain language,

Grieff and the Fire Association are not immune from suit.” Id. at 197.

Although the Supreme Court’s decision in Grieff suggested an

expansion of the circumstances to which the real property exception to

6

governmental immunity would apply, it was not inconsistent with existing case

law.

For example, in Gump v. Chartiers-Houston School District, 558 A.2d

589 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989), a member of a high school wrestling team was injured

while sprinting in a running drill conducted in the high school’s hallway. “As he

reached the end of the hallway [the student] failed to negotiate a left hand turn and

unintentionally pushed his hand through the window pane of a hallway door.” Id.

at 590. The student suffered multiple lacerations of his right hand and arm

requiring medical treatment. The appellants (the student and his parents) argued

that the school district was not immune from suit “because of the alleged regular

and permitted use of the hallway for wrestling activities.” Id. at 602. They also

argued that the school district’s “failure to install a type of window that was

shatterproof or reinforced created a dangerous condition.” Id. This Court

concluded that the appellants’ allegations “placed them squarely within the [real

property] exception.” Id. (emphasis added). Accordingly, we reversed the trial’s

court’s grant of summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings.

In Singer v. School District of Philadelphia, 513 A.2d 1108 (Pa.

Cmwlth. 1986), a student gymnast who was performing a stunt over a vaulting

horse in his school’s gymnasium fell and broke his elbow when he missed a mat

and landed on the hardwood floor. The plaintiffs alleged that the school district

was negligent in controlling the landing surface, specifically, by failing to provide

sufficient mats on the hardwood gym floor for students’ protection. The common

pleas court granted judgment on the pleadings to the district, citing governmental

immunity. The plaintiffs appealed, arguing that their allegations were within the

real property exception. We initially recognized that the real property exception to

7

governmental immunity has been interpreted “to impose liability for negligence

which makes government–owned real property unsafe for activities for which it is

regularly used, intended to be used or reasonably forseen to be used.” Id. at 1109

(emphasis added). We reversed the trial court’s order granting judgment on the

pleadings for the school district, explaining:

Our review of the complaint reveals that it alleges

negligence concerning the care, custody and control of

the landing surface around the vaulting horse. A

necessary element of a gymnasium's hardwood floor,

which is regularly used as a gymnastic stunt area is

sufficient matting protection to ensure safe landing by the

students. Since proper gym floor matting is an essential

safety element of a gymnasium floor being utilized for a

vaulting stunt, it is an aspect within the District's care,

custody and control of its real property, subject to the

real property exception.

Id. at 1109-10 (emphasis added).

We relied on Singer in Cestari v. School District of Cheltenham

Township, 520 A.2d 110 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1987), to reverse the trial court’s grant of

summary judgment on the basis of governmental immunity. Cestari involved a

student pole vaulter who was injured during a track meet when he failed to clear a

pole and landed with one foot on and one foot off the landing mat. The student

filed suit alleging that the district was negligent in, among other things, failing to

conform to applicable guidelines related to the number and placement of mats in

and about the pole vault pit. He asserted that his claim fell within the real property

exception because the pole vault unit was affixed to the district's real property, thus

becoming realty, and the district was negligent in failing to protect the pole vault

pit with sufficient mats. Citing Singer’s holding that the use of matting could

constitute an aspect of an agency’s care, custody, and control of real property, we

8

concluded that the allegations could fall within the real property exception and

remanded the case for resolution of material facts.

Subsequently, in Bradley v. Franklin County Prison, 674 A.2d 363

(Pa. Cmwlth. 1996) (en banc), we held that allegations of a prison’s negligence in

installing a tile floor without a non-slip surface constituted a dangerous condition

of government property set forth facts that fell within the real property exception.

We reasoned that

the prison authorities provided the shower facilities

where running water was a necessary and inextricable

part of the design; the prison constructed the shower and

drying-off area knowing and intending that water would

necessarily accumulate on the floor where bare feet must

tread. As such [sic], the instant case is analogous to

Singer in that a shower drying off area must have tiles

with non-slip properties in order to be safe for its

particular use, i.e., being stepped upon by wet feet, just

as a school gymnasium floor must have sufficient

matting protection in order to be safe for its intended,

specific use, i.e., gymnastic activities of its students.

Accordingly, we hold that Bradley's allegation that his

injury was caused by the defective design, construction

or condition of the floor, devoid of a non-slip surface, is

an allegation that falls within the real property exception

to governmental immunity. Because the question of

whether Appellees have created a dangerous condition of

government realty, by failing to install a non-slip surface

on the prison drying off area, is one of fact for the jury to

decide, the trial court acted improperly in granting the

Appellees’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.

Bradley, 674 A.2d at 366-67 (emphasis added). In Leonard v. Fox Chapel Area

School District, 674 A.2d 767, 770 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996), we repeated that liability

9

may “be imposed for negligence which makes the governmental realty unsafe for

its intended, specific and readily identifiable use.”

In decisions that followed Grieff, we continued to apply that analysis,

repeatedly holding that allegations of an agency’s negligence in the care, custody,

and control of real property that rendered its property unsafe for its intended and

foreseeable use fell within the real property exception. In Hanna v. West Shore

School District, 717 A.2d 626 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998), we reversed the grant of

summary judgment in a suit alleging that the plaintiff slipped in a puddle of water

that accumulated as a result of an employee’s negligence in damp-mopping a

school floor. And in Kevan v. Manesiotis, 728 A.2d 1006 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1999), we

held that a trial court erred in granting summary judgment to a school district based

on governmental immunity where a student alleged that inadequate lighting in the

school gymnasium contributed to injuries he sustained during indoor baseball

practice. “As in Floyd4 . . . in the present case a question of fact exists as to

whether inadequate lighting in [the] gymnasium contributed to [the plaintiff’s]

injuries. The trial court thus erred in granting summary judgment to [the school

district] on the grounds of governmental immunity.” Kevan, 728 A.2d at 1008.

Additionally, in accord with the plain statutory language, we have

consistently held that in order for the real property exception to apply, the real

property must be in the “possession” and “control” of the governmental agency, 5

and the injury must be “caused by” negligence related to the care, custody, or

4

Floyd v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 623 A.2d 901 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1993).

5

See, e.g., City of Pittsburgh v. Estate of Strahlman, 677 A.2d 384 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996).

10

control of the real property.6 Likewise, we have repeatedly held that the exception

is limited to injuries involving real property and does not apply in cases where the

plaintiff’s injury was caused by personalty. See e.g., Repko v. Chichester School

District, 904 A.2d 1036 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2006) (injury was caused by a folding table

that fell on a student); Kniaz v. Benton Borough, 642 A.2d 551 (Pa. Cmwlth.

1994) (injury resulted when picnic table overturned); Wilson v. Ridgeway Area

School District, 596 A.2d 1166 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991) (injury was related to use of a

table saw); DeRitis v. City of Philadelphia, 582 A.2d 738 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1990)

(injury was caused by unsafe condition of bleacher); Canon-McMillan School

District v. Bioni, 561 A.2d 853 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989) (injury was caused by

malfunction of a wood lathe not attached to real property); Maloney v. City of

Philadelphia, 535 A.2d 209 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1987) (injury was caused by unsafe

condition of scaffolding).

Determinations as to whether an alleged injury involves real property

or personalty are often predicated on whether an article is a fixture. See, e.g.,

Blocker v. City of Philadelphia, 763 A.2d 373 (Pa. 2000); Gore v. Bethlehem Area

School District, 537 A.2d 913 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).7 Whether chattel is personalty

or a fixture is a question of law for the court to decide. Taylor, 101 A.3d at 148;

Canon-McMillan School District, 561 A.2d at 855.

6

See e.g., Wellons v. SEPTA, 596 A.2d 1169 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991).

7

“A fixture is an article in the nature of personal property which has been so annexed to

the realty that it is regarded as part and parcel of the land.” Gore, 537 A.2d at 915 (quoting

Black's Law Dictionary 574 (5th Ed. 1979)). “The considerations to be made in determining

whether or not a chattel becomes a fixture include (1) the manner in which it is physically

attached or installed, (2) the extent to which it is essential to the permanent use of the building or

other improvement, and (3) the intention of the parties who attached or installed it.” Id.

11

The plaintiff in Blocker was attending a concert at a city-owned

facility and was injured when a bleacher that she was sitting on collapsed. She

filed a claim against the city alleging that it negligently maintained the bleacher.

The common pleas court granted summary judgment to the city, reasoning that,

because the bleacher was not affixed to the realty it was personalty and, as such,

the claim did not fit within the real property exception to governmental immunity.

On appeal, however, this Court reversed. Although there was no

evidence that the bleacher was attached to the ground, we concluded that there was

a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the city intended the bleacher to

remain permanently on the concert grounds, which must be submitted to a jury as

fact-finder.

Addressing only that discrete issue, our Supreme Court reversed.

Commonwealth Court erred in holding that the bleacher

could be a fixture of the real property. There was no

attachment of the bleacher to the property on which it

rested. The court’s view that the intention of the city

regarding whether the bleacher was permanent in its

location supersedes the lack of attachment was without

basis. . . . It is anciently established that consideration of

the intention of an owner regarding whether a chattel has

been permanently placed on real property is relevant only

where the chattel has in fact been affixed to the realty. . .

. Absent an attachment to realty, a chattel remains

personalty.

763 A.2d at 375. Citing the relevant principles set forth in Clayton v. Lienhard,

167 A. 321, 322 (Pa. 1933),8 the court summarized its holding as follows: “Thus, a

8

Chattels used in connection with real estate are of three classes:

First, those which are manifestly furniture, as distinguished from

improvements, and not peculiarly fitted to the property with which

they are used; these always remain personalty.... Second, those

which are so annexed to the property that they cannot be removed

(Footnote continued on next page…)

12

chattel that is not affixed to realty remains personalty; only where personalty has

been attached to realty does the parties’ intent become relevant.” Blocker, 763

A.2d at 375.

Subsequently, in Rieger v. Altoona Area School District, 768 A.2d

912 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2001), this Court concluded that the narrow holding in Blocker,

that a chattel not attached to realty remains personalty, had implicitly overruled our

holding in Singer that the use of mats for safety purposes constituted an “aspect of

the District's care, custody and control of its real property.” 513 A.2d at 1109-10.

Rieger involved a student who was injured during cheerleading

practice when she fell onto an unprotected hardwood gym floor. The Riegers

claimed that the school district was negligent in the care, custody, and control of its

real property by failing to provide mats on the hardwood surface used for

cheerleading practice. There was no allegation in Rieger that her injury was

caused by a condition of personalty, and, therefore, the legal distinction between

real property and personalty was neither raised nor relevant. The plaintiff was

injured when she struck the hardwood floor, which is clearly not personalty.

(continued…)

without material injury to the real estate or to themselves; these are

realty, even in the face of an expressed intention that they should

be considered personalty . . . . Third, those which, although

physically connected with the real estate, are so affixed as to be

removable without destroying or materially injuring the chattels

themselves, or the property to which they are annexed; these

become part of the realty or remain personalty, depending upon the

intention of the parties at the time of the annexation . . . .

Blocker, 763 A.2d at 375 (quoting Clayton, 167 A. at 322).

13

Nevertheless, the court in Rieger concluded that the holding in Blocker was

dispositive.

Singer focused on the element that caused the student’s injury – the

unprotected hardwood floor – and not on that which could have prevented the

injury – a mat. Rieger misapprehended this focus, concentrating not on the cause

of the plaintiff’s injury but on the nature of chattel that could have been used to

protect students from injury.

Consequently, this Court in Rieger misconstrued Blocker as

overruling Singer.

The analysis in Singer was introduced with the following statements:

The Singers contend that the facts averred in the

complaint come within the real property exception to

governmental immunity, Section 8542(b)(3) of the

Judicial Code, because the District was negligent in

controlling the landing surface by insufficiently

protecting the hardwood floors with mats. We agree.

513 A.2d at 1109 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted). The court next observed

that, “[p]ursuant to the real property exception, the conduct alleged in the

complaint must be directly related to the condition of the property. This exception

has been read to impose liability for negligence which makes government-owned

real property unsafe for activities for which it is regularly used, intended to be used

or reasonably foreseen to be used.” Id. (citations and footnote omitted).

In Singer this Court also highlighted the averment that “the District

negligently . . . failed to properly choose, construct, manage, maintain and control

a landing surface for plaintiff’s vault mentioned hereinabove.” Id. at 1109 n.4

(emphasis in original).

14

Our review of the complaint reveals that it alleges

negligence concerning the care, custody and control of

the landing surface around the vaulting horse. A

necessary element of a gymnasium's hardwood floor,

which is regularly used as a gymnastic stunt area is

sufficient matting protection to ensure safe landing by the

students. Since proper gym floor matting is an essential

safety element of a gymnasium floor being utilized for a

vaulting stunt, it is an aspect within the District's care,

custody and control of its real property, subject to the real

property exception.

Id. at 1109-10 (emphasis added).

We conclude that the court in Rieger misconstrued the above language

as holding that personalty placed on real property to render it safe for its intended

use is considered to be real property for purposes of governmental immunity.

Such interpretation does not logically follow the Singer court’s introductory

summary of the case or the averments it emphasized. More importantly, it

interprets Singer as conflicting with the well-settled principle that a chattel not

affixed to real property remains personalty. Clayton.

Additionally, insofar as this analysis of whether the real property

exception applies turns on the nature of a remedy not provided rather than the

cause of the injury - the condition of the real property as it existed vis-a-vis its

intended use – it will lead to absurdly inconsistent results for identically dangerous

conditions. For example, a claim alleging a dangerous condition due to inadequate

lighting would rest on whether the established standard of care calls for providing a

floor lamp, which is chattel, or recessed lighting, which is a fixture. A claim that

an injury was caused by a crumbling retaining wall would be dismissed if the

plaintiff alleged that nylon barrier netting should have been used as a temporary

protective measure. As illustrated, plaintiffs would be penalized for pointing out

how easily an injury could have been avoided.

15

Plaintiff argues that she has not alleged that Student’s injury was

caused by the condition of any property that can be classified as personalty.

Plaintiff maintains that, instead, the allegations in the Complaint, the testimony

presented, and Plaintiff’s expert report, (R.R. at 220a-23a), all relate to allegations

that the design and layout of the gym and the construction of its walls were not

safe for its intended purpose. We agree; Plaintiff’s claim is that the property as it

existed was unsafe for its intended and regular use as a gymnasium; the

unprotected cement wall posed a danger to students who used it regularly for gym

class, Bradley; Singer; and that dangerous condition was the cause of Student’s

injury. The fact that the possible options for remedying the dangerous condition of

the gymnasium may include personalty is irrelevant. On summary judgment, the

only issue is whether Plaintiff’s allegations that Student’s injury was caused by an

unprotected concrete wall in an elementary school gym fall within the real property

exception to governmental immunity.

Based on the foregoing, we hold that where a complaint includes

specific allegations that a plaintiff’s injuries resulted from negligence in the

defendant’s care, custody, or control of real property, neither the Supreme Court’s

decision in Blocker nor this Court’s decision in Rieger precludes a determination

that the real property exception may apply. Consequently, we reaffirm our

decision in Singer and overrule Rieger as a misinterpretation of Singer and a

misapplication of Blocker.

As to this case, we further conclude that the trial court erred in

characterizing Student’s claims of a “defective and dangerous condition of the

premises” and Defendants’ failure “to conform to their own specifications and

standards as to [the] design” of the school gymnasium as “comingled” claims

16

involving personalty, rather than as claims alleging injury caused by Defendants’

negligence in their care, custody, and control of real property.

Finally, we stress that while the question of whether a plaintiff’s

allegations of negligence concern real property or personalty is a question of law

for the court to decide, it is well settled that the question of whether a defendant’s

negligence caused the plaintiff’s injury is a question of fact to be decided by a jury.

Taylor, 101 A.3d at 150; Mellon, 760 A.2d at 925.

Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order and remand this matter

to the trial court for further proceedings.

MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

17

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Syeta Brewington, as parent and :

natural guardian for Jarrett : No. 886 C.D. 2015

Brewington, a minor and Syeta :

Brewington in her own right, :

:

Appellants :

:

v. :

:

City of Philadelphia and Walter G. :

Smith Elementary School :

:

Appeal of: Syeta Brewington and :

Jarrett Brewington :

ORDER

AND NOW, this 14th day of November, 2016, the order of the Court

of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, dated April 27, 2015, is reversed, and

the matter is remanded for further proceedings.

Jurisdiction relinquished.

__________________________________

MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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