Newton v. Magill

Darline Newton (plaintiff) moved into a house her husband had leased in an Alaska trailer park owned by Enid and Fred Magill (defendants), where near-constant rain was common. The front door opened onto a wooden walkway, partly covered by a roof overhang, that had no handrail and no anti-slip surface. Several months after moving in, Darline slipped on the walkway and broke her ankle, and the Newtons sued, alleging the walkway had been slippery and hazardous for an extended period before the accident and that the Magills failed their duty to fix it. The trial court granted the Magills summary judgment on the theory that the open and obvious rain-caused slipperiness was the Newtons' own responsibility to guard against, and the Newtons appealed.