Wayne County Appellate Decisions for February, 2014

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Appellate District released one opinion in February for a case out of Wayne County. Poulson v. Fraternal Order of the Eagles, Inc., 2014-Ohio-554, concerned whether the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas had erred in awarding summary judgment to the Fraternal Order of Eagles in a slip and fall case. 

Poulson had brought suit under two theories. One was negligence and the other was negligence per se. The negligence per se cause of action was based on a Wooster, Ohio ordinance that incorporated the Ohio Basic Building Code. The Court of Appeals found that the Eagle's motion for summary judgment had not addressed the cause of action for negligence per se. Therefore the motion for summary judgment should not have been granted on that cause of action. 

The appellate court further found that the motion for summary judgment was well taken with respect to the cause of action for negligence. Therefore the trial court's order was affirmed on that cause of action.