News

First Court of Appeals Affirms Summary Judgment in Premises Liability and Negligence Dispute

The Houston First Court of Appeals recently affirmed a summary judgment in favor of a firm client in a premises liability and negligence lawsuit where the Plaintiff alleged that she was injured while in an elevator serviced by our client. The district court granted our client’s motion for traditional and no-evidence summary judgment. The Plaintiff appealed that summary judgment to the Houston First Court of Appeals, which affirmed the district court’s judgment in a memorandum opinion. After the Plaintiff failed to challenge the premises liability summary judgment on appeal, the Court of Appeals also affirmed the negligence summary judgment, holding that the Plaintiff’s “summary-judgment evidence of a breach of duty falls short of raising a scintilla of evidence because it is ‘so weak as to do no more than create a surmise or suspicion’ of fact.” Our client was represented in the trial court by partner Alan L. Rucker and in the appellate court by partner Kevin J. Keith and associate Andrew J. Upton.

The case is No. 01-19-00300-CV, 2021 WL 1414283 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Apr. 15, 2021, no pet. h.).