Negligence – FTCA – Post office

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Where a plaintiff was injured by an automatic door at a branch of the United States Postal Service, the defendant United States must be awarded summary judgment because of the open and obvious nature of the danger.

“The plaintiff, who is wheelchair-bound, visited a Lexington branch of the United States Postal Service on September 9, 2011. The plaintiff attempted to enter the post office by way of a handicap ramp and an automatic door. Though the plaintiff had visited the Lexington post office before, this was the first time he had attempted to enter by pushing the button to operate the door. When the door opened outward, rather than inward as the plaintiff expected it to, the plaintiff’s wheelchair was knocked backwards and he fell down a set of stone steps. …

“The complaint asserts that the defendant was negligent for failing to warn of a dangerous condition, namely that the handicap door to the Lexington post office opened outward, and seeks damages for the injuries he sustained when he fell down a set of steps on the premises. The claim is governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act, which provides that the United States shall be liable in tort ‘in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances.’ 28 U.S.C. section2674.

“Because the accident occurred in Massachusetts, Massachusetts substantive law applies. … [T]here is no duty to protect lawful visitors from risks that would be obvious to a person of average intelligence, nor is there a duty to warn of blatant hazards. …

“Those principles require that the defendant’s motion for summary judgment be granted. The post office door operated as it was designed, and that the door opened outward was apparent to any reasonable observer and should have been apparent to the plaintiff. … On the record here, a person of average intelligence could not have failed to notice that the proper operation of the door was that it opened outward. Therefore, I conclude that the defendant did not have a duty to warn that the door to the Lexington post office opened outward and that it did not breach any duty to warn.”

Trzepacz v. United States (Lawyers Weekly No. 02-057-17) (4 pages) (O’Toole, J.) (Civil Action No. 14-10657-GAO) (Feb. 3, 2017).

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