Armenise v. Adventist Health System-Sunbelt

In Armenise v. Adventist Health System-Sunbelt, 219 Ga. App. 591, 593 (466 SE2d 58) (1995), an invitee walking across a grassy area between a parking lot and a medical building stepped into an ankle-deep depression in the ground and broke his ankle. The evidence showed that the depression was concealed by thick grass that was mowed and inspected on a weekly basis. The defendant's landscape supervisor had failed to discover the depression during his inspections, but found it after the invitee's fall by pressing down in the area with his feet. Id. at 592-593. The Court affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the proprietor, holding that the proprietor lacked constructive knowledge because its weekly inspections were reasonable as a matter of law: "The defendants exercised ordinary care by conducting inspections of the premises which were reasonable under the circumstances. There was no evidence that the grassy area presented any kind of hazard requiring a closer inspection since no one else had tripped or fallen in the area. Despite conducting a reasonable inspection of the premises, the defendants simply failed to discover the hidden hazard. This is not negligence." Id. at 594.