For example, a district court within our circuit found an unpainted but well-maintained wheel stop to be an open and obvious risk. Standifer v. Circle K Stores, Inc., No. 14-2431, 2015 WL 245248, at *4 (W.D. La. May 21, 2015). A Louisiana appellate court also found an unpainted wheel stop was not an unreasonable risk of harm, even when the plaintiff tripped in poor lighting.
Thibodeaux v. Home Depot USA, Inc., 816 Fed.Appx. 988, 991 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2020). Defendant also compares this case to Standifer v. Circle K Stores, Inc., wherein summary judgment was granted to a premises owner after the Plaintiff tripped and fell over an unpainted wheel stop in broad daylight. No. 14-2431, 2015 WL 2452428 at *1 (W.D. La. 2015). However, in that case, the wheel stop was well-maintained and contrasted noticeably with the black asphalt of the parking lot.
For example, an unpainted wheel stop in a casino parking lot was held not a hazardous condition in Labit v. Palms Casino & Truck Stop, Inc., 91 So.3d 540, 546 (La.App. 4th Cir. 2012). Summary judgment was granted for the merchant in Standifer v. Circle K Stores, Inc., 2015 WL 2452428 (W.D. La. 2015) (James, J.) when the plaintiff tripped over a gray, unpainted concrete wheel stop in a black asphalt parking lot, despite the plaintiff's argument that the failure to paint the item yellow created an unreasonably dangerous condition. And in Doane v. Wal-Mart Disc. Stores, Inc., 697 So.2d 309 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1997), the customer tripped on a speed bump that was painted yellow, the same color used to paint stripes in the cross-walk and other flat surfaces of the lot.
The parties did not discuss the utility of the curb in their briefs. See Maxwell v. Bd. of Trustees for State Colleges & Universities, 692 So. 2d 641, 647 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1997) (recognizing the utility of "the sidewalk and the curb area"); Standifer v. Circle K Stores, Inc., No. 14-2431, 2015 WL 2452428, at *4 (W.D. La. May 21, 2015) (recognizing the utility of a "wheel stop" in a parking spot that prevented vehicles from jumping a curb and striking a store's display of propane tanks). b. Likelihood and Magnitude of the Harm
The only issue in this motion for summary judgment is whether or not there is a genuine issue of fact as to whether the object, a stocking cart over which plaintiff tripped and fell, was open and obvious. The court said that it had reviewed all the attachments, including the USB drive with a video (of the incident), and had reviewed the cases argued by the parties, namely, Russell v. Morgan's Bestway of La., LLC, 47,914 (La. App. 2 Cir. 4/10/13), 113 So.3d 448, Chatman v. Home Depot USA, Inc., 2009 WL 10697804 (W.D. La. 5/29/2009), Standifer v. Circle K Stores, Inc., 2015 WL 2452428 (W.D. La. 5/21/15), and Perrin v. Ochsner Baptist Med. Ctr., 2019-0265 (La. App. 4 Cir. 8/7/19), 2019 WL 3719546, writ denied, 19-01557 (La. 11/25/19), 283 So.3d 495. After review of those cases, the court concluded that Russell and Chatman were most relevant.