Issue

Contributory negligence—summary judgment—golfing accident—open and obvious risk—lack of situational awareness

Summary

In a negligence action in which plaintiff sought to recover damages after being hit in the eye by a golf ball, the trial court properly granted summary judgment to defendants (the golfer whose stray ball struck plaintiff and the city that owned the property) because plaintiff was contributorily negligent as a matter of law. Uncontradicted evidence established a line of sight between plaintiff–who sat in a golf cart looking down at his phone with no awareness of what was occurring around him–and the tee-off area, and, viewed objectively, the evidence showed an open and obvious risk that a prudent person would have noticed.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →