Barbara Jordan v. Panorama Orthopedics & Spine Center, PC, 2013COA87 (June 6, 2013)

“Step on a crack, break your back.” And then sue. Here, plaintiff tripped on a crack in a sidewalk in front of a medical clinic leasing the building it occupied. She sued under the Premises Liability Act, CRS 13-21-115. The clinic argued it was not a “landowner,” and thus not liable. The court of appeals’ majority agreed. The clinic was not a landowner because it did not have a “sufficient” interest in the sidewalk. The clinic did not occupy the sidewalk – just the building; it did not control the sidewalk, though it had some maintenance responsibilities under its lease; and it did not conduct an activity on the sidewalk – its activities occurred in the adjacent building. The dissent would have held that the clinic had sufficient control over the only entrance to its offices because patients would park in spaces exclusively for patients, who must then use the sidewalk to access the clinic.

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Court_of_Appeals/Opinion/2013/12CA0451-PD.pdf

http://www.cobar.org/opinions/opinion.cfm?opinionid=8971&courtid=1