Parking stall suit dismissed
Staff writer
A Marion woman has lost a lawsuit against the Marion school district stemming from a fall in a parking area at the Performing Arts Center.
Peggy Blackman filed suit Nov. 24, 2021, seeking more than $75,000 for injuries suffered in a fall two years earlier when she tripped over a parking block painted a dark, non-reflective color.
Her petition claimed she suffered ongoing medical and surgical expenses and had loss of time, pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life.
The school district’s answer, filed a month later, claimed that the schools were immune from liability for Blackman’s injuries under a recreational-use exception to tort law.
In August, the school district filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss Blackman’s lawsuit.
On Friday, judge Courtney Boehm wrote that the parking stalls qualified to be included in the recreational use exception to liability law.
Boehm wrote that the blocks over which Blackman tripped because they were virtually invisible never were approved for installation by the school board, and were for general use for people to go anywhere on school property.
“The district is generally immune from claims for injuries resulting from the use of public property intended or permitted to be used as a park, playground, or open area for recreational purposes,” Boehm wrote.