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Supreme Court No. 2010-168-Appeal. (PC 08-989)

Linda Pereira v.

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Kevin Fitzgerald, in his capacity as Treasurer : of the City of East Providence.

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Rhode Island Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Opinion Analyst, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 250 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, at Telephone 2223258 of any typographical or other formal errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published.

Supreme Court No. 2010-168-Appeal. (PC 08-989) Linda Pereira v. : :

Kevin Fitzgerald, in his capacity as Treasurer : of the City of East Providence. Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and Indeglia, JJ. OPINION Chief Justice Suttell, for the Court. The plaintiff, Linda Pereira, brought suit to recover damages for injuries she suffered when she fell at Kent Heights Park in East Providence. She now appeals from the entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, Kevin Fitzgerald, in his capacity as Treasurer of the City of East Providence (the city). This case came before the Supreme Court for oral argument pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not summarily be decided. After reviewing the
record and considering the parties' written and oral submissions, we are satisfied that this appeal

may be decided without further briefing or argument. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court. I Facts and Procedural History On October 29, 2005, Ms. Pereira was lawfully on the premises of Kent Heights Park in East Providence to watch her grandson's soccer game. Kent Heights Park was, and is, owned, managed, and controlled by the City of East Providence. On October 29, 2005, the soccer field in the park was reserved and being used by the East Providence Parks & Recreation Department

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for youth soccer; the rest of the park, however, remained open to the public. Ms. Pereira was not charged a fee to enter the park, nor was she charged for parking. When the soccer game ended, Ms. Pereira began walking back to her car on a walkway in the park. Upon encountering a group of people gathered on the walkway, she deviated from the path and moved onto the grass. While walking across the grass, she fell into a "defect," which she described as "a large unmarked hole/ditch/depression," approximately five inches deep and covered in grass, and she injured her left ankle. In February 2008, Ms. Pereira filed a personal injury action against the city, alleging that it negligently breached its duty to maintain the park in a reasonably safe condition and that it negligently failed to warn her of an unsafe condition on said premises, both of which caused her to fall and incur injuries. The defendant denied any breach of a duty owed to plaintiff and affirmatively alleged that the city was shielded from liability by virtue of Rhode Island's Recreational Use Statute, G.L. 1956 chapter 6 of title 32. 1

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The Recreational Use Statute was created to encourage landowners to make their land available to the public for recreational purposes by limiting the landowners' liability. General Laws 1956

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