Lawrence

When he was five years old, plaintiff Michael Lawrence fell from a window in his family’s second-story hotel room at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club and suffered serious head and brain injuries. Michael’s parents, Nan Lawrence and Jeff Lawrence, filed a first amended complaint against La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, Inc., and La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club Partners, L.P. (defendants), seeking damages under the following three causes of action sounding in negligence: “Negligence,” “Dangerous Condition of Property,” and “Negligent Infliction Of Emotional Distress.” Michael, through his mother as guardian ad litem, later filed a separate complaint alleging the same causes of action. After the court consolidated the cases, defendants filed separate motions for summary judgment on the two complaints. The court granted both motions and entered judgment in favor of defendants.

Plaintiffs contend the court erred in ruling that (1) defendants had no duty and breached no duty to install a fall prevention device on the window from which Michael fell, and (2) the accident was not caused by defendants’ failure to install a fall prevention device on the window. We reverse.

FACTUAL…