Brubaker

Plaintiff was awarded a verdict by a jury in amount $17,500 because of injuries she sustained in a fall at Golden Gate Fields, a horse-racing track in Albany, Alameda County. Judgment was entered on the verdict and motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for new trial were denied. Appellant, operator of the race track, appeals from the judgment.

Plaintiff, a 72-year-old woman, paid her way into the track, with a woman companion, a Mrs. Farmer. She seated herself on the mezzanine floor, because of Mrs. Farmer’s wishes, an area which plaintiff had not previously visited, although she had been in other parts of the grounds on a few earlier visits. Mrs. Farmer absented herself from time to time in order to give financial backing to her convictions on prospective racing results. Meanwhile, plaintiff experienced an increasing need for visiting a restroom, and looked about unsuccessfully for an attendant who might assist or direct her. She observed rubbish such as parts of sandwiches and paper on the floor, and she was afraid to leave her seat, until the demands of nature became so urgent that she was obliged to do so. People were milling about in the passageway, no race…