DiPENTIMA, C.J.
The plaintiff, Maria Diaz, appeals from the judgment rendered by the trial court in favor of the defendant, Manchester Memorial Hospital, on her premises liability claim. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court erroneously found that the defendant did not have constructive notice of an unsafe condition on its premises.
The memorandum of decision of the court sets forth the following relevant facts. On the evening of January 18, 2011, the plaintiff slipped and fell on a well illuminated sidewalk leading to the entrance of the defendant's emergency department in Manchester. Earlier that evening, the plaintiff had driven a sick friend to the defendant's emergency department. The plaintiff dropped off her friend at the emergency department's entrance and then drove her car to the nearby parking area. After parking her car, the plaintiff elected to use the sidewalk rather than "[walk] directly from the parking area to the [emergency department] entrance. . . . As [the plaintiff] approached the [elevated] sidewalk, she noticed that there was no snow on it, but it was shiny in appearance. . . . As she proceeded to walk on the sidewalk, she slipped and fell backward hitting her head."
The court made detailed findings as to the defendant's efforts to keep the premises clear of snow and ice. The weather throughout the day of the accident was a "mix of snow, freezing rain, and rain." Due to the inclement weather, the snow removal service company retained by the defendant spent nearly eight hours, beginning at 2 a.m. on January 18, clearing parking areas and sidewalks on the defendant's grounds. In addition to this work, the snow removal service company had pretreated parking areas, driveways, sidewalks, and entrances, including the emergency department's entrance, with calcium magnesium acetate, which is "highly effective for pretreating and deicing surfaces."
As a general practice, the defendant also relied on its own staff for snow and ice removal. Members of the engineering department conducted two inspections per day of the defendant's grounds: (1) the first inspection started at the beginning of the first shift at 6 a.m.; and (2) the second inspection started at the beginning of the second shift at 3 p.m. As required, the
The defendant's security staff also was involved in the snow and ice removal procedures. On the day of the accident, the defendant assigned four security employees to the 4 p.m. to midnight shift. As part of their duties, the security staff would "[perform] rounds or inspections of the interior and exterior portions of the premises." Thus, "[t]he exterior premises would be inspected four to five times by security staff." If the situation required it, the security staff would address "slippery conditions identified during these inspections." Moreover, the security staff had the "ability to direct the [defendant's] engineering department to take remedial measures."
The bench trial began on December 17, 2013, and lasted two days. On April 10, 2014, the court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant. Specifically, the court found that the defendant had no actual or constructive notice of the presence of ice on the sidewalk, and, as a result, it "did not breach its duty to inspect and maintain the sidewalk to render it reasonably safe." Accordingly, the court concluded that the plaintiff "failed to sustain her burden of proof in [her] premises liability claim." This appeal followed.
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the court properly found that the defendant did not have constructive notice of the presence of ice on the sidewalk.
The well established standard of review applicable to this claim guides our analysis. "To the extent that the defendant challenges the trial court's factual findings, we review such claims under our clearly erroneous standard of review. . . . A court's determination is clearly erroneous only in cases in which the record contains no evidence to support it, or in cases in which there is evidence, but the reviewing court is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Considine v. Waterbury, 279 Conn. 830, 858, 905 A.2d 70 (2006).
When the court is the finder of fact, "inference[es] of fact [are] not reversible
Applying the general principles of premises liability
"The controlling question in deciding whether the [defendant] had constructive notice of the defective condition is whether the condition existed for such a length of time that the [defendant] should, in the exercise of reasonable care, have discovered it in time to remedy it. . . . What constitutes a reasonable length of time is largely a question of fact to be determined in the light of the particular circumstances of a case." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Considine v. Waterbury, supra, 279 Conn. at 870, 905 A.2d 70; see Congdon v. Norwich, 37 Conn. 414, 419 (1870) ("[a]ccumulations of snow and ice [which] may produce such a condition of the road as to cause it to be dangerous and defective" is question of fact).
Next, the plaintiff argues that the court should have determined on the basis of the testimony of her expert witness that the defendant had constructive notice of the unsafe condition of the sidewalk. Gilbert E. Nichols, a senior engineer employed by Forensic Engineering, testified on direct examination to consulting weather reports, reviewing imagery and photographs of the hospital, and reading the plaintiff's deposition testimony. He concluded that because the emergency department's entrance faced north, it caused a shadow to form on the sidewalk, which made the sidewalk "substantially more prone" to the formation of ice. On cross-examination, however, Nichols acknowledged that he did not have any information as to when the sidewalk was treated with a deicer. The plaintiff, nonetheless, argues that because the defendant excused the snow removal service company and Nichols testified that the emergency department's entrance was "substantially more prone" to the formation of ice, the defendant "knew it was [its] duty to check for refreeze throughout the remainder of the day."
Finally, the plaintiff directs our attention to the testimony of the defendant's director of the engineering department and the defendant's second shift security sergeant supervisor to support her claim that the defendant had constructive notice of the ice on the sidewalk. The director of the engineering department acknowledged that the defendant occasionally received complaints from visitors concerning icy conditions. The second shift security sergeant supervisor testified that visiting hours ended at 8 p.m. The plaintiff contends that because of the previous complaints and the increased traffic at the emergency department's entrance at around 8 p.m., the defendant's employees should have discovered and remedied the icy condition that caused the plaintiff to fall.
This argument fails and, in fact, undermines her position because, in making it, the plaintiff concedes that there was evidence to support the court's finding, which,
Notwithstanding the plaintiff's contention that the court "failed to apply the legal principle of constructive notice to the evidence presented at trial," we are "entitled to presume that the trial court acted properly and considered all the evidence." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Doe v. Rapoport, 80 Conn.App. 111, 116, 833 A.2d 926 (2003). Therefore, we do not "duplicate the trial court's weighing process [of the evidence], but rather . . . [we] determine whether its conclusion was reasonable. In the absence of clear error, this court should not overrule the thoughtful decision of the trial court, which has had an opportunity to assess the legal issues which may be raised and to weigh the credibility of at least some of the witnesses. . . . Thus, this court's review is limited to whether the trial court's conclusion was reasonable." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. Accordingly, we defer to the court's finding that the defendant did not have constructive notice of the icy sidewalk because it was supported by the evidence.
Ultimately, what underlies the plaintiff's claim is dissatisfaction with the extent of analysis on the issue of constructive notice. Specifically, she claims that the court "never actually addressed whether [the defendant] had constructive notice" because the court, in the analysis section of its memorandum of decision, commented only once on the issue. This dissatisfaction is not a valid basis for reversing the court's decision. "The controlling question in deciding whether the [defendant] had constructive notice of the defective condition is whether the condition existed for such a length of time that the [defendant] should, in the exercise of reasonable care, have discovered it in time to remedy it. . . . What constitutes a reasonable length of time is largely a question of fact to be determined in the light of the particular circumstances of a case." (Citation omitted; emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Considine v. Waterbury, supra, 279 Conn. at 870, 905 A.2d 70. Here, the court made findings of fact necessary for a determination of constructive notice: "In applying the applicable law to the facts, the court finds that Diaz has failed in her burden to prove that the hospital breached its duty to maintain the sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition at the time of her fall on January 18, 2011. The hospital through
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.