JOHN HARVEY NELSON v. DARYL DEAN C. FREELAND and BELINDA BRITTAIN FREELAND, 349 N.C. 615

Summary

The landowner requested that the injured person pick him up at his house for a business meeting that the two were attending, and the injured person tripped over a stick that the landowner had inadvertently left lying on his porch. The issues arising out of the case were whether the landowner's act of leaving a stick on his porch constituted negligence and whether the injured person was entitled to a jury trial. The state law at the time of the accident was that the standard of care that a landowner owed to persons entering upon his land depended upon the entrant's status as to whether the entrant was a licensee, invitee, or trespasser. The court held that the injured person was entitled to a trial at which the jury was to have been instructed under the new rule adopted by the court. The court adopted a new rule in premises-liability cases, requiring a standard of reasonable care toward all lawful visitors and eliminating the distinction between licensees and invitees. The court ...