Appellate Law

Third District: Open and Obvious Dangers

By Matt Conigliaro

Is the oil in a deep fryer in a bakery’s kitchen an open and obvious danger to employees of an independent contractor hired to clean the exhaust hood over the fryer?

The Third District divided over such a question in this case.

The majority essentially determined that questions of fact exist, based largely on evidence that the bakery owner should have turned off the fryer sufficiently before the work began to ensure that the oil was cool.

Judge Rothenberg dissented. She asserted that the kitchen was open and being used during the cleaning and that hot oil in a fryer was an inherent danger of the job.

Full post as published by Abstract Appeal on February 18, 2011 (boomark / email).