Jensen v. Fright Nights, LLC. Melissa Richardson successfully obtained a unanimous defense verdict on liability. Plaintiff fell on a haunted trail on Halloween night in 2016. After initially telling staff she fell because she was running, she subsequently indicated she fell because she tripped on a root that she could not see because it was too dark along the forest trail. The Jury heard testimony about the company’s safety policy that was in effect at the time, how all employees were trained on that policy, and how the policy was executed on a daily basis. The Jury also heard about the efforts undertaken to prepare and maintain the trail each day the event was in operation (this included adding mulch daily to the trial and ensuring that the lighting along the entirety of the trail was working). Plaintiff did not identify the root or have pictures taken of the root at any point close in time to when she fell. Instead, Plaintiff provided the jury with a photo of the alleged root that was taken nearly a year and a half after the fall (February 2018) and at a time when Fright Nights was obviously not in operation. Plaintiff and her boyfriend testified the photograph of the trail was “consistent with their memory” but Fright Nights’ employees and City inspectors confirmed the photograph in no way reflected what the path would ever look like when Fright Nights was operating. As a result, the Jury found that Fright Nights did not breach its duty of reasonable care. See KTCR Report.
