Jay Salsman and Ruthie Sheets Obtain Summary Judgment in Premises Liability Case in the Eastern District of North Carolina

Written by Ruthie Sheets

Jay Salsman and Ruthie Sheets obtained Summary Judgment in favor of a landowner’s estate in a premises liability case pending in the Eastern District of North Carolina.  While engaged in a crop-dusting operation, plaintiff’s decedent struck a dove wire on the Property resulting in a fatal helicopter crash.  Summary Judgment was granted as to each of plaintiff’s claims against the landowner, including claims for negligence, premises liability, and punitive damages. Summary Judgment was predicated on the lack of a duty owed to the plaintiff’s decedent by the landowner to remove, modify or warn of the wire, as the risk posed by the dove wire was not reasonably foreseeable to the landowner.