Pritchard v. Meintel, 2024 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 13 (January 10, 2024) (Cohn Jubelirer, J.).
This was a slip and fall case in a prison. The lower court found that it did not fall within the real estate exception of sovereign immunity. Hence, the case was dismissed. A dangerous condition resulting from a defect in the property or in its construction, maintenance, repair or design falls within the real estate exception. The dangerous condition must be an artificial condition or defect of the land itself, as opposed to the absence of such a condition, and the artificial condition or defect must be the cause, or a concurrent cause, of the injury. Appellant alleged defect in the real estate itself, the metal ramp, which from its “maintenance and repair” created a dangerous condition. It is a dangerous condition which is an artificial condition alleged to be a cause or concurrent cause. This case is distinguished from another slip and fall by an inmate. Here, appellant has indicated that the ramp was maintained defectively, not simply that it was an otherwise undefective but wet ramp. Appellant alleged that appellees failed to maintain a non-slip surface on a metal ramp. That is an adequate pleading.
