## Facts

- Chester and Betty Crawford lived with their six-year-old son, Mark, at Liberty Village Trailer Park in Clay County, Missouri, operated by Pacific Western Mobile Estates, Inc., with Wilma Gilbert as resident manager.
- The park maintained a sewage treatment plant near the family area, including an uncovered concrete settlement tank roughly 25 feet by 11 feet and about 7.5 feet deep, filled to about six feet, with no ladder or escape device.
- The tank had been designed to be covered by a deck, but it was never covered after Pacific Western acquired the park.
- A six-foot solid wooden fence enclosed the tank area; children could not reasonably climb it without assistance.
- Park employees piled concrete blocks against the fence, stacked like steps, reaching to within about six inches of the top, making it easy for a child to climb up and enter the enclosed area.
- Many children lived in the park and commonly played throughout the premises; no warning signs were posted and tenants were not notified of the sewage facility’s presence.
- Mark entered the fenced area, fell into the settlement tank, and drowned.
- The parents sued for wrongful death, alleging negligent failure to safeguard the tank and negligent creation or allowance of the block “stairway” that enabled child access.

## Issues

1. Whether the plaintiffs presented a submissible case of negligence—i.e., sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find defendants liable—so that the trial court erred by setting aside the jury verdict and entering judgment for defendants.

## Decision

- The Missouri Court of Appeals reversed the judgment for defendants.
- The court held the evidence, viewed favorably to plaintiffs with all reasonable inferences, supported submission of negligence to the jury.
- The court directed reinstatement of the jury’s $30,000 verdict against Pacific Western and Gilbert.

## Legal Principles

- In reviewing submissibility, the court must view evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, accept favorable supporting evidence as true, and draw all reasonable inferences for that party; the court does not weigh credibility.
- A land possessor may be liable for harm to children from an artificial condition when the possessor knows or should know children are likely to be present, the condition poses an unreasonable risk of death or serious harm, children may not appreciate the danger, and reasonable protective measures are not taken.
- Evidence of affirmative conduct that defeats or weakens an existing protective measure (e.g., creating a climb-assist to a fence) can support a jury finding of negligence.
- Whether precautions were reasonable, given foreseeability of child presence and the magnitude of the risk, is generally for the jury when reasonable minds could differ.

## Conclusion

The court reinstated the wrongful-death verdict because a reasonable jury could find that defendants negligently maintained a lethal, uncovered settlement tank in a child-populated area and increased access to the hazard by stacking concrete blocks against the fence, creating a foreseeable risk that a child would enter and be injured.


Crawford v. Pac. W. Mobile Ests., Inc., 548 S.W.2d 216 (Mo. Ct. App. 1977)