Distinguishing, criticizing, and refusing to follow Brunelle v. Signore (1989) 215 Cal.App.3d 122, this decision holds that a hotel and restaurant owes a duty of care to its patrons to protect them against black widow spiders on the premises. Whether the measures the defendant took were sufficient to meet the applicable standard of care could not be determined on summary judgment. Defendant had not negated any other element of the plaintiff’s case, so the summary judgment was reversed. Plaintiff was bitten by a black widow spider that had crawled into a sweater she had hung to the side while she had lunch in the defendant’s outdoor restaurant. Plaintiff delayed a day in seeking medical treatment and by then the spider toxin had entered her spinal cord and caused permanent paralysis of an arm and leg.
California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 2 (Miller, Acting P.J.); June 15, 2018; 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 547