THE CNMI Supreme Court has reversed the trial court’s ruling that found a tour agency not liable to a tourist who filed a lawsuit after he was paralyzed during an accident in a hotel swimming pool.
The high court said the Superior Court’s order granting Japan Travel Bureau’s motion for summary judgment was improperly granted.
The high tribunal remanded the case to the trial court for proceedings consistent with its opinion.
“Since JTB did not meet its initial burden of demonstrating a lack of material facts in dispute, (plaintiff) Masaru Furuoka was under no obligation to bring forth any evidence refuting JTB’s assertion,” said the high court’s decision penned by Associate Justice John A. Manglona and concurred by Associate Justice Alexandro C. Castro and Justice Pro Tempore Marty W.K. Taylor, a former chief justice.
The justices ruled that a travel agent “has a duty to disclose known or reasonably ascertainable material information to the traveler unless that information is so clearly obvious and apparent to the traveler that, as a matter of law, the traveler agent would not be negligent in failing to disclose it.”
The justices said the trial court “inexplicably departed” from the standard of ordinary care and applied a stricter, more demanding standard.
By applying the standard “JTB has no duty to warn of every conceivable danger,” the trial court misapplied the substantive law.
The justices said the trial court determined that JTB’s conduct was not the proximate cause of Furuoka’s injuries.
The trial court stated that even if the lifeguard’s absence was the proximate cause of Furuoka’s injury, Furuoka could not recover from JTB because the absence was a readily observable condition.
“Because material facts remain disputed, the court should not have decided these issues,” the justices concluded.
Furuoka filed the lawsuit in 1996 demanding damages against Dai-Ichi Hotel, JTB, Tokio-Marine Insurance Co. for alleged negligence.
The plaintiff reportedly settled the case for $1 million with Dai-Ichi Hotel and Tokio-Marine Insurance Co.
In Dec. 1999, then Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy H. Bellas granted JTB’s motion and stated that Furuoka’s failure not to dive into the pool when he knew there was no lifeguard on duty was contributory negligence and a bar to any recovery.
