Texas Attorney Secures Summary Judgment for Pet Store in Premises Liability Case

Dallas-Fort Worth Attorney J. Blair Norris prevailed on a Motion for Summary Judgment in a Tarrant County District Court premises liability case on behalf of our pet store client.

Plaintiff, a customer of our client, was leaving their pet’s grooming appointment when they were asked by our client’s employee to slide the door closed on their way out. When exiting the store, Plaintiff began to slide the door when the door suddenly closed on Plaintiff’s hand, causing Plaintiff to sustain a fracture to the tuft of one of his fingers. Following the incident, Plaintiff also claimed they suffered permanent disfigurement of their ring finger from the impact of the door, and filed suit against our client for their injuries.

In his motion, our attorney Blair Norris argued that there was no genuine issue of material fact raised with respect to either premises liability or negligence. The risks posed by the sliding door were, if any, open and obvious.

In March 2025, the Court agreed with our attorney’s arguments that because the condition or risk associated with the door was open and obvious, our client was not required to provide Plaintiff any warning, and ruled in favor of our pet store client.

Blair Norris has more than 35 years of experience and concentrates his law practice on labor and employment law, professional liability, commercial litigation, products liability, bad faith claims and executive liability matters.