Claim arising out of startled woman's fall in parking ramp is dismissed

Karen Shay filed suied against the owners of the Fort Washington Garage after she missed a step and fell.  She claimed that she missed the step because two garage employees distracted her by asking for her keys.  She argued that the garage employees were negligent in accosting her in the near-empty garage, startling her and distracting her from the step she needed to negotiate to get to her car.

The Court held that a lone woman should not have been surprised by the approach of the two men in the garage, and that her resulting fear did not warrant looking past the open and obvious nature of the step that caused her to fall.