Smith v. Board of Education

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Hatcher, C.:

This appeal stems from a controversy over liability for personal injuries sustained by an elderly woman when she fell down unlighted basement steps in a high school building at Caney, Kansas.

The defendant, The Board of Education of Caney School District No. 34, owned and controlled the high school building in the city of Caney. Among the facilities in the school building was a Community Center room located in the basement of the school. Access to the basement from outside the school building was gained through a ground level entrance to the…