Gwyneth Williams, then 83, was housesitting for her daughter and son-in-law at The Landings, a planned residential development with a golf course located on Skidaway Island off the Georgia coast. Before The Landings was developed, the land within and surrounding its boundaries was largely marsh, where indigenous alligators lived and thrived. To develop the property, The Landings entities installed a lagoon system that allowed enough drainage to create an area suitable for residential development. After the project was completed in the 1970s, the indigenous alligators began to move in and out of The Landings through its lagoon systems. Although alligators inhabited the area, no person had ever been attacked until the night of October 5, 2007, when Mrs. Williams went for a walk near one of the lagoons close to her daughter’s home sometime after 6:00 p.m. The following morning, Mrs. Williams’s body was found floating in the lagoon. Williams’s right foot and both forearms had been bitten off. Later, an eight-foot alligator was caught in the same lagoon, and, after the alligator was killed, parts of Williams’s body were found in its stomach. Williams’s family filed suit against The Landings for negligence in developing and operating the area. The Landings countered with a defense of contributory negligence—that Mrs. Williams assumed the risk of walking alone among the lagoons at night. The trial court denied a motion for summary judgment in part. The court of appeals reversed in part, and the parties appealed.

Question

1. What fact is used to show that Ms. Williams assumed the risk on alligators?

2. Why does the dissent differ with the finding on assumption of risk?