NORA HAMIDEH, APPELLANT,
v.
K-MART CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1995-01-04
No. 93-2756
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and GODERICH and GREEN, JJ.
648 So. 2d 824 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1995) Caution
Cited by 16 cases

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Synopsis

Nora Hamideh appeals a summary judgment in favor of K-Mart after she fell on a slippery substance in the store's shampoo aisle. The court affirmed, holding that the plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence from which a reasonable inference of the store's actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition could be drawn.


Holding

The court held that summary judgment was properly granted because the fact that an employee was stocking shampoo bottles in the same aisle where the plaintiff fell on a shampoo-like substance was insufficient, without more, to create a reasonable inference that the employee caused the substance to be on the floor or that the defendant had notice of the dangerous condition.


Headnotes

[1] A store owner is not liable for a customer's slip and fall on a foreign substance on the floor unless the owner had actual or constructive notice of the substance's prese…

[2] The mere presence of a store employee in the vicinity of a slip and fall does not, without more, create an inference that the employee caused the substance that led to th…

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Key Quotes

“The trial court correctly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment where a reasonable inference, creating a presumption of notice on the part of the defendant, could not be drawn from the facts reflected by the record.”

Establishes the legal standard for summary judgment in premises liability cases—whether facts support a reasonable inference of the defendant's notice

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Facts & Procedural History

Hamideh slipped and fell on a clear, liquid substance in K-Mart's shampoo aisle. A K-Mart employee was stocking shampoo bottles in the same aisle near…

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Opinion of the Court
GODERICH, Judge.

GODERICH, Judge.

The plaintiff, Nora Hamideh, appeals from a final summary judgment entered in favor of the defendant, K-Mart Corporation.

The plaintiff was injured when she fell on a slippery substance on the floor of a K-Mart store. Subsequently, she filed a complaint against K-Mart alleging that it was negligent in failing to maintain the premises in a clean and safe condition.

During discovery, K-Mart took the depositions of the plaintiff and of an eyewitness. The plaintiff testified that there was an employee, apparently stocking shelves, in the shampoo aisle where she fell. The plaintiff explained that she slipped and fell within four steps of that employee. The plaintiff indicated that “a clear, liquid something in [sic] the floor” had caused her to fall. She explained that she saw the liquid herself “because there was some on [her] shoe at the time.” When the plaintiff was questioned further about the nature of the substance that caused her to fall, she stated that she did not touch it, she did not smell it, nor did she know what it was. She also indicated that she did not know who put it there, how it got there, how long it had been there, whether any of the defendant’s employees knew that it was there, whether there were any cart marks or tracks through it, or whether there was any dirt in it.

The testimony given by the eyewitness was substantially similar to that of the plaintiff; however, she identified the substance as a liquid, like soap or shampoo. She also confirmed that a K-Mart employee was stocking shelves on the other side of the aisle where the plaintiff fell.

Based on the insufficiency of the evidence contained in these two depositions, the defendant filed a motion for summary judgment. The defendant alleged that summary judgment was proper because of “the lack of constructive knowledge or actual knowledge on its part as to the presence of the foreign substance.” At the hearing on the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff contended that the defendant, as employer, had actual or constructive notice. She argued that because the defendant’s employee was stocking shampoo bottles in the same aisle where the plaintiff fell on a shampoo-like substance, a reasonable inference could be drawn that the defendant’s employee had caused the shampoo-like substance to be on the floor.

Furthermore, since the defendant’s employee had caused the shampoo-like substance to be on the floor, the employer had notice of this dangerous condition. The plaintiff supported her argument with the depositions discussed above and the plaintiffs affidavit. Specifically, the affidavit stated that at the time that she fell, “there was an employee working in the shampoo isle [sic] and that said employee appeared to be putting bottles in the shampoo shelves from boxes in the isle [sic] close to the vicinity of where the affiant suffered her fall.”

The trial court rejected the plaintiff’s argument, found that the facts did not support an inference of constructive notice, and granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. This appeal follows.

The plaintiff contends that the trial court abused its discretion by granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

We disagree.

The trial court correctly granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment where a reasonable inference, creating a presumption of notice on the part of the defendant, could not be drawn from the facts reflected by the record. See Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Gaines, 542 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989); Friedman v. Biscayne Restaurant, Inc., 254 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971). The fact that a store employee may have been stocking shelves with shampoo bottles in the same aisle where the plaintiff slipped and fell on a substance that may have been shampoo is insufficient, without more, to create an inference that the employee caused the shampoo-like substance to be on the floor of the store.

Consequently, there can be no reasonable inference that the defendant had either actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition.

The trial court properly granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, and accordingly, we affirm.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Garcia v. Xtra Super Food Ctrs., Inc., 684 So. 2d 236 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
    …m the “sugar shelf’ of the supermarket. I would reverse the summary judgment entered for the store because, although there was no evidence as to how long the particular grains which caused the fall had been on the floor, cf. Hamideh v. K-Mart Corp., 648 So. 2d 824 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), the record presented a genuine issue as to whether it had failed to adopt a method of operation sufficient to protect its patrons from the known danger presented by the circumstances. See Wells v. Palm Beach Kennel Club, 160 Fla.…
    1 / 2
  • Siegel v. Deerwood Place Corp., 701 So. 2d 1190 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)
    …peting and conceal the dangerous condition. We reject this argument because the plaintiffs have failed to produce any evidence regarding who installed the staples or how long the staples had been there prior to the accident. Hamideh v. K-Mart Corp., 648 So. 2d 824 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 659 So. 2d 271 (Fla.1995); Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Gaines, 542 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989); Friedman v. Biscayne Restaurant, Inc., 254 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971). Accordingly, we find that the trial court prope…
  • Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Mazzie, 707 So. 2d 927 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)
    …ing within approximately five minutes of the last time she saw him. Mazzie, however, readily admits that she does not know the [*929] nature of the traffic or the activities in that area within the period of her absence. In Hamideh v. K-Mart Corp., 648 So. 2d 824 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 659 So. 2d 271 (Fla.1995), the third district held that evidence that a K~Mart employee may have been stocking shelves with shampoo bottles in the same aisle where a customer slipped and fell on a substance that may have…

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