FOOD FAIR STORES OF FLORIDA, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
CLEMENTINE VALLARELLI AND HER HUSBAND, FRANK VALLARELLI, APPELLEES
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Food Fair Stores appeals a jury verdict awarding damages to a customer who slipped on a grape in the supermarket. The court affirmed the judgment, holding that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find the store had notice of the dangerous condition.
The store owner owed a duty to business invitees to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. There was sufficient testimony and evidence to submit the factual question of the store's knowledge or notice to the jury, and the jury verdict was supported by the record.
“The owner must use ordinary care to maintain his premises in a reasonably safe condition and this duty is owed to a business invitee.”
Establishes the legal duty owed by store owners to customers who are business invitees.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellee-wife, a business invitee, slipped on a grape in appellant's supermarket and sustained personal injuries. The appellant contended there was no…
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This appeal is from a final judgment based upon jury verdicts for personal injuries sustained by the appellee-wife when she slipped upon a grape in the appellant’s super-market. The appellant’s principal contention is that the lower court should have directed a verdict in its favor because there was no evidence to support a finding that the substance or condition which occasioned appellee-wife’s fall had been on the floor of the store a sufficient length of time so as to charge the appellant with knowledge of the dangerous condition.
The appellee-wife was a business invitee on the premises of the appellant. The rule is that the owner must use ordinary care to maintain his premises in a reasonably safe condition and this duty is owed to a business invitee. See Messner v. Webb’s City, Fla. 1952, 62 So.2d 66.
The record convinces us there was sufficient testimony and evidence to submit to the jury upon the question of fact as to whether or not the appellant had knowledge of the dangerous condition or that the condition had existed for a length of time sufficient to charge the appellant with such notice. Certainly every reasonable inference which can be drawn from the evidence favorable to the appellee-wife should be indulged, and in this case we cannot say that the record does not support the verdicts rendered by the jury. This court is reluctant to substitute its judgment for that of a jury where there is evidence tending to prove the issues or where the evidence is conflicting even though it might have arrived at a conclusion different from that of the jury.
We conclude that the judgment appealed from should be and it is hereby affirmed.
CARROLL, CHAS., C. J., and HORTON, J., concur.
PEARSON, J., dissents.
(dissenting).
I concur in the principles of law stated in the opinion of the court, but do not *163feel that they are applicable to the facts in this case. A further discussion of the factual basis of the opinion would not be profitable and it is sufficient to state that I find a failure to prove facts from which it could be inferred that the defendant had knowledge of the alleged dangerous condition.
PEARSON, Judge
(dissenting).
I concur in the principles of law stated in the opinion of the court, but do not feel that they are applicable to the facts in this case. A further discussion of the factual basis of the opinion would not be profitable and it is sufficient to state that I find a failure to prove facts from which it could be inferred that the defendant had knowledge of the alleged dangerous condition.
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Miami Nat'l Bank v. Fink, 174 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)…ence to support the judgment for the defendant. As an appellate court, we are required to review the evidence contained in the record on appeal in a light most favorable to the appellee [see: Food Fair Stores of Florida v. Vallarelli, Fla.App.1958, 101 So. 2d 161; Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Federal Detective Agency, Fla.App. 1963, 157 So. 2d 148], and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, as the final judgment arrived in this court with a presumption of correctness. See: Holland v. Hall,…
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Holland Paving Co., Inc. v. Dann, 169 So. 2d 849 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964)…truck did contribute directly to the injury. This we decline to do since it is not the function of this Court to substitute its judgment or interpretation of the facts for that of the jury. Food Fair Stores of Fla., Inc. v. Vallarelli, Fla.App.1958, 101 So. 2d 161. We find that there is evidence in the record which would support a finding that if the driver of the truck was negligent, such negligence did not constitute a concurring cause of the accident but that the accident was proximately caused by the sudd…
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Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Miller, 220 So. 2d 680 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969)…e was little or no merchandise on the top of the box. [*682] A storekeeper is under a duty to' his customers to use ordinary care to maintain his premises in a reasonably safe condition. Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc. v. Vallarelli, Fla.App.1958, 101 So. 2d 161; Walker v. Feltman, Fla.App.1959, 111 So. 2d 76; Schatz v. 7-Eleven, Inc., Fla.App.1961, 128 So. 2d 901. A violation of this duty may be found where the storekeeper creates a dangerous condition on his premises or permits one to exist after he has a…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Messner v. Webb's City, Inc., 62 So. 2d 66 (Fla. 1952)