MARY SAMMONS, APPELLANT,
v.
FOOD FAIR STORES OF FLORIDA, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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In this slip-and-fall case, the Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment for a grocery store where a customer fell on a piece of green onion top. The court held that the plaintiff failed to present evidence of the store's actual or constructive notice of the hazard, which was necessary to establish negligence.
The court held that the plaintiff failed to establish any genuine issue of material fact regarding the store's knowledge of the hazard. Because the plaintiff offered no evidence showing how the onion came to be on the floor, how long it had been there, or that store employees knew of its presence, summary judgment for the defendant was properly entered.
“There is no evidence to show how the green onion top came to be on the floor, how long it had been there, nor that the Food Fair's employees knew of its presence there.”
Establishes the complete absence of evidence necessary to prove constructive notice
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMary Sammons, a regular customer at Food Fair Stores, slipped and fell on a piece of green onion top while walking from the meat counter toward the mi…
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This is a slip-and-fall case in which summary judgment was entered for the defendant-appellee, Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc. The plaintiff-appellant, Mary Sammons, a regular customer, while buying groceries on the particular day of the accident, had left the meat counter in the Food Fair store and started walking toward the milk counter, when she slipped and fell. *232After the fall, two store employees identified a smashed piece of green onion top on the floor at the site of the fall.
The complaint alleged that the Food Fair store “had both actual and constructive notice of the fact that the said vegetable matter had been dropped on the floor and that it had lain there for an unreasonable length of time * * Upon this allegation, the trial judge found that the evidence failed to show any knowledge on the part of the Food Fair, either actual or constructive, and that the evidence failed to show presence of any negligence.
In order to ascertain whether there was any genuine issue of material fact, we have made a careful study of the record. This study reveals that Mrs. Sammons, through her deposition, testified that she did not know how the piece of onion top got on the floor and that she did not know how long it had been there.1
There is no evidence to show how the green onion top came to be on the floor, how long it had been there, nor that the Food Fair’s employees knew of its presence there. No evidence has been gleaned from which it can be reasonably inferred that the piece of onion top was on the floor as a result of some action of the Food Fair employees, nor that it had been on the floor for a length of time sufficient to charge the Food Fair with constructive notice.
When a motion for summary judgment has been made in an action for negligence, the defendant has no obligation to offer evidence to excuse himself when it is properly shown that the plaintiff is completely without proof to sustain the complaint. Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc. v. Patty, Fla.1959, 109 So.2d 5. The circuit judge was therefore correct in entering the summary judgment. See Carls Markets v. Leonard, Fla.1954, 73 So.2d 826; and Carls Markets, Inc. v. Meyer, Fla.1953, 69 So.2d 789.
Affirmed.
ALLEN, C. J., and DAYTON, ORVIL L., Jr., Associate Judge, concur.
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Quick v. Great Atl. & Pac. TEA Co., 124 So. 2d 750 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc., v. Patty, Fla.1959, 109 So. 2d 5; and Sammons v. Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc., Fla.App.1960, 118 So. 2d 231. ALLEN, C. J., SHANNON, J., and PATTEN, GEORGE L., Associate Judge, concur.…
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Perdomo v. Sears, 497 So. 2d 1324 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)…(Fla. 3d DCA 1983), rev. denied, 447 So. 2d 889 (Fla.1984); Camina v. Parliament Insurance Co., 417 So. 2d 1093 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Guenther, 395 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Sammons v. Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc., 118 So. 2d 231 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960).…
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Melvina Rogers v. Sydney Besthoff, 640 So. 2d 1236 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…la. 5th DCA 1988); Smith v. Winn Dixie Stores, Inc., 528 So. 2d 987 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Bates v. Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, Inc., 182 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 2d DCA), certiorari denied, 188 So. 2d 813 (Fla.1966); Sammons v. Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc., 118 So. 2d 231 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960). AFFIRMED. MINER and WOLF, JJ., concur.…
Authorities Cited
- Food Fair Stores OF Fla., Inc. v. Patty, 109 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 1959)
- Carls Mkts., Inc. v. Meyer, 69 So. 2d 789 (Fla. 1953)
- Carls Mkts., Inc. v. Leonard, 73 So. 2d 826 (Fla. 1954)