Jacksonville Partner Deanna Dunham, Esq., obtained Summary Judgment in a premise liability case entitled Suzann Wisner v. Defendant Retail Store in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Plaintiff filed suit alleging that the Defendant breached its duty to the Plaintiff by negligently allowing a transitory foreign substance to remain on the floor, causing a dangerous condition, and failing to warn the Plaintiff of the resulting dangerous condition. As a result of the incident, the Plaintiff claimed a fracture of her right knee and incurred medical expenses in the amount of approximately $43,000.

The case involved a cup of yogurt, which was dropped by a customer in the dairy department of Defendant’s store. CCTV video clearly showed the customer dropping the yogurt at 10:59:33 a.m., chasing after the container and picking it up, leaving a small amount of light green yogurt on the floor. At 10:59:51, Defendant’s maintenance associate entered the area and overheard the customer announce that she had dropped yogurt. The customer was not addressing him directly, but was conveying a general warning to everyone in the area. The maintenance associate began to scan the area for the spilled yogurt just as Plaintiff slipped and fell in the yogurt at 10:59:58. A total of 35 seconds had elapsed between the time the yogurt was dropped and the time of Plaintiff’s fall. The court granted Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment based on lack of notice to the Defendant based on Florida Statute 768.0755, which requires a person who slips and falls in a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment to demonstrate that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the substance and should have taken action to remedy it.

In opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiff argued that Defendant’s maintenance associate was on actual notice and failed to clean or guard the spill. In its Order Granting Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, the Court reasoned that the video footage showed Defendant’s employee lacked actual notice of the spilled yogurt until the customer pointed directly at it at 10:59:57, and prior to that, the customer’s general statement that she had dropped yogurt on the floor did not apprise him of the exact location of the spill. Plaintiff fell at 10:59:58. The court ruled that Plaintiff failed to meet her burden to demonstrate a triable issue of fact and could not show that Defendant had sufficient time to remedy the dangerous condition. The Court ruled, as a matter of law, that the Defendant was not liable for any injuries allegedly suffered by Plaintiff. A proposal for settlement was filed early in this case, which has allowed the client the opportunity to recover most of the defense fees and costs in this matter. Read More.