Barclay v. Montgomery-Ward & Co.

269 S.W.2d 445, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2636
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 3, 1954
DocketNo. 4958
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 269 S.W.2d 445 (Barclay v. Montgomery-Ward & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barclay v. Montgomery-Ward & Co., 269 S.W.2d 445, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2636 (Tex. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

WALKER, Justice.

On the morning of September 19, 1950, at 11:00 o’clock or near that time, the plaintiff’s wife slipped and fell upon the floor of defendant Montgomery-Ward & Company’s place of business, in Lufkin, Texas, and sustained injuries to her person; and the plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for said injuries and consequences thereof. The plaintiff plead for cause of action that his wife was an invitee in defendant Montgomery-Ward & Company’s place of business and that said defendant’s employee Myrtis Caldwell, whose duty it was to clean the floor of this place, had negligently caused this floor to be slippery by applying some unidentified substance to it. Other persons, employees of the defendant Montgomery-Ward & Company, and their husbands were parties defendant to this suit but were dismissed and are not parties to this appeal, and Montgomery-Ward & Company will be referred to hereinafter simply as the defendant.

The cause was tried to a jury and among other facts the jury found (Issue 1) that the floor at the place where plaintiff’s wife fell was in a slippery condition and (Issue 2) that this slippery condition was caused by the substances applied by Myrtis Caldwell. However, they found (Issue 3) that a preponderance of the evidence did not show that “the application of such substances by Myrtis Caldwell was negligence.” Issue 6 and the answer thereto were: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the negligence, if you have so found, of Myrtis Caldwell was a proximate 'cause of the injuries, if any, sustained by Mrs. Lurley Barclay on the occasion in question? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Answer: No.” The jury assessed plaintiff’s damages at $5,996. Some other findings are mentioned below. The trial court rendered judgment- for defendant, that plaintiff take nothing and from this judgment plaintiff has appealed.

Opinion.

The only error assigned in the plaintiff’s Points of Error is that misconduct was committed by a member of the jury during the deliberations of the jury which probably caused the jury to return answers to Issues 3 and 6 unfavorable to the plaintiff. Defendant argues in reply that this misconduct was immaterial because defendant was entitled to an instructed verdict, saying that the evidence did not show, either that Myrtis Caldwell had put any substance on the floor which caused plaintiff’s wife to slip, or that defendant knew or should have been charged with knowledge that any such substance was there, or that Myrtis Caldwell was negligent in applying to the floor the substances which she had used to clean it. Defendant also argues that defendant was entitled to judgment on the finding under Issue 9, that the condition of the floor was “as open, visible and obvious” to plaintiff’s wife as it was to the defendant.

We overrule the latter contention of the defendant. The jury found under Issue 8 that a preponderance of the evidence did not show that plaintiff’s wife had failed to use ordinary care to observe the condition of the floor while she was walking on it, and the evidence supports this finding. Furthermore, on grounds now to be stated, we overrule defendant’s contention that defendant was entitled to an instructed verdict. The evidence to be considered in connection with this question may be summarized as follows:

The place where plaintiff’s wife fell was the local office' of the defendant at which defendant made sales to customers from catalogues and books of samples, the [447]*447goods ordered to be delivered later; and the room in which this business was conducted was not large. At the left of one entering this room was a table or tables bearing catalogues and books of samples and chairs were placed at these tables for the use of the public. At the right of the entrance there seems to have been a counter at which deliveries of merchandise were made, with an opening in it 12 or 15 feet from the end of the counter near the entrance, and this counter seems to have extended to the rear of the room and across the back of it. The space of floor open to the use of customers was a narrow rectangle 7 feet wide between the tables and counter, extending 29 feet back from the entrance. Adjoining this room on its right and rear was a storeroom for the use of defendant.

We shall refer to this room as the office. The floor of this office was covered with asphalt tile and the evidence is that this tile was in common use as a floor covering and that it was unpolished and that a floor covered with this tile was not slick when there was nothing on it.

Defendant began to use this office (and storeroom) as its place of business on June 22, 1950, and had continued to do so since that time. Defendant had thus been in possession and use of the office for almost three months before plaintiff’s wife fell there on September 19, 1950.

A substantial business was transacted at this office. The average number of persons entering the office to transact business with defendant was 100 per day, and there were five employees in this office other than the charwoman Myrtis Caldwell. One of these five was the manager and another was a bookkeeper but the manager also worked as a clerk.

The office closed at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. The evidence does not show when this office opened in the morning, but plaintiff’s wife fell in this office at about 11 o’clock in the morning and the manager said that she was completing an order at this time, and we infer that the office had been open to the public for a substantial time before plaintiff’s wife fell.

Myrtis Caldwell was employed by defendant to clean the office and storeroom and she had worked in that capacity since defendant began to use the office and storeroom on June 22, 1950. Her method of cleaning the office, and the substances she used were described as follows: She came to the office at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and worked until 5 o?clock except on Wednesday, when she worked until about 5:30 o’clock. S'he first swept the floor with a broom, dusted the equipment and removed litter from the room and cleaned the storeroom. On each Wednesday after 5 o’clock she cleaned the floor of the office with a preparation called mycoleum which contained soap, and she used a mop for this purpose. When the floor was dry she then applied a liquid called mycogloss to the floor by pouring small quantities of this liquid on the floor from a cup which she had dipped in a can, and she had then spread this liquid more widely by using a mop upon it. This procedure was followed only on Wednesday afternoons. On the other afternoons of the work week, the only substance- which she applied to the floor was a liquid called Yarn Broom Dressing. This liquid she mixed with water, either one part of water and four parts of the dressing or vice versa, and she said that she put this mixture in a spray gun and then sprayed it upon a mop she called a Yam Broom Mop and then passed this mop over the floor of the office. This application of Yarn Broom Dressing was made by her at the close of her day’s work.

Myrtis 'Caldwell said that the mycogloss was used to protect the floor and she described it as having the appearance of water, She said that only about 10 or 15 minutes was required to spread it on the floor and that it dried in about 15 or 20 minutes, or less. Defendant’s local manager said that mycogloss was a floor protective and that it left no coat or film on the floor, and that it did not polish the floor. The evidence does not show what myco-gloss was made from.

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Bluebook (online)
269 S.W.2d 445, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barclay-v-montgomery-ward-co-texapp-1954.