Brenda Adams v. Dolgencorp, L.L.C.

559 F. App'x 383
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMarch 24, 2014
Docket13-30746
StatusUnpublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 559 F. App'x 383 (Brenda Adams v. Dolgencorp, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brenda Adams v. Dolgencorp, L.L.C., 559 F. App'x 383 (5th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

Brenda Adams appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Dolgencorp, L.L.C. (“Dollar General”) for injuries she suffered after slipping on spilled lotion and falling in a Dollar General store. We AFFIRM.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In May 2011, Brenda Adams visited a Dollar General store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to purchase various items. The store opened at approximately 8:00 a.m. and Adams arrived between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. Adams alleges after turning a corner from one aisle to another, she slipped on a fluid substance later determined to be lotion. She claims the resulting fall caused injuries to her wrists, shoulders, and knees.

She originally brought this suit in Louisiana state court. Dollar General removed the case to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana pursuant to the court’s diversity jurisdiction. Throughout the course of the litigation, the parties disputed the relevance and availability of the security camera footage taken the day Adams was injured in the store. Pursuant to company policy, once a person has been injured in the store, Dollar General copies and preserves security camera footage from thirty seconds before the injured person entered the store and ending thirty seconds after that person left. Adams rests some of her argument on the preserved and existing footage, but she also has arguments relat *385 ed to unavailable footage. The district court granted summary judgment to Dollar General. In addition, the district court three times denied Adams leave to amend her complaint to add claims of spoliation of evidence against individual employees and later against Dollar General for not maintaining all of the security camera footage Adams wished to review. Adams appeals.

DISCUSSION

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Summary judgment is proper “if the movant shows there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). A genuine dispute of material fact exists only if “a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A district court’s decision to deny a motion for leave to amend is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. S & W Enter., L.L.C. v. South-Trust Bank of Alabama, NA, 315 F.3d 533, 535 (5th Cir.2003).

A. Negligence

To prevail in a negligence claim under Louisiana law against Dollar General, Adams must prove:

(1) The condition presented an unreasonable risk of harm to the claimant and that risk of harm was reasonably foreseeable.
(2) The merchant either created or had actual or constructive notice of the condition which caused the damage, prior to the occurrence.
(3) The merchant failed to exercise reasonable care.

La.Rev.Stat. § 9:2800.6(B).

“Constructive notice” means the claimant has proven that the condition existed for such a period of time that it would have been discovered if the merchant had exercised reasonable care. The presence of an employee of the merchant in the vicinity in which the condition exists does not, alone, constitute constructive notice, unless it is shown that the employee knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, of the condition.

Id. § 9:2800.6(0(1).

The Louisiana Supreme Court has interpreted this statute to mean that the plaintiff has the burden of showing the dangerous condition existed for some discrete period of time; it is not enough simply to show that the condition existed before the plaintiffs injury. White v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 699 So.2d 1081, 1084 (La.1997).

The summary judgment evidence consisted primarily of the testimony of Yolanda Hunter, a Dollar General employee who was working in the immediate vicinity of Adams’ fall, and the security camera footage partially showing the area near where Adams slipped and fell. The footage does not show the portion of the floor where the lotion spilled, nor does it actually show the spilled lotion. Hunter stated that she inspected all of the aisles and opened the store before 8:00 a.m., at which time there was no lotion on the floor. Further, she stated she was working very near the area where Adams fell and that she was not aware of the spilled lotion until she and another employee helped Adams to her feet.

Adams argues that the presence of Hunter and other Dollar General employees in the immediate vicinity of the spilled lotion is enough to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Dollar General had actual or constructive notice and as to whether those employees were exercising the reasonable care required under Section 9:2800.6(0(1). She further argues *386 that the security camera footage showing Adams walking to the aisle where she was injured indicates the lotion must have been on the floor for long enough to be discovered.

Dollar General argues this is not enough to show actual or constructive notice, because the “presence of an employee ... in the vicinity in which the condition exists” is not enough to support a finding of constructive notice, “unless it is shown that the employee knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, of the condition.” See La.Rev.Stat. § 9:2800.6(C)(1). Dollar General further argues that the security camera footage does not actually show the area of the floor where the lotion was spilled, but that even if it did, footage merely showing the presence of the condition is not enough to show it was there long enough to be discovered. We agree.

Adams’ argument that the employees’ presence in the immediate vicinity of the spilled lotion gives rise to an inference of constructive notice fails under the plain language of Section 9:2800.6(0(1). She further failed to present any evidence of how or why the lotion was spilled, much less any showing that Hunter or any other Dollar General employee were exercising less than reasonable care in not discovering it. See id. With respect to Adams’ argument that the available security camera footage should give rise to an inference that the lotion was on the floor long enough to be discovered, we And one of our unpublished opinions instructive. See Taylor v. Wal-Mart Stores, 464 Fed.Appx. 337 (5th Cir.2012). In Taylor,

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559 F. App'x 383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brenda-adams-v-dolgencorp-llc-ca5-2014.