Bulduk v. Walgreen Co.

2016 IL App (1st) 150166-B
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 29, 2016
Docket1-15-0166
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2016 IL App (1st) 150166-B (Bulduk v. Walgreen Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bulduk v. Walgreen Co., 2016 IL App (1st) 150166-B (Ill. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

2015 IL App (1st) 150166-B

FIRST DIVISION August 29, 2016

No. 1-15-0166

SAIME SEBNEM BULDUK and ) Appeal from the ABDULLAH BULDUK, ) Circuit Court of ) Cook County Plaintiffs-Appellants, ) ) v. ) No. 12 L 001069 ) WALGREEN COMPANY, an Illinois ) corporation, ) Honorable ) Daniel T. Gillespie, Defendant-Appellee. ) Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE HARRIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Cunningham concurred in the judgment and opinion. Justice Connors dissented, with opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Plaintiff Saime Sebnem Bulduk appeals the order of the trial court granting defendant,

Walgreen Company's (Walgreen) motion for summary judgment on her complaint alleging

negligence, negligent spoliation of evidence, and res ipsa loquitur. On appeal, plaintiff argues

that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because a genuine issue of material fact

exists as to whether the dangerous condition on defendant's property was open and obvious.

Plaintiff also argues that Walgreen's spoliation of its surveillance tapes prevented her from

establishing the facts necessary to support her negligence claim, and alternatively, that the

doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applies to establish her negligence claim. No. 1-15-0166

¶2 On October 15, 2015, this court issued an opinion affirming in part, and reversing in part,

the trial court's judgment. Defendant filed a petition for rehearing which this court denied.

Defendant then filed a petition to the supreme court which was denied on March 30, 2016.

However, the supreme court issued a supervisory order directing this court to vacate its judgment

in the matter, and to reconsider in light of Bruns v. City of Centralia, 2014 IL 116998.

Accordingly, we vacated our October 15, 2015, judgment and issue this opinion in its stead.

Upon reconsideration, we find Bruns distinguishable and therefore, for the following reasons, we

reverse the judgment of the trial court on the negligence claim and affirm on the claim for

negligent spoliation of the evidence, and remand for further proceedings.

¶3 JURISDICTION

¶4 The trial court entered its final order disposing of the case on December 15, 2014.

Plaintiffs filed their notice of appeal on January 13, 2015. Accordingly, this court has

jurisdiction pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rules 301 and 303 governing appeals from final

judgments entered below. Ill. S. Ct. R. 301 (eff. Feb. 1, 1994); R. 303 (eff. May 30, 2008).

¶5 BACKGROUND

¶6 On April 28, 2010, plaintiff entered a Walgreen store to purchase cosmetics products.

The cosmetics display began near the door of the store and continued "all the way almost to the

end." Plaintiff entered the store to purchase nail polish and browse the makeup selection. While

in the cosmetics aisle, plaintiff noticed a large, plugged-in cleaning machine placed in the middle

of the aisle. She "went around it, and [she] was looking at this [sic] items in the wall – on the

wall" when "something hit [her] right where the tailbone is. It was a very heavy piece of

equipment, and [she] noticed that it was just falling on [her]." After the incident, plaintiff

experienced intense pain in her neck, lower back, and occasionally in her leg. She stated in her

-2- No. 1-15-0166

deposition that she still experiences pain and is "only living like ten – 20 to 30 percent of [her] life

the way [she] used to live."

¶7 Nathan John Tauber was the store manager when the incident occurred. He stated that he

did not generally give directions to employees of Brite Site, an independent company Walgreen

hired to clean the store in question. He stated, however, that he would not "allow them to park

[the cleaning machines] in front of – in front of the entrance or exit where people can't get in" and

that the store's policy is to not allow Brite Site to "run the machines while the store is open."

¶8 On January 31, 2012, plaintiff filed her original negligence complaint against defendant

Walgreen. Thereafter, plaintiff filed several amended complaints and in her third and final

amended complaint, she alleged four counts against Walgreen: (1) negligence, (2) negligent

spoliation of evidence, (3) res ipsa loquitur, and (4) loss of consortium. With respect to

negligence, plaintiff alleged that while browsing the cosmetics aisle at a Walgreen store, she was

hit by a cleaning machine that had been left in the middle of the aisle. The machine had fallen and

hit her lower back, causing permanent injuries. Plaintiff's negligent spoliation of evidence claim

alleged that Walgreen failed to download or preserve camera footage from the store's surveillance

system on the day of the incident. Plaintiff also alleged that a presumption of negligence existed,

pursuant to res ipsa loquitur, because the injury resulted from a cleaning machine under

Walgreen's control and the individuals operating the machine on the day in question left the

country after learning of their forthcoming depositions. Finally, plaintiff alleged loss of

consortium for her husband, plaintiff Abdullah Bulduk, based on her injuries.

¶9 Walgreen filed motions for summary judgment as to the negligence, negligent spoliation of

evidence, and res ipsa loquitur counts. It also filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff's claim for loss of

-3- No. 1-15-0166

consortium. 1 In its motion for summary judgment as to negligence, Walgreen claimed that the

cleaning equipment injuring plaintiff was owned by Brite Site, a company Walgreen hired to clean

the store in question. Walgreen argued that it did not owe a duty to plaintiff since it exercised no

control over Brite Site employees, their work, or Brite Site's cleaning machines. Walgreen

further argued that Brite Site was an independent contractor that retained control over its own

activities, and its employees were not employees, agents, or servants of Walgreen. In response,

plaintiff argued that Walgreen was liable because it retained a supervisory power to prevent Brite

Site from using its cleaning machines in a harmful manner, and Walgreen provided cleaning

supplies to Brite Site which were required for the operation of the cleaning machine at issue.

Walgreen replied that it did not supervise the work of Brite Site and therefore had no liability.

¶ 10 In its motion for summary judgment as to negligent spoliation of evidence, Walgreen

claimed that it did not have a duty to preserve evidence unless plaintiff could establish that an

agreement, contract, statute, special circumstance, or voluntary undertaking had given rise to a

duty to preserve the evidence, and that a reasonable person in Walgreen's position should have

foreseen that the evidence was material to a potential civil action. Walgreen argued that plaintiff

could not establish these factors because the surveillance footage at issue did not record the area of

the store where the injury occurred, and therefore a reasonable person would not foresee that such

evidence would be relevant to a cause of action. Plaintiff responded that based on the evidence, a

minimum of three cameras could have captured the incident and the only surveillance downloaded

was the tape by the entrance of the store.

¶ 11 In its motion for summary judgment as to res ipsa loquitur, Walgreen argued that it did not

owe plaintiff a duty of care, and thus the claim must fail. Plaintiff responded that Walgreen

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Related

Bulduk v. Walgreen Co.
2016 IL App (1st) 150166-B (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2016)

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