Ceasar v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

787 So. 2d 582, 0 La.App. 3 Cir. 1181, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1436, 2001 WL 611168
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 6, 2001
Docket00-1181
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 787 So. 2d 582 (Ceasar v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ceasar v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 787 So. 2d 582, 0 La.App. 3 Cir. 1181, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1436, 2001 WL 611168 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

787 So.2d 582 (2001)

Rita CEASAR
v.
WAL-MART STORES, INC.

No. 00-1181.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 6, 2001.

*583 Philip A. Fontenot, Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier, McElligott & Swift, Lafayette, LA, Counsel for Defendant/Appellant, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Kathy F. Meyers, Ville Platte, LA, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee Rita Ceasar.

Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, JIMMIE C. PETERS and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.

THIBODEAUX, Judge.

Defendant/appellant, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., appeals the judgment of the trial court in favor of the plaintiff/appellee, Ms. Rita Ceasar. Ms. Ceasar slipped and fell on a liquid substance on the floor at a Wal-Mart store in Eunice, Louisiana. The trial judge found that Wal-Mart owed a duty to keep the aisles clean of foreign substances on its floor and that Wal Mart *584 failed to use reasonable care in keeping its floor clean of foreign substances. The trial judge awarded Ms. Ceasar the sum of $2,500.00 in general damages, $1,260.30 in medicals, and lost wages in the amount of $175.00.

I.

ISSUES

The issues presented for review are:

(1) whether the trial court committed manifest error or was clearly wrong in denying Wal-Mart's motion for involuntary dismissal of the action pursuant to La.Code Civ.P. art. 1672(B); and,
(2) whether the trial court committed manifest error or was clearly wrong when it failed to find comparative fault on the part of Ms. Ceasar.

II.

FACTS

The plaintiff/appellee, Ms. Rita Ceasar, slipped and fell at a Wal-Mart store in Eunice, Louisiana, on August 9, 1997, at approximately 4:00 p.m. Ms. Ceasar slipped in what appeared to be a small amount of shampoo on the floor. Ms. Ceasar injured her lower back and left shoulder as a result of the fall. The incident occurred in the main or "action" aisle of the store near the housewares department as Ms. Ceasar was following her friend, Ms. Tammy Ceasar, to the checkout aisle. After the fall, Ms. Ceasar noticed a spot of the white substance in which she slipped on her pant leg and her shoe.

III.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

An appellate court in Louisiana is constitutionally authorized to review both law and facts. La. Const. art. V, § 10(B). An appellate court may not set aside a trial court's findings of fact in the absence of a manifest error or unless it is clearly wrong. Stobart v. State through Dep't of Transp. and Dev., 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993); Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989). The appellate court must determine not whether the trier of fact was right or wrong, but whether the factfinder's conclusion was a reasonable one, after reviewing the record in its entirety. Mart v. Hill, 505 So.2d 1120 (La.1987); Stobart, 617 So.2d 880; Rosell, 549 So.2d 840.

Even where the appellate court believes its inferences are more reasonable than the fact finders, reasonable determinations and inferences of fact should not be disturbed on appeal. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). Additionally, a reviewing court must keep in mind that if a trial court's findings are reasonably based upon the record and evidence, an appellate court may not reverse said findings even if it is convinced that had it been sitting as trier of fact it would have weighed that evidence differently. Housley v. Cerise, 579 So.2d 973 (La.1991). The basis for this principle of review is grounded not only upon the better capacity of the trial court to evaluate live witnesses, but also upon the proper allocation of trial and appellate functions between the respective courts.

Motion for Involuntary Dismissal & Constructive Notice

Wal-Mart contends that its motion for an involuntary dismissal pursuant to La.Code Civ.P. art. 1672(B) should have been granted when requested at the end of the plaintiff's case in chief. Wal-Mart argues that Ms. Ceasar failed to prove that the substance on the floor was there long *585 enough to have been discovered as required by La.R.S. 9:2800.6, which provides in part:

A. A merchant owes a duty to persons who use his premises to exercise reasonable care to keep his aisles, passageways, and floors in a reasonably safe condition. This duty includes a reasonable effort to keep the premises free of any hazardous conditions which reasonably might give rise to damage.
B. In a negligence claim brought against a merchant by a person lawfully on the merchant's premises for damages as a result of an injury, death, or loss sustained because of a fall due to a condition existing in or on a merchant's premises, the claimant shall have the burden of proving, in addition to all other elements of his cause of action, all of the following:
(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....
C. Definitions:
(1) "Constructive notice" means the claimant has proven that condition existed for such a period of time that it would have been discovered if the merchant had exercised reasonable care.

The Louisiana Supreme Court in White v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 97-0393 (La.9/9/97); 699 So.2d 1081, interpreted the provisions of La.R.S. 9:2800.6 and what a claimant must establish to prove a merchant had constructive notice:

Though there is no bright line time period, a claimant must show that "the condition existed for such a period of time ..." Whether the period of time is sufficiently lengthy that a merchant should have discovered the condition is necessarily a fact question; however, there remains the prerequisite showing of some time period. A claimant who simply shows that the condition existed without an additional showing that the condition existed for some time before the fall has not carried the burden of proving constructive notice as mandated by the statute. Though the time period need not be specific in minutes or hours, constructive notice requires that the claimant prove the condition existed for some time period prior to the fall.

Id. at 1084-85.

It is not necessary for a plaintiff to produce direct evidence to establish that a substance was on the floor for any length of time prior to the accident. If a reasonable inference can be drawn from the circumstantial evidence presented by the plaintiff that it was more probable than not the spill existed for some period of time prior to the accident, the court can conclude the store had constructive notice. It can be inferred from the totality of the circumstances that a foreign substance was on the floor for a sufficient amount of time that it would have been discovered had Wal-Mart exercised reasonable care. Broussard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 98-813 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1/20/99); 741 So.2d 65, writ denied, 99-0486 (La.4/1/99); 742 So.2d 562.

Ms. Ceasar argues that the facts of this case are similar to the facts in Broussard. In Broussard, the plaintiff slipped in spilled dishwashing detergent and fell in the Wal Mart store in Crowley, Louisiana. In

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Bluebook (online)
787 So. 2d 582, 0 La.App. 3 Cir. 1181, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1436, 2001 WL 611168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ceasar-v-wal-mart-stores-inc-lactapp-2001.