Coleman v. Monson

522 N.W.2d 91, 1994 Iowa App. LEXIS 74, 1994 WL 515603
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedJune 28, 1994
Docket93-0844
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 522 N.W.2d 91 (Coleman v. Monson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coleman v. Monson, 522 N.W.2d 91, 1994 Iowa App. LEXIS 74, 1994 WL 515603 (iowactapp 1994).

Opinions

HABHAB, Presiding Judge.

Defendant Larry Monson, d/b/a Jewell Janitorial Service, appeals from the jury verdict finding him sixty percent at fault for Plaintiff Maxine Coleman’s slip and fall injuries. He argues the district court erred by: (1) instructing on the duty owed an invitee, (2) failing to grant his motion for directed verdict, and (3) instructing the jury as to distractions. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

On September 24, 1989, plaintiff Maxine Coleman was injured while working at the Western Auto Store in Des Moines, after slipping on a wet floor being cleaned by the employees of Larry Monson. Plaintiff knew the floor was cleaned each Sunday night after hours. Also, on the day of the incident, she overheard her store manager telling another person there was water on the floor before she made her way to the break room. Plaintiff intended to walk down an aisle between tire racks but saw a floor-cleaning machine there. She then saw water on the next two aisles and decided to take the third aisle. While walking down this aisle she slipped on water and fell.

She sued Monson d/b/a Jewell Janitorial Service, under a negligence theory. She testified she was looking for water but was unable to see it on the shiny floor. The district court instructed on the duty owed an invitee. The court also instructed that defendant had a duty to warn of a known or obvious condition if the defendant had reason to expect a person to be distracted. Plaintiff argued the shiny floor was a distraction. The jury found defendant sixty percent at fault, plaintiff forty percent at fault, and total damages of $59,728.13. Defendant appeals. Our review is for correction of errors at law. Iowa RApp.P. 4.

I. Duty of Cleaning Service.

Defendant claims the district court erred by instructing the jury the cleaning service owed plaintiff the standard of care owed to invitees. Defendant argues that since plaintiff was not on the premises at the express or implied invitation of the cleaning service and was not conducting business of interest to the cleaning service, plaintiff was not an invitee as to the cleaning service, but only a licensee.1

[93]*93Restatement (Second) of Torts section 383 (1965) defines the liability of persons acting on behalf of a possessor of land:

One who does an act or carries on an activity upon land on behalf of the possessor is subject to the same liability, and enjoys the same freedom from liability, for physical harm caused thereby to others upon and outside of the land as though he were the possessor of the land.

Comment a to this section provides in part:

The words “acting on behalf of the possessor” are used to indicate that the person in question is acting not only for the purposes of the possessor but also by his direction or consent and therefore by his authority. One acting on behalf of the possessor may do so as a servant or as an independent contractor.

Id.; see also Konicek v. Loomis Bros., Inc., 457 N.W.2d 614, 617 (Iowa 1990) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 384 (1965)); Duggan v. Esposito, 178 Conn. 156, 422 A.2d 287, 289 (1979); McKenzie v. Cost Bros., Inc., 409 A.2d 362, 364 (Pa.1979); Marshbank v. Austin Bridge Co., 669 S.W.2d 129, 134 (Tex.App.1984); Barnett v. Equality Sav. & Loan Ass’n, Inc., 662 S.W.2d 924, 927 (Mo.App.1983); Thomas v. Oil & Gas Bldg., Inc., 582 S.W.2d 873, 879 (Tex.Civ.App.1979).

A business invitee is one “who is invited to enter or remain on land for the purpose directly or indirectly connected with business dealings with the possessor of land.” Konicek v. Loomis Bros., Inc., 457 N.W.2d 614, 618 (Iowa 1990) (quoting Restatement § 332). A servant, whether an industrial employee or a domestic servant is a business invitee. Restatement § 332 com. j. (1965).

The district court correctly determined that plaintiff’s status on the property was that of an invitee.

II. Motion for Directed Verdict.

Defendant next claims the district court erred in refusing to grant his motion for a directed verdict. Defendant urges that he owed no duty of care to a business invitee because the wet floor was open and obvious and plaintiff had actual knowledge of the danger.

A court ruling on a motion for directed verdict must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Beitz v. Horak, 271 N.W.2d 755, 757 (Iowa 1978); Iowa R.App.P. 14(f)(2). Movant is considered to have admitted the truth of all evidence offered by nonmovant and every favorable inference that may be deduced from it. B & B Asphalt Co. v. T.S. McShane Co., 242 N.W.2d 279, 284 (Iowa 1976). To overrule the motion the court must find substantial evidence in support of each element of nonmovant’s claim. Beitz, 271 N.W.2d at 757. If reasonable minds could differ, an issue is for the jury. Harvey v. Palmer College of Chiropractic, 363 N.W.2d 443, 444 (Iowa App.1984).

As discussed in division I, the defendant’s duty to the plaintiff was the same as an occupier or possessor of land. The occupier of land is under a duty of reasonable care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition for business invitees. Schnoor v. Deitchler, 482 N.W.2d 913, 916-17 (Iowa 1992) (citation omitted). Our supreme court has acknowledged limitations on this rule, however, by stating:

The possessor of land, however, is not liable when the injuries sustained by the business invitee were caused by a known or obvious danger. The word known denotes “knowledge of the existence of the condition .•.. [as well as an] ... appreciation of the danger it involves.” To appreciate the severity of the danger, the business invitee must recognize the condition as dangerous and understand “the probability and gravity of the threatened harm.” An obvious danger “means that both the condition and the risk are apparent to and would be recognized by a” reasonably prudent person.

Id. at 917 (citations omitted).

Schnoor goes on to quote comment (e) to section 343A which states in part:

[94]*94In the ordinary case, an invitee who enters land is entitled to nothing more than knowledge of the conditions and dangers he will encounter if he comes.

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Coleman v. Monson
522 N.W.2d 91 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
522 N.W.2d 91, 1994 Iowa App. LEXIS 74, 1994 WL 515603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coleman-v-monson-iowactapp-1994.