Daniels v. Morgan & Lindsey, Inc.

198 So. 2d 579, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1267
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 8, 1967
Docket44438
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 198 So. 2d 579 (Daniels v. Morgan & Lindsey, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Daniels v. Morgan & Lindsey, Inc., 198 So. 2d 579, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1267 (Mich. 1967).

Opinion

198 So.2d 579 (1967)

Margaret Ann DANIELS
v.
MORGAN & LINDSEY, INC.

No. 44438.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 8, 1967.

*580 Kelly McKoin, Biloxi, for appellant.

Ben H. Stone, Eaton, Cottrell, Galloway & Lang, Gulfport, for appellee.

JONES, Justice.

This case was first tried in the County Court of Harrison County. At the conclusion of the evidence, the judge instructed the jury peremptorily to find for appellee. On appeal to the circuit court, the case was affirmed. It now comes here and we are affirming.

This is a regrettable case in that the appellant slipped and fell, receiving a serious and permanent injury. However, we cannot permit our sympathies to dictate decisions.

There are only two assignments of error: (1) That the court erred in granting the peremptory instruction; and, (2) that the court erred in admitting in evidence a sheet of instructions furnished by the manufacturing company in connection with the products used by appellee in cleansing and dressing of its floors.

On July 11, 1964, about 1:00 p.m., appellant entered appellee's store to buy some shades. She turned to the right, down the aisle toward the back where the shades were. She slipped about midway down the aisle, one foot going forward and the other backward. She couldn't stop her fall and went down on her right knee which she heard pop when it hit the floor. After falling, she looked in front of her. She said the floor was heavily waxed. The reason she concluded this was that the floor was "shining, slick, highly polished and glittering like." From this, she assumed and stated the floor was heavily waxed, and that it was "clear like a mirror." As far as she could tell, the floor was clean. She did not notice any foreign substance or debris.

Her husband and son were in the A & P Store near by. She testified her daughter-in-law was in the store buying something for the children, but her daughter-in-law did not testify. At the time, plaintiff was wearing heels about one and a half inches high which she imagined were about the size of her second finger and on which there were attached steel tips. When asked whether the floors were approximately the same as in the courtroom where the case was being tried, to-wit: asphalt tile, appellant answered, "I imagine they were."

The next witness for appellant was her husband, Leroy Daniels, who testified that he and his oldest son were in the A & P Store, about 1:00 p.m. on July 11, 1964. A colored man came and told him that his wife was hurt. He left everything and went to her. He slipped twice going into the store and caught on the counter, not far from her. He also said that the floors looked like they had just been wet, that they were "slick." He could see her prints where she slipped on the floor. He thought the left foot slipped about two, or two and a half feet, and he indicated about how long the strip was for the right foot. He denied that he was running in the store, but when asked, "You were pretty much in a hurry?" His answer was, "Well, wouldn't you be, if your wife was hurt?"

His opinion was there was wax on the floor, based on the fact the floor was glittering, and there were marks where the heels had slipped. He said he could tell there was wax on the floor because "you could see it, it just looked slick, it looked greasy like." He saw no other objects on the floor. The floor looked clean to him.

Appellant had been in the same store previously and the floors were always clean *581 and well polished. On this occasion the floor was clean, and the only complaint she had was too much wax.

Leroy Daniels, Jr., appellant's son, was with his father at the A & P Store. He said they were told of the accident, and "we run over there." His father was in front of him. The son said, "Well, he went through the door and he liked to have slipped down as he went through the door — right in side." This witness said that the colored man drew his attention to the floor where the "groove marks" were on it. It looked like heavy wax — it was "shining in other words."

He testified there were two marks — one where the heel slipped forward and one where the heel went backward.

Objection was sustained to this because of the conclusion that the heel slipped.

On cross-examination, when asked if he had a chance to observe these floors and look at them, his answer was, "Yes, sir; I couldn't swear if there was wax on them or not, but they were shining and slippery."

Here appellant rested. On motion for a peremptory instruction the county judge held the evidence required a response by appellee.

Appellant made no complaint as to the floor, its type, installation, or anything connected therewith, except the shining and slippery condition which she and her husband attributed to wax. The son said he could not swear it was wax even though he was the one who called the mark where his mother fell a "groove."

There was no evidence that anybody examined this so-called groove. If there was an accumulation of material of any sort, the edges of the groove, if it were a groove, would have shown it.

Appellee introduced William L. Gary, its assistant manager, whose duty it was to maintain the floor. The flooor was asphalt tile, a common type such as was in the courtroom where the case was tried.

This witness had had three years with the University of Iowa as a floor maintenance man, whose duties dealt with stripping and sealing about every type of floor they had. He also dressed, waxed and maintained the floors for the University. In addition, the witness had been with appellee for about one year, and had been at the store in Gulfport for three to four months at the time of the accident. It was his duty and responsibility to take care of the floors. They were swept daily, sometimes twice a day, depending upon the amount of traffic and whether debris had spilled or dropped on the floor. Any debris spilled or dropped on the floor was removed immediately by him. Once a month they worked, "stripping and dressing the floors." In that process they used a soap detergent known as Miko diluted with water. This was spread on the area for ten to fifteen minutes, after which it was mopped. Then rinse water was used until all traces of the soap were gone. They tried to do this once a month and in that way keep any wax buildup from accumulating. The process is stripping the floor and not just wet mopping it. The dressing they put on the floor was known as "Sole Grip" with a non-slip finish. It was applied by the witness personally in thin layers, or coats, with a regular cotton mop. He did the work personally to make sure that substances would not go to the counter board and so foot traffic would not cause a buildup over the counter edge. Before the Sole Grip was applied the floor was allowed to dry. He had three high school boys who came and helped scrub the floors at night, under his strict supervision; but they did not apply the dressing, that was done by the witness himself. The store had a set of instructions relative to the dressing used which sheet was stapled to the wall where the janitorial supplies were kept. He did not buff the floor because the dressing was a self-polishing dressing which caused a halfway gloss. Regular walking on the floor and general sweeping kept the gloss. It was what they said is "self-polishing."

*582

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Bluebook (online)
198 So. 2d 579, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniels-v-morgan-lindsey-inc-miss-1967.