Encalade v. Schwegmann Giant Supermarkets, Inc.

662 So. 2d 140, 95 La.App. 4 Cir. 0655, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 2476, 1995 WL 574030
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 28, 1995
DocketNo. 95-CA-0655
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 662 So. 2d 140 (Encalade v. Schwegmann Giant Supermarkets, 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
Encalade v. Schwegmann Giant Supermarkets, Inc., 662 So. 2d 140, 95 La.App. 4 Cir. 0655, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 2476, 1995 WL 574030 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

hLOBRANO, Judge.

In this slip and fall ease, plaintiff, Betty Encalade, and defendant, Schwegmann Brothers Giant Supermarkets, were each found 50% at fault by the trial judge for an accident which occurred in the defendant’s store on Old Gentilly Road on June 18, 1991. Plaintiff was awarded damages totalling $10,-518.30 which were reduced by the 50% of fault attributable to her. Defendant and plaintiff both appeal the trial court judgment.

The defendant argues that the trial judge committed manifest error in determining that plaintiff had satisfied her burden of proof under La.R.S. 9:2800.6, in failing to assess a greater degree of comparative negligence to plaintiff and in awarding excessive damages. Plaintiff argues that she should not have been found comparatively negligent for the accident and that the damages awarded to her are inadequate.

On June 18,1991, plaintiff was shopping at the Sehwegmann’s grocery store on Old Gen-tilly Road with her mother and two daughters. According to her testimony, she was walking down an aisle by herself to meet her mother and one of her daughters when she slipped and fell landing on her buttocks. As she was falling, she tried to regain her balance by grabbing a shelf. RWhen she did this, she knocked down and broke a jar of cherries which resulted in broken glass, cherries and cherry juice on the floor around her. Plaintiff admitted that the jar of cherries was not on the floor when she slipped but, rather, was knocked off the shelf by her as she was falling.

At some point after the accident, the plaintiff noticed a whitish substance on the back of her skirt which she did not recognize. Plaintiff testified that after she fell to the floor, she looked and did not see anything around her or underneath her which would have caused her to fall. Several other people testified, including plaintiffs daughter and three of defendant’s employees including, one who witnessed the fall. None of the witnesses saw any foreign substance on the floor where plaintiff fell other than the cherries, juice and broken glass from the jar of cherries which plaintiff admittedly knocked off of the shelf after she started slipping.

Plaintiff filed suit against the defendant alleging that a foreign substance on the floor of defendant’s store caused her to slip and fall. After trial, the trial judge rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendant, but also found plaintiff 50% comparatively negligent in this accident. In his reasons for judgment, the judge noted that plaintiff was walking down the aisle looking toward the other end where her mother and daughter were standing. He also noted that plaintiff was not pushing a shopping cart or looking for items on the shelves as she walked down the aisle of the store. The judge cited the case of Manieri v. National Tea Co., 573 So.2d 1268 (La.App. 4th Cir.1991), in finding liability on behalf of the defendant and assessing 50% fault to the plaintiff for failure to keep a proper lookout.

|3In its first assignment of error, the defendant argues that the trial judge erred in determining that plaintiff had satisfied her burden of proof pursuant to La.R.S. 9:2800.6. We initially note that the trial judge’s reliance on Manieri v. National Tea Co., supra, was misplaced. The Manieri case was tried on November 14, 1989. The controlling statute for that case was the 1988 amended version of R.S. 9:2800.6 which was applicable to all cases tried on or after July 18, 1988. R.S. 9:2800.6 was amended again in 1990, effective on September 1, 1990, and is applicable to causes of action arising on or after that effective date. The amended version of [142]*142R.S. 9:2800.6 applies in the instant case. However, under both the 1988 and 1990 amended versions of R.S. 9:2800.6, plaintiff has the burden of proving that the accident was caused by a hazardous condition on the merchant’s premises.

R.S. 9:2800.6, as amended in 1990, provides:

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, and in addition to all other elements of his cause of action, that:
(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; and
(3) The merchant failed to exercise reasonable care.
[4C. Definitions:
(1) “Constructive notice” means the condition existed for such a period of time that it would have been discovered if the merchant had exercised reasonable care.
(2) “Merchant” means one whose business is to sell goods, foods, wares, or merchandise at a fixed place of business.
D. Nothing herein shall affect any liability which a merchant may have under Civil Code Arts. 660, 667, 669, 2317, 2322 or 2695.

In Pevey v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 94-280 (La.App. 5th Cir. 10/12/94), 645 So.2d 737, which involved the 1990 amended version of R.S. 9:2800.6, the Court stated:

In order to establish a prima facie case in a slip and fall lawsuit, the plaintiff must show that she slipped, fell, and was injured because of a foreign substance on the defendant’s premises. Reynolds v. St. Francis Medical Center, 597 So.2d 1121, 1122 (La.App. 2d Cir.1992). Whether a plaintiffs fall was caused by a foreign substance is a question of fact which should not be disturbed on appeal in the absence of manifest error. Id., citing Marshall v. A & P. Food Company of Tallulah, 587 So.2d 103 (La.App. 2d Cir.1991); Estes v. Kroger Company, 556 So.2d 240 (La.App. 2d Cir.1990), writ denied, 559 So.2d 1360 (La. 1990).

In Stobart v. State Through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993), the Louisiana Supreme Court discussed the manifest error rale of appellate review and declared that “where two permissible views of the evidence exist, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong.” Id. at 883. However, in Ambrose v. New Orleans Police Dept. Ambulance Service, 93-3099, 3110, 3112 (La. 7/5/94), 639 So.2d 216, the Court explained that although deference to the factfinder should be accorded, the reviewing courts still have a constitutional duty to review facts and determine “whether the trial court verdict | swas clearly wrong based on the evidence, or clearly without evidentiary support.” Id. at 221.

After reviewing the evidence in the record, including testimony at trial and deposition testimony introduced into evidence, we conclude that the plaintiff failed to satisfy her burden of proof under R.S. 9:2800.6.

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662 So. 2d 140, 95 La.App. 4 Cir. 0655, 1995 La. App. LEXIS 2476, 1995 WL 574030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/encalade-v-schwegmann-giant-supermarkets-inc-lactapp-1995.