Fobbs v. Webb Building Ltd. Partnership

349 S.E.2d 355, 232 Va. 227, 3 Va. Law Rep. 955, 1986 Va. LEXIS 249
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedOctober 10, 1986
DocketRecord 831575
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 349 S.E.2d 355 (Fobbs v. Webb Building Ltd. Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fobbs v. Webb Building Ltd. Partnership, 349 S.E.2d 355, 232 Va. 227, 3 Va. Law Rep. 955, 1986 Va. LEXIS 249 (Va. 1986).

Opinions

STEPHENSON, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this appeal of a “slip and fall” case, we must determine whether sufficient evidence exists to support a jury’s finding that the defendant was negligent.

Maude Fobbs sued Webb Building Limited Partnership (Webb Building) to recover damages for injuries resulting from a fall. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Fobbs for $17,500. The trial court set aside the verdict, ruling that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to establish negligence, and entered judgment in favor of Webb Building. This appeal ensued.

Webb Building, owner of an office building, leased office space to the Navy Department. Fobbs, a Navy Department employee, entered the building shortly before seven o’clock on the morning of the accident. Rain was falling when Fobbs entered the building and had been falling during the previous night.

After entering the building, Fobbs proceeded down a hallway toward a bank of elevators. The surface of the hallway floor had a standard terrazzo finish. When Fobbs arrived at the elevators, she pushed the elevator button, and then, as she “made one or two steps to go into the elevator . . . [her] foot went from under [her] and [she] just went down.” Fobbs testified that she “stepped on something which was very slippery,” but she did not know what it was.

Shortly after Fobbs fell, Edna Mahan, who had entered the building earlier that morning, arrived on the scene in response to a telephone call requesting her assistance. Mahan saw Fobbs lying in front of the elevator and observed water on the floor “lying around” Fobbs. Glancing down, Mahan told Fobbs, “I see what you did. You fell in the water. . . .”

[229]*229Within a few minutes, David Stebbins, a paramedic, arrived to render assistance to Fobbs. He also saw Fobbs lying on the floor by the elevator. As he knelt beside Fobbs, Stebbins saw water on the floor near Fobbs’ feet.

Mahan also testified that when she arrived at the building between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., rain was falling and she noticed “an awful lot of water” between the two sets of double doors at the front entrance of the building. As Mahan walked toward the elevators, she saw water in front of the elevators and near the security guard’s desk. She described it as “a glistening of water . . . like people dragging their feet or something in front of that elevator.”

As owner, Webb Building was responsible for floor maintenance. One of its employees inspected the elevator area daily and had last inspected it the evening preceding Fobbs’ fall. Another employee was responsible for removing foreign matter from the floor, but “he had not assumed his duty hours at the time of the accident.” Navy Department employees had access to the building 24 hours a day and had entered the building throughout the rainy night.

The parties stipulated that Fobbs occupied the status of Webb Building’s invitee. An owner of premises owes a duty to its invitee (1) to use ordinary care to have the premises in a reasonably safe condition for the invitee’s use consistent with the invitation, and (2) to use ordinary care to warn its invitee of any unsafe condition that was known, or by the use of ordinary care should have been known, to the owner; except that the owner has no duty to warn its invitee of an unsafe condition which is open and obvious to a reasonable person exercising ordinary care for his own safety. Appalachian Power Company v. Sanders, 232 Va. 189, 193-94, 349 S.E.2d 101, 104-05 (1986); Indian Acres v. Demon, 215 Va. 847, 849-50, 213 S.E.2d 797, 799 (1975).

A trial court may set aside a jury verdict and enter final judgment only when the verdict is plainly wrong or without credible evidence to support it. A jury weighs the testimony of witnesses and resolves conflicting evidence. If reasonable minds can differ in the conclusions of fact to be drawn from the evidence, a jury is the proper tribunal to draw the conclusion. A trial judge cannot substitute his conclusion for that of a jury merely because he would have voted differently had he been on the jury. Coleman v. Blankenship Oil Corp., 221 Va. 124, 128-29, 267 S.E.2d 143, [230]*230146 (1980); Commonwealth v. McNeely, 204 Va. 218, 222, 129 S.E.2d 687, 689-90 (1963).

Our standard of review is well established. When a trial court sets aside a jury verdict, the verdict is not entitled to the same weight as one approved by the court. Guill v. Aaron, 207 Va. 393, 396, 150 S.E.2d 95, 98 (1966). Nevertheless, we must give the party who received the favorable verdict “the benefit of all substantial conflict in the evidence, and all fair inferences that may be drawn therefrom.” Walton v. Walton, 168 Va. 418, 423, 191 S.E. 768, 770 (1937). Accord Graves v. Nat. Cellulose Corp., 226 Va. 164, 169-70, 306 S.E.2d 898, 901 (1983). Moreover, if any credible evidence supports the verdict, we must reinstate the verdict and enter judgment thereon. Baird v. Dodson Bros. Exterminating, 217 Va. 745, 749, 232 S.E.2d 770, 773 (1977).

Obviously, facts need not be proved by direct evidence, but instead, may be established by circumstantial evidence. Indeed, a jury may draw all reasonable inferences and deductions from the evidence adduced. Northern Virginia Power Co. v. Bailey, 194 Va. 464, 470, 73 S.E.2d 425, 429 (1952). See Southern States Coop. v. Doggett, 223 Va. 650, 657-59, 292 S.E.2d 331, 335-36 (1982). However, if a jury bases its conclusions and inferences on speculation and conjecture, a plaintiffs case fails. Williamsburg Shop v. Weeks, 201 Va. 244, 248, 110 S.E.2d 189, 192 (1959).

Webb Building contends that Fobbs failed to produce “direct” evidence of what caused her to fall or any evidence whatsoever that “the condition of the floor was unsafe, dangerous or hazardous and that this condition proximately caused her injuries.” Webb Building likens Fobbs’ case to Williamsburg Shop. In Williamsburg Shop, we set aside a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff because the plaintiff failed to produce any evidence, direct or circumstantial, that the stairway or landing where she fell was wet or slippery. Thus, we said the jury based its verdict on speculation and conjecture. Id. at 248, 110 S.E.2d at 192.

We conclude that the present case is similar to Shiflett v. Tim-berlake, Inc., 205 Va. 406, 137 S.E.2d 908 (1964). In Shiflett,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Case
E.D. Virginia, 2026
Totten v. Walmart, Inc.
W.D. Virginia, 2021
Shoemaker v. Funkhouser
Supreme Court of Virginia, 2021
AlBritton v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Virginia, 2021
Patterson v. Sam's East Inc.
W.D. Virginia, 2020
Estep v. Xanterra Kingsmill, LLC
238 F. Supp. 3d 791 (E.D. Virginia, 2017)
Foglia v. Clapper
885 F. Supp. 2d 821 (E.D. Virginia, 2012)
Volpe v. City of Lexington
708 S.E.2d 824 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2011)
King v. Island Creek Coal Co.
339 F. Supp. 2d 735 (W.D. Virginia, 2004)
Michelle Hodge v. Wal-Mart Stores, Incorporated
360 F.3d 446 (Fourth Circuit, 2004)
Atrium Unit Owners Ass'n v. King
585 S.E.2d 545 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
349 S.E.2d 355, 232 Va. 227, 3 Va. Law Rep. 955, 1986 Va. LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fobbs-v-webb-building-ltd-partnership-va-1986.