Gray v. Economy Fire & Cas. Ins. Co.

682 So. 2d 966, 96 La.App. 3 Cir. 667, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 2650, 1996 WL 638217
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 6, 1996
Docket96-667
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 682 So. 2d 966 (Gray v. Economy Fire & Cas. Ins. Co.) 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
Gray v. Economy Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 682 So. 2d 966, 96 La.App. 3 Cir. 667, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 2650, 1996 WL 638217 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

682 So.2d 966 (1996)

Cheryl Finley GRAY, Plaintiff-Appellant
v.
ECONOMY FIRE & CASUALTY INSURANCE CO., et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-667.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 6, 1996.

*967 Lauri Gene Boyd, Ferriday, for Cheryl Finley Gray.

Ronald J. Fiorenza, Alexandria, for Economy Fire & Casualty Insurance Co.

Before DOUCET, C.J., and SAUNDERS and AMY, JJ.

AMY, Judge.

Plaintiff, Cheryl Finley Gray, slipped and fell while visiting at the house of the defendants, Ronald and Bernice Poole. Gray filed suit against the Pooles and their homeowner's liability insurer, requesting damages for her injuries. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted. Gray appeals from that judgment. For the following reasons, we affirm.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

On April 5, 1994, at approximately 9:00 a.m., plaintiff, Cheryl Finley Gray, went to visit her friend, Bernice Poole, at Bernice's house located in Concordia Parish, Louisiana. While Bernice was visiting with Cheryl, Bernice mopped her kitchen floor with clear water. Bernice was then called to go out and run an errand. At that point, Bernice asked Cheryl if she would stay at the Pooles' house and open the door for an employee of an insect extermination company, who was expected to come that morning to service the Pooles' residence. Cheryl acquiesced and remained at the Pooles' house.

After Bernice left the residence, Cheryl mopped Bernice's tracks from the kitchen to the back door with the damp mop that Bernice had used earlier that morning. Cheryl returned the mop to its place near the refrigerator in the kitchen. Cheryl then walked into the living room and sat down to wait for *968 the employee of the insect extermination company to arrive. However, after waiting for approximately forty-five minutes, Cheryl walked through the kitchen and into the utility room to collect her tennis shoes. Cheryl had taken off her shoes when she first arrived at the Pooles' house. She put on her shoes and then began to walk out of the utility room. When Cheryl was about half-way out of the utility room door, she slipped and fell. She suffered a broken hip and the next day had surgery at the Natchez Community Hospital.

On January 30, 1995, Cheryl filed suit against Ronald and Bernice Poole and their homeowner's liability insurer, Economy Fire and Casualty Insurance Co., requesting damages and payment of her medical expenses. Specifically, Cheryl alleged in her petition that:

That the damages outlined herein were caused by the sole fault of the Pooles for having, owning and using a premise that is defective and unreasonably dangerous in the following non-exclusive manners:
a) Having, owning and using a washing machine that leaks soapy water; and
b) Having, owning and using a floor that is wet and unreasonably slippery.
The above described condition of the Pooles' premises renders the premises defective. Defendants are strictly liable for all defects in their premises.
Alternatively, petitioner shows that the injuries that she has sustained were caused by the negligence, carelessness, and failure to exercise due care by the Pooles herein in the following non-exclusive manners:
a) Owning, operating and using a washing machine when they knew or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known, that the washing machine leaked soapy water onto the floor of their premises;
b) Allowing soapy water to remain on the floor of their dining room and utility room area where they knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known, people would be walking;
c) Failure to warn petitioner of the leaky washing machine and the presence of the soapy water on the floor of their premises;
d) Failure to remove the soapy water from the floor of their premises.

The defendants answered Cheryl's suit and denied liability. On September 19, 1995, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. Attached to the defendants' "Memorandum In Support Of Motion For Summary Judgment" were the depositions of Cheryl Finley Gray, Bernice Poole, and Ronald Poole. In response, Cheryl filed a "Memorandum In Opposition Of Motion For Summary Judgment" in which she attached her affidavit and the depositions of Bernice and Ronald Poole. Subsequently, the defendants filed a "Motion To Strike Affidavit" of Cheryl Finley Gray. On March 28, 1996, the trial court denied the defendants' request to strike Cheryl's affidavit, but granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The trial court stated in part that:

There are no disputed material facts, nor is there any necessity to make any evaluations of credibility of the evidence or witnesses, or of any of the admitted facts.
In reaching this decision, I have placed the burden of proof on the Defendants-Movers, and have considered all of the facts in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff. I have accepted Plaintiff's version of the events as set forth in her pleadings, affidavit, depositions and the exhibits. Nevertheless, as a matter of law, I cannot find that any of the material facts reflect any liability on the Defendant homeowner on either a theory of negligence or strict liability.
The most that this record shows is that the Plaintiff fell in the Defendant's home in the doorway of a utility room and suffered the injuries complained of. She produced no facts proving the cause of the fall. At most there is some speculation that the washing machine in the utility room may have leaked water onto the floor, and that the water may have been soapy and slippery. The washing machine had leaked in the past, mostly at the rear or exterior wall, and at one time there had been water immediately in the front of the washer, but this was not the area where Plaintiff fell.

*969 Cheryl appeals from that judgment and asserts that the trial court erred in granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

LAW

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo using the same criteria that govern the trial court's consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University, 591 So.2d 342 (La. 1991). Summary judgment may be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La.Code Civ.P. art. 966[1]. Summary judgment should be used cautiously and sparingly, and any reasonable doubt should be resolved against the mover in favor of a full trial on the merits. Penalber v. Blount, 550 So.2d 577 (La.1989). But, the summary judgment is designed to avoid delay and expense of a trial on the merits and to enable the court to expedite disposition of a case when no genuine issue of material fact exists. Central Bank v. Simmons, 595 So.2d 363 (La.App. 2 Cir.1992).

To satisfy the burden that no genuine issue of material fact exists, the party moving for summary judgment must meet a strict standard showing that it is quite clear as to what the truth is, and that there has been excluded any real doubt as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. Jackson v. Belleau, 94-1469 (La.App. 3 Cir.

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Bluebook (online)
682 So. 2d 966, 96 La.App. 3 Cir. 667, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 2650, 1996 WL 638217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-economy-fire-cas-ins-co-lactapp-1996.