Hasan v. McDonald's Corp.

377 N.W.2d 472, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4688
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 19, 1985
DocketC1-85-1287
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 377 N.W.2d 472 (Hasan v. McDonald's Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hasan v. McDonald's Corp., 377 N.W.2d 472, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4688 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

RANDALL, Judge.

Appellant, Maureen Hasan, sued respondents for negligence. Respondents, McDonald’s Corporation, Chadco Corporation, and Jay Chadema (collectively referred to as “McDonald’s”), moved for summary judgment. Appellant then moved to compel answers to interrogatories and requests for production of documents. About two weeks previously, appellant had served interrogatories. Much discovery had taken place before these interrogatories were served. The trial court granted respondents’ summary judgment motion and declared the motion to compel discovery moot. Hasan appeals from the summary judgment.

FACTS

Several deposition transcripts exist but were never filed or otherwise before the district court. Both parties refer to the depositions in their briefs to this court as well as in their motions below. After this appeal was filed, the parties filed a stipulation in the district court that the four depositions “may be filed with the Clerk of District Court.” The trial court then ordered that “pursuant to the stipulation of counsel * * *, the following depositions are made a part of the Supplemental Record in this matter.”

The depositions were filed with the district court and delivered to this court. Counsel wish us to consider the depositions, and we must decide whether or not to do so.

ISSUES

1. Are the deposition transcripts properly in the record before this court?

2. Did the court err in granting summary judgment?

3. Did the court err in granting summary judgment without first requiring responses to Hasan’s outstanding discovery requests?

ANALYSIS

I.

Deposition transcripts

We cannot consider the deposition transcripts as part of the record on appeal. Because the depositions were not timely filed in the trial court, they are not part of the record on appeal. See Minn.R.Civ. App.P. 110.01. Were this court to consider the depositions, we would be reviewing a different case than the one before the trial court.

We cannot give effect to the trial court’s order based on the stipulation of the parties. Pending an appeal, the trial court’s jurisdiction is suspended unless the matter before it is not affected by or is independent from the judgment from which the appeal is taken. Minn.R.Civ.App.P. 108.03; Spaeth v. City of Plymouth, 344 N.W.2d 815, 824-25 (Minn.1984). Since the *474 contents of this record on appeal from summary judgment are intertwined with the summary judgment being appealed, the trial court had no jurisdiction to order filing of the deposition transcripts.

II.
Summary judgment
On a motion for summary judgment [t]he district court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and this court on appeal must view the evidence most favorable to the one against whom the motion was granted.

Grondahl v. Bulluck, 318 N.W.2d 240, 242 (Minn.1982) (citations omitted). The trial court must grant summary judgment “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 either party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Minn.R.Civ.P. 56.03.

We analyze the following facts without regard to the depositions, relying on the affidavits, answers to interrogatories, and documents contained in the record. Where the parties quote depositions (in the briefs or in the motions below), we consider the quotations as part of the record. Uncon-troverted statements in briefs also are considered.

Maureen Hasan slipped on a liquid and fell in the McDonald’s on Wabasha Avenue in downtown St. Paul. This occurred at ' about 12:15 p.m. on a Friday.

The substance on which Hasan fell was dark. According to Maureen Hasan’s affidavit, “It may have been dirty white milk. It also may have been a dirty vanilla shake or ice cream.” According to appellant’s brief, the substance could have been dirty or it could have been chocolate, or it could have been both chocolate and dirty. Whether the substance was ice cream or a shake, it had melted to a milk-like appearance.

In her affidavit, Terri Klegin stated that Hasan fell in a heavily-traveled aisle which leads directly from the counter to the Wa-basha exit. All of the parties agree that Hasan fell during the noon hour, a time when the restaurant is always very busy.

The Wabasha McDonald’s has shiny ceramic tile on its floor where Hasan fell. It is not anti-slip or abrasive tile. Abrasive tile of the same color is in the kitchen areas behind the counter. OSHA and some new building codes require anti-slip tiles in the kitchen areas and in some cases around the doors and counter areas.

The trial court found that “plaintiff is unable to show that the substance causing her to slip in defendant’s business establishment was on the floor for a sufficient period of time to provide defendant with actual or constructive notice of its existence and an opportunity to correct the condition.”

A. Hasan argues that evidence supports the inference that the liquid had been on the floor for a period of time sufficient to create McDonald’s duty to clean it up. Hasan’s own testimony supports two contradictory inferences: (1) the substance was liquid and dark because it had been there a long time (it was dirty and/or melted from ice cream form), or (2) the substance was liquid and dark because it was chocolate milk.

“All inferences from circumstantial evidence and all doubts must be resolved against the movant.” Forsblad v. Jepson, 292 Minn. 458, 459-60, 195 N.W.2d 429, 430 (1972). Therefore, we examine the evidence tending to show that the substance was melted, dirty ice cream. Hasan has raised a genuine issue of material fact, i.e., whether or not the substance was on the floor a sufficient amount of time to give rise to a duty of McDonald’s to have discovered it and cleaned it up before Hasan fell.

B. Hasan argues that evidence supports the inference that McDonald’s breached its duty of reasonable care by failing to install anti-slip tiles in the area where Hasan fell. The trial court did not address this claim.

The evidence shows that Hasan fell in a heavily-traveled aisle, near a trash bin.

*475 This could support an inference that spills of slippery substances frequently occur at that spot, that McDonald’s should have known of the spills, and that McDonald’s could have reduced the risk of slips by installing anti-slip abrasive tile.

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Bluebook (online)
377 N.W.2d 472, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4688, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hasan-v-mcdonalds-corp-minnctapp-1985.