Michelle Lewis v. Golden Nugget Lake Charles, LLC

CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 17, 2024
DocketCW-0023-0778
StatusUnknown

This text of Michelle Lewis v. Golden Nugget Lake Charles, LLC (Michelle Lewis v. Golden Nugget Lake Charles, LLC) 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
Michelle Lewis v. Golden Nugget Lake Charles, LLC, (La. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

23-778

MICHELLE LEWIS

VERSUS

GOLDEN NUGGET LAKE CHARLES, LLC

**********

ON APPLICATION FOR SUPERVISORY WRIT FROM THE FOURTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF CALCASIEU, NO. 2015-3773, DIVISION D HONORABLE ROBERT L. WYATT, DISTRICT JUDGE

D. KENT SAVOIE JUDGE

Court composed of D. Kent Savoie, Van H. Kyzar, Candyce G. Perret, Jonathan W. Perry, and Guy E. Bradberry, Judges.

WRIT GRANTED AND MADE PEREMPTORY; SUMMARY JUDGMENT RENDERED.

PERRET, J., dissents and would deny the writ application.

BRADBERRY, J., would deny the writ. M. Paul Skrabanek Pierce Skrabanek, PLLC 24 Greenway Plaza, Suite 500 Houston, TX 77046 (832) 690-7000 COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT Michelle Lewis

Christopher P. Ieyoub Jacinda L. Denison Plauche, Smith & Nieset, LLC 1123 Pithon Street Lake Charles, LA 70601 (318) 436-0522 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/RELATOR: Golden Nugget Lake Charles, LLC SAVOIE, Judge.

Defendant-Relator, Golden Nugget Lake Charles, LLC (“Golden Nugget”),

seeks supervisory writs from the trial court’s denial of its motion for summary

judgment. On April 11, 2024, this court issued an order stating, “[i]n keeping with

La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(H), we grant this writ for the limited purpose of briefing and

oral argument.” The order further gave the parties an opportunity to submit

additional briefs and request oral argument by certain deadlines stated therein. The

parties did not request oral argument or otherwise submit additional briefing by the

stated deadlines, so we now consider the merits.

For the reasons that follow, we grant the writ on the merits, make it

peremptory, and render summary judgment dismissing Plaintiff’s claims against

Golden Nugget.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case involves an alleged slip and fall that occurred on April 24, 2015, at

Saltgrass Steakhouse (“Saltgrass”) located in the Golden Nugget casino in Lake

Charles, Louisiana.

On September 18, 2015, Plaintiff, Michelle Lewis (“Lewis”), filed suit and

named Golden Nugget as a Defendant. She alleged in her petition that “[a]s [she]

was walking to the restroom, she slipped and fell on a waxy, glossy, slick substance

on the floor” and Golden Nugget is liable for her injuries and damages in accordance

with La.R.S. 9:2800.6. Golden Nugget filed a motion for summary judgment on

July 9, 2019, and the trial court denied it.

On October 2, 2023, Golden Nugget filed a second motion for summary

judgment. It argued that there was an absence of factual support establishing the

existence of an unreasonably dangerous condition, Golden Nugget’s actual or constructive knowledge of an unreasonably dangerous condition, and/or Golden

Nugget’s failure to exercise reasonable care. In support of its motion, Golden

Nugget submitted Lewis’s deposition testimony taken December 23, 2015.

During her deposition, Lewis testified that on the day of the incident, she was

eating lunch at Saltgrass between noon and 1:00 p.m. with her sister and father in

celebration of her birthday. Lewis explained that they were seated at a table that was

located past the entryway of the restaurant, to the left, and approximately the second

or third table in front of the bar. Lewis stated that she and her party sat at their table

for about thirty minutes to an hour eating lunch and talking and that she did not

consume any alcoholic beverages during that time. She testified that after she

finished eating, she got up from the table to go to the restroom, which was located

outside of Saltgrass, but inside the casino’s premises. She said that as she proceeded

towards the entryway of the restaurant, she “just slipped.” Lewis explained:

I just -- I lost balance. I don’t know what happened. . . I tried to catch myself from falling. So, I tried to put my hands down and that’s when the two managers came and asked me was I okay and . . . they helped me. And then . . . he himself even asked if he could look at my shoe you know. They were looking around on the floor. And as I began to get up, I looked and I did see the waxy, glossiness on the floor.

Lewis stated that, at the time of the incident, she was wearing a collared shirt,

jeans, and “slide-in sandals” that had wedge heels between three and four inches

high. She explained that after she got up after falling, she “still proceeded limping

on to the restroom,” and then went back to the table with her sister and father after

she left the restroom.

Lewis testified that the flooring in the area where she fell was “wooden

laminate.” She said she did not recall any liquid on the floor in the area where she

fell and that she did not notice any wax or liquid of any type on her clothing when

2 she stood up. When asked if there “was any residue or any type of liquid or element

that [she] could find on [her] clothes or on the bottom of [her] shoes that indicated

there was something on the floor that caused [her] to fall[,]” Lewis responded, “No[.]”

Lewis also said that she did not find any kind of substance on the floor that caused

her to fall. Lewis’s deposition also contains the following:

Q. Tell me what you felt when you put your hand on the floor as [you were] trying to get up.

....

A. Because I used my hands to help me up. It was kind of like the floor looked glossy and slippery.

Q. And tell me what that felt like on your hand.

A. Just slimy, like soft.

Q. Ms. Lewis, when you said you – what you felt on the floor, was it a substance on the floor or was it just the way that your hand moved on that was –

A. The way that my hand moved.

Q. So, was there any residue or . . . anything that you felt in your hands itself that indicated . . . that there was something on the floor?

A. I did not notice that at the time because I was just in shock . . . .

Q. Like for example, did you notice if there was any kind of like a wax or something like a liquid or a cleaner that you would have felt on the floor itself as opposed to just the floor being able to have your hand move across? Was there anything that you felt on your hand itself that indicated wax or a liquid or something to that effect?

A. I guess being slippery. Because honestly, if I could have prevented myself from falling with my hands or without hitting the floor totally, then I probably could have done that. But like I said, because of, I guess

3 based upon [what] the waitress said[1] as well [as] it being glossy and, you know, she said it’s the way they make the floor. So, with my impression, I’m assuming because it’s laminate and it’s wood that it was probably buffed and overwaxed maybe.

Q. . . . Did you find any wax or any kind of thing to indicate that it had been overwaxed on your clothing at any point in time?

A. I cannot recall if I did. I cannot.

Lewis also testified that after she went to the restroom, she returned to the

table inside of Saltgrass “more than likely” utilizing the same path as when she left

to go the restroom, and that she did not have any problems walking on the floor. She

also stated that she did not have any problems walking on the floor when she initially

walked to the table when her party was seated, or when she and her party left the

restaurant after paying their bill. Lewis also said she did not notice anyone else

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