Reeves v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

614 So. 2d 857, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 751, 1993 WL 45065
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 24, 1993
DocketNo. 24515-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 614 So. 2d 857 (Reeves v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty 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
Reeves v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 614 So. 2d 857, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 751, 1993 WL 45065 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

WILLIAMS, Judge.

This is a slip and fall case. The plaintiff, Nannie Edwards Reeves, appeals a judgment rendered in favor of defendants, Harper Motors, Inc. and its insurer, dismissing her case.

On appeal, plaintiff contends the trial court erred in failing to find that the substance on the floor of the service department of Harper Motors, Inc. was a foreign substance and as such created a hazardous condition. We find no manifest error in either the trial court’s findings of fact or its conclusions derived therefrom. We affirm.

FACTS

On December 7, 1987, plaintiff accompanied her daughter, Tanya Edwards, to Harper Motors in Minden Louisiana, to have her daughter’s car repaired. While Mrs. Reeves was in the service department of Harper Motors, she turned to walk away from the service desk and slipped, causing her to-fall. Plaintiff claims while she was falling, she braced against her daughter and twisted her back and suffered other injuries.

Despite plaintiff’s claim that she fell either on motor oil or a combination of motor oil and “floor dry”, the trial court found plaintiff’s fall was a result of her own negligence. It further found the dampness on the floor was not a foreign substance and did not create a hazardous condition. The trial court opined the real cause of the accident was plaintiff’s own lack of care and attention.

DISCUSSION

The plaintiff’s first position is the trial court should have found the substance on the floor of the service department of Harper Motors was a foreign substance and as such created a hazardous condition. She submits the slippery substance was floor dry mixed with rain water and that the floor dry had been placed where it would mix with the water by Mr. Henry Harris, an employee of Harper Motors, Inc. As a result of this information, Reeves alleges she clearly sustained her burden of proving that a foreign substance was on the floor of the automobile dealership service area causing her to slip.

The general rule of appellate review of a trial court’s finding of fact is set forth in Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989):

It is well settled that the court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s or a jury’s finding of fact in the absence of “manifest error” or unless it is “clearly wrong”, and where there is conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of [859]*859fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that it’s own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. The appellate review of fact is not completed by reading only so much of the record as will reveal a reasonable factual basis for the finding in the trial court, but if the trial court or jury findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of appeal may not reverse even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. In applying the manifestly erroneous — clearly wrong standard to the findings below, appellate courts must constantly have in mind that their initial review function is not to decide factual issues de novo.
When findings are based on determinations regarding the credibility of witnesses, the manifest error — clearly wrong standard demands great deference to the trier of fact’s findings; for only the fact-finder can be aware of the variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so heavily on the listener’s understanding and belief in what is said. Where documents or objective evidence so contradict the witness’s story, or the story itself is so internally inconsistent or implausible on its face, that a reasonable fact finder would not credit the witness’s story, the court of appeal may well find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. But where such factors are not present, and a factfinder’s finding is based on its decision to credit the testimony of one of two or more witnesses, that finding can virtually never be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong.

Id. at 844-845. (citations omitted) (footnote omitted).

In the instant suit, there was conflicting testimony and the trial court made findings of fact based upon the testimony of the witnesses it found to be the most credible. There are no documents or objective evidence to contradict those witnesses. Based on its findings, supported by the entirety of the evidence before it, including the physical demonstrations by the witnesses, the court concluded that the plaintiff failed to carry her burden of proof that she was injured because there was a foreign substance causing a hazardous condition on the premises. The court further found that the defendant acted reasonably in fulfilling its duty to keep the premises free of hazardous or foreign substances.

Under the principles set forth in Ro-sell, supra, and the jurisprudence cited therein, in order for this Court to find merit in plaintiff’s assignment of error upon which it could reverse the opinion of the trial court, the plaintiff must show, and this Court must find, that there is manifest error in the trial court’s findings of fact and consequent finding of no liability. That this court might make a different credibility call or draw a different inference from the evidence is not a sufficient basis for reversal, if it finds that the trial court’s evaluations are reasonable conclusions from the evidence as a whole.

Here, the trial court found that Mr. Riser was no longer employed at Harper Motors and had no motive to falsely testify. The trial court further found his testimony to be the most credible of all the conflicting testimony. Certainly that finding is reasonable. Mr. Riser saw the plaintiff’s leg “give”, saw her when she “slipped”, and immediately inspected the area. He did not see any puddles, standing water, oil, grease, transmission fluid, floor dry, or other substance on the floor where the plaintiff slipped. Although Mr. Hickey did not see the plaintiff slip, he was standing near Mr. Riser and turned when Mr. Riser asked the plaintiff if she was all right. Mr. Hickey also inspected the area and corroborated Mr. Riser’s description of the floor; that it was free of foreign substances, and that there was only dampness, but no water puddles, present. There was a normal procedure to squeegee water when it was present, and there was not enough water to squeegee on that day.

[860]*860Plaintiff asserts that “Henry Harris was very certain that he had placed floor dry oh the floor earlier that morning.” Despite plaintiffs assertions to the contrary, Mr. Harris did not testify that he put floor dry on the garage pavement at any time. Furthermore, Mr. Harris’ use of floor dry was confined to the inside offices where he worked cleaning up those offices. From a review of the record, it appears Mr. Harris was not extremely certain about anything except his job duties of cleaning the offices and detailing the automobiles.

In any event, Mr. Hickey and Mr. Riser testified that floor dry does not make the floor slick.

A review of the trial transcript reveals that the trial court was correct in stating that although Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
614 So. 2d 857, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 751, 1993 WL 45065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reeves-v-united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-lactapp-1993.