Safeway Stores, Incorporated v. Cone

406 P.2d 869, 2 Ariz. App. 151
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 26, 1965
Docket1 CA-CIV 62
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 406 P.2d 869 (Safeway Stores, Incorporated v. Cone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Safeway Stores, Incorporated v. Cone, 406 P.2d 869, 2 Ariz. App. 151 (Ark. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

*152 DONOFRIO, Judge.

This is an appeal by Defendant from a judgment in favor of Plaintiff for injuries received by her when she slipped on water and slush and fell in Defendant’s Safeway Store located just north of Thomas Road on Seventh Avenue, in Phoenix.

On April 16, 1962, the day of the accident, it had rained in the morning and again intermittently for about an hour and a half prior to Plaintiff entering Defendant’s store. It was raining hard when Plaintiff entered through the main door of the store at about 1:00 P.M. in the afternoon. As she entered, she paused to take off her rain hat and then proceeded further into the store and turned right. She noticed water and slush on the floor and hesitated before proceeding on into the store. She was about six feet inside the store and in front of the check-out counters when she fell to the floor suffering a compound fracture of her right wrist, more technically her right radius and ulnar styloid. She was wearing low heel shoes.

At the time of the fall there were a few check-out girls and carry-out boys on duty and Plaintiff had a passing conversation with one of the check-out girls prior to the fall.

There is no direct evidence as to the size of the puddle or how long it had been on the floor. The only evidence concerning the water is the testimony of the Plaintiff.

“Q. Now, Mrs. Cone, if you had stopped when you first noticed this puddle of water which you said you ultimately fell in, if you had stopped when you first noticed it, could you have entered the store or avoided the water in any way?
A. No, I certainly could not.
Q. What was the condition of the floor back of you at that point, towards the door ?
A. Well, it was wet in back, and it was wet on both sides.”

After the fall, plaintiff examined the water and slush and said if felt funny in her hand and was slippery.

Plaintiff was unable to get up from the floor by herself and was assisted up and taken to a chair by an unknown person. She remained there for some time before the store manager came over to the Plaintiff and told her he couldn’t do anything for her now but that he would take her to the hospital in a little while. Shortly after this conversation, an unknown person took the Plaintiff to the hospital.

Plaintiff’s doctor x-rayed the wrist and sent her to a bone specialist where, because the arm was badly swollen, a temporary cast was put on. A permanent cast was put on two days later. Plaintiff complained of considerable pain and the doctor prescribed codeine for relief. There is medical testimony that compound fractures such as the one Plaintiff incurred are very painful especially for the first few days.

Plaintiff’s arm was in a cast for approximately four months during which time, and for eight months after the cast, was removed, she received physical therapy for her wrist.

X-rays taken three years after the accident showed a good union of the radius but not of the ulnar styloid. The treating physician testified that the residual condition caused by the ulnar styloid not making a good union could be consistent with some pain with weather changes.

At the time of the accident Plaintiff was employed as a receptionist, hotel clerk and switchboard operator. She was unable to-continue with those jobs due to the fracture and had to quit. She took a job answering calls for a burglar alarm service and when the company terminated business she held jobs as a switchboard operator at various hotels. She was employed at the time of trial at the Ramada Inn as a P.B.X. operator. Plaintiff suffered a decrease in income as a result of being unable to adequately perform the type of employment she was engaged in at the time of the accident. Plaintiff is right handed and her *153 injury has inhibited her efficiency in the performance of these jobs and also restricted her in the performance of routine household and personal operations. At the time of the trial the wrist injury still gave her trouble to the extent that she was receiving heat treatments.

Appellant contends on appeal that the court erred in denying Defendant’s motions for directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the grounds that the essential elements of actionable negligence were not established by the evidence.

The elements needed to impose liability upon the Defendant are: (1) a duty owed to Plaintiff, (2) a breach thereof by Defendant and (3) as a legal result the Plaintiff is injured. We only need concern ourselves with the first two elements for if we find numbers 1 and 2 exist, then the fact that number 3 exists is not disputed. What is the duty owed to Plaintiff, a business visitor? In Sherman v. Arno, 94 Ariz. 284, 383 P.2d 741 (1963), the court stated:

* * * a possessor of premises is not an insurer of the safety of business invitees, but is only required to exercise ordinary care to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition.” 94 Ariz. 290, 383 P.2d 744.

Has the Defendant breached this duty? To answer this question we must determine if the Defendant had any notice actual or constructive, of the dangerous condition. Defendant contends that he must have notice of the water and slush Plaintiff slipped on and not just notice of the fact that it is raining. We agree with this contention, but the fact that it is raining places a person on notice of potential dangerous conditions arising. This circumstance may require more frequent inspections than would otherwise be necessary. Williamson v. F. W. Woolworth Co., 237 Miss. 141, 112 So.2d 529, 532 (1959). The notice need not be actual but can be constructive. The length of time it had been raining, the location of the puddle, the amount of water, how long it had been there and the consistency of the puddle are all facts which when taken as a whole go to show that even if the Defendant did not have actual notice it should have noticed, and the law imputes this knowledge to it. In our case, it had been raining off and on for about an hour and a half prior to Plaintiff entering the store, and pouring hard as Plaintiff entered the store. In Royer v. Najarian, 60 R.I. 368, 198 A. 562 (1938) the court stated:

“We must also bear in mind the fact that it had been raining all through that Saturday evening, so it would be reasonable for the jury to infer that the defendants had notice of the wet condition of the pavement in the vestibules.” 198 A. 565.

Though the area concerned in the Royer case was directly exposed to the rain we do not think that fact has any bearing on the principle announced therein. The defendant contends that the fact that the area was outside is important since the owner can more reasonably believe this area directly exposed to the elements may become dangerous. A store owner also can reasonably believe that water will be tracked into a store by patrons using the main door during a rain. Blake v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 266 Mass. 12, 164 N.E. 486 at 487. Therefore the principle announced in the Royer case would apply equally as well to the situation in the case at bar.

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406 P.2d 869, 2 Ariz. App. 151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/safeway-stores-incorporated-v-cone-arizctapp-1965.