Williams v. GK MAHAVIR, INC.

726 S.E.2d 71, 314 Ga. App. 758, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 788, 2012 WL 593107, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 190
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 24, 2012
DocketA11A1622
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 726 S.E.2d 71 (Williams v. GK MAHAVIR, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. GK MAHAVIR, INC., 726 S.E.2d 71, 314 Ga. App. 758, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 788, 2012 WL 593107, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 190 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

PHIPPS, Presiding Judge.

In this slip and fall case, Vanessa Williams appeals the grant of summary judgment in favor of GK Mahavir, Inc. d/b/a Best Western Dawson Village Inn (“Best Western”). Williams contends the trial court erred by determining: that Best Western did not cause the slip and fall which resulted in her injury, that she failed to show that Best Western had actual or constructive knowledge of a substance on the floor, and that Best Western discharged its burden on the issue of actual or constructive knowledge of a substance on the floor. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.

On appeal from the grant of summary judgment this [c]ourt conducts a de novo review of the evidence to determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact and whether the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law.1

The record shows that on the day of the incident, Williams and her two sons walked from their hotel room to the hotel lobby, in search of the swimming pool. They walked through the lobby area until they reached a door through which Williams looked to determine whether they could get to the pool. Williams then turned to go another route, and she slipped and fell on a substance that appeared to be water. Williams deposed that she did not know the source of the water on which she had slipped, but that after her fall she saw water underneath a nearby table in the kitchen and dining area and thought the water came from there. Williams deposed that she was watching where she was walking, but did not see the substance on the floor before she fell.

A front-desk employee on duty that day from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. deposed that the incident occurred around 7:00 p.m. She stated that the maintenance man usually left for the day by 4:00 p.m.; and that the housekeeping staff usually left for the day by 3:00 p.m. After they left, she held the sole responsibility for maintenance issues as well as for checking in guests. The employee deposed that spills in the kitchen and dining area of the lobby usually occurred in the mornings during breakfast; but even after breakfast, there were times when guests dined in the kitchen and dining area of the lobby. The employee deposed that on the day of the incident, she was stationed at the front desk, but did not see Williams fall because she [759]*759could not see “around [a] little corner,” from where she was positioned. The employee stated that at “no time prior to [Williams]’s fall did [she] observe any water on the lobby floor.” The employee deposed that “no more than five seconds” before Williams fell, a family had come through the lobby with a cooler.

The manager deposed that hotel guests could access the swimming pool by walking through the lobby, and that guests walking through the lobby from the pool would sometimes track water on the floor. When asked whether the hotel had a schedule or policy in place to direct staff persons as to how often to inspect the lobby area of the hotel, the manager replied that it was an “everyday job.” When asked whether there were any special instructions related to the pool area, the manager replied that the staff needed no special instructions and that they were “quite aware of their responsibilities,” but he did not specify those responsibilities. The manager was then asked how often the lobby area was inspected to see whether it was clean, and he replied that his staff cleaned the lobby area “only if it needed to be cleaned,” and that there was no time frame in which a staff person was required to walk through to see whether the floors of the lobby area needed cleaning. The manager stated that immediately prior to Williams’s fall, he had been monitoring a security camera from his office and did not see any substance on the floor in the area where Williams fell.

In granting Best Western’s motion for summary judgment, the trial court found that Best Western “discharged its burden by showing a lack of evidence regarding the issue of any knowledge it might have had, actual or constructive, of any foreign substance on the floor of [Best Western]’s hotel lobby that might have caused [Williams] to slip and fall.” The court further found that Williams failed to “meet her burden by not pointing to any specific evidence in the record giving rise to a triable issue of fact regarding [Best Western]’s knowledge.” We disagree and find a jury question exists concerning whether Best Western had constructive knowledge.

A defendant may prevail at summary judgment by showing the court that “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”2

“Where an owner or occupier of land, by express or implied invitation, induces or leads others to come upon his premises for any lawful purpose, he is liable in damages to such persons for injuries caused by his failure to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises [760]*760and approaches safe.”3

In order to state a cause of action in a case where the plaintiff alleges that due to an act of negligence by the defendant he slipped and fell on a foreign substance on the defendant’s floor, the plaintiff must show (1) that the defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the foreign substance and (2) that the plaintiff was without knowledge of the substance. . . . Thus, in order for a defendant to successfully move for summary judgment in a foreign substance slip and fall case, it must come forward with evidence tending to show that (1) it had neither actual nor constructive knowledge of the foreign substance or that (2) plaintiff had knowledge of the substance.4

The owner or occupier’s constructive knowledge of the hazard can arise from the failure to exercise reasonable care in inspecting the premises to keep them safe.5 “As to the duty to keep the premises safe, the owner has a duty to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises safe.”6

When undertaking the duty to keep the premises safe by the exercise of ordinary care, this includes inspecting the premises to discover anticipated dangerous conditions about which the owner does not have actual knowledge and taking reasonable precautions to protect invitees from dangers foreseeable from the use of the premises.7

As a guest at Best Western, Williams was an invitee on the property, and Best Western may be liable to her for injuries caused by its failure to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe.8 There was no evidence that the employee on duty at the time of the incident was in Williams’s immediate vicinity when she slipped and fell; Williams testified that she did not see any substance on the floor before she fell; and the employee and manager [761]*761swore that they did not see any water on the floor of the lobby area that day, prior to Williams’s fall. Therefore, the evidence shows that neither Williams nor Best Western had actual knowledge of any foreign substance on the floor of the hotel lobby. Thus, the case turns on whether Best Western had constructive knowledge.9

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Williams v. GK MAHAVIR, INC.
726 S.E.2d 71 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 S.E.2d 71, 314 Ga. App. 758, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 788, 2012 WL 593107, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-gk-mahavir-inc-gactapp-2012.