Summary
holding that there was no opportunity for constructive notice where substance had been on floor for only 20 minutes
Summary of this case from Kulzer v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.Opinion
Nos. 42924, 43052.
March 3, 1972.
Negligence — fall by bank customer — failure to establish negligence.
Action in the Hennepin County District Court for personal injuries allegedly sustained by plaintiff when she fell on defendant's premises. The case was tried before William C. Christianson, a retired judge, and a jury, and at the close of plaintiff's case, the court directed a verdict for defendant. Plaintiff appealed from the order directing the verdict and from the judgment entered. Affirmed.
Jerome E. Kline, for appellant.
Richards, Montgomery, Cobb Bassford and Lynn G. Truesdell III, for respondent.
Considered by Knutson, C. J., and Otis, Peterson, Todd, and Mason, JJ.
Plaintiff slipped and fell on a small puddle of water, 3 to 5 inches in circumference, on defendant bank's floor near a teller's window. Except for this puddle and some adjacent small puddles, as well as some "damp footmarks," plaintiff could "walk just normal" on the "fine, dry floor." It had been raining hard, and the bank had been open only 20 minutes at the time plaintiff entered. The circumstances strongly suggest that the water was shed from the clothing or umbrellas of one or more persons who preceded plaintiff into the bank.
No evidence was introduced by plaintiff to show that defendant had actual or constructive notice of those puddles. The circumstances of time and condition were not such as to impose upon defendant a duty to have discovered and removed the puddle. The trial court accordingly directed a verdict for defendant, a ruling fully supported by Anderson v. St. Thomas More Newman Center, 287 Minn. 251, 178 N.W.2d 242 (1970), and Filipczak v. International Brotherhood of Elec. Workers, 292 Minn. 486, 195 N.W.2d 433 (1972).
See, also, Parker v. McCrory Stores Corp. 76 Pa. 122, 101 A.2d 377 (1954); Parks v. Montgomery Ward Co. 198 F.2d 772 (10 Cir. 1952); Deptula v. New Britain Trust Co. 19 Conn. Sup. 434, 116 A.2d 773 (1955); Tariff v. S. S. Kresge Co. 299 Mass. 129, 12 N.E.2d 79 (1937).
Affirmed.