Opinion
52679.
ARGUED SEPTEMBER 22, 1976.
DECIDED OCTOBER 26, 1976.
Action for damages. DeKalb Superior Court. Before Judge Hubert.
Lawrence P. Martino, Joel M. Merren, for appellant.
Dennis, Corry Webb, Dennis J. Webb, for appellee.
This is a slip and fall personal injury suit in which defendant's motion for summary judgment was granted. Plaintiff alleged in her complaint that defendant's parking lot was negligently designed and maintained which caused her injury. At her deposition plaintiff testified that she parked her car at defendant's parking lot and entered the defendant's clinic. On leaving the clinic and returning to her parked vehicle she slipped and fell but did not see anything that would cause her to fall but she did, while on the ground, smell the odor of oil or gasoline. An eyewitness to the fall observed another vehicle in the lot and gasoline was dripping from its tank. He testified that plaintiff fell in this puddle of gasoline. There was no evidence shown that defendant was placed on any notice of the leaking gasoline. The lot was built on an incline. There was no evidence of any other "defects" in the parking area. Held:
Constructing a parking lot on an incline does not constitute negligence. See Sanders v. Jefferson Furniture Co., 111 Ga. App. 59 ( 140 S.E.2d 550). The evidence would authorize a finding that the leaking gasoline was the cause of the fall, a condition of which defendant was not aware. Awareness of the defect either actual or constructive is an essential of recovery. Food Fair v. Mock, 129 Ga. App. 421 ( 199 S.E.2d 820). Plaintiff admits that she did not know what caused her to fall. Under these facts there is no basis for liability. A judgment for defendant was demanded.
Judgment affirmed. Clark and Stolz, JJ., concur.