387 S.E.2d 600 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1989
James Clemons, Sr. brought suit against Piggly Wiggly Southern, Inc. seeking damages for injuries he incurred when he slipped and fell in a store operated by the defendant. The trial court granted Piggly Wiggly Southern’s motion for summary judgment and Clemons appeals.
The record reveals that on April 24, 1987, appellant and his wife were visiting appellee’s grocery store in Eatonton when appellant fell in aisle eight of the store after slipping on a brown colored liquid, the color of the floor, which had accumulated in a puddle about a foot away from the shelf. In his deposition appellant characterized the liquid as “shampoo” and stated he did not see an empty shampoo bottle
We reverse. “ ‘[B]efore an owner can be held liable for the slippery conditions of his floors, produced by the presence of a foreign substance thereon, it is necessary that the proof should show that he was aware of the substance or would have known of its presence had he exercised reasonable care.’ [Cits.] . . . Knowledge on the part of the proprietor that there is a foreign substance on the floor that could cause patrons to slip and fall may be either actual or constructive.” Alterman Foods v. Ligon, 246 Ga. 620, 622 (272 SE2d 327) (1980). The evidence in this case raises several questions of fact for the jury to decide. We agree with appellant that Mitchell v. Rainey, 187 Ga. App. 510 (370 SE2d 673) (1988) is closely analogous to the facts in the case sub judice. In Mitchell the plaintiff fell on a puddle of melted ice cream. After discussing the rule applicable to situations where the property owner’s opportunity to discover a foreign substance is raised, this court found that “where there was melted ice cream on the floor, the amount of time for ice cream to melt would of necessity be a jury question.” Id. at 512. Similarly, we find that the amount of time for the shampoo to seep out of the bottle would necessarily be a jury question.
We also agree with appellant that the presence of the cat litter on the shampoo raises questions for jury determination. The depositions of record contain references to the fact that the area in aisle eight where appellant fell was stocked with shampoo and hairspray. The record does not reflect that cat litter was stocked in the same area. Thus, it can reasonably be inferred from the record that the shampoo had been present long enough either for a patron to have spilled “a lot” of cat litter onto the liquid accidentally or for someone to have placed the cat litter deliberately on top of the shampoo, perhaps to
Judgment reversed.