438 So. 2d 1012 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1983
Lead Opinion
Plaintiff appeals an order granting a directed verdict in favor of the defendant, Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. We affirm.
This is a slip and fall case. Plaintiff slipped and fell in an unknown substance in defendant’s grocery store. On appeal, she alleges that sufficient facts were adduced at trial to establish constructive notice of the dangerous condition to the store. After carefully reviewing the record, we find that the plaintiff failed to establish the requisite constructive notice and affirm the decision of the trial court granting the directed verdict. Food Fair Stores of Florida v. Patty, 109 So.2d 5 (Fla.1959); Friedman v. Biscayne Restaurant, Inc., 254 So.2d 831 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971).
AFFIRMED.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
There is evidence that a store employee was working in close proximity to the dirty, smelly puddle in which the appellant fell and that the employee was close enough to have both seen and smelled the substance prior to appellant’s fall. Based on that evidence, and other evidence of the nature and size of the puddle, it is clear that this case should have been submitted to the jury on the issue of whether the store, through its employees, knew or should have known of the puddle’s existence prior to appellant’s fall. This case is very similar to the case of Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Guenther, 395 So.2d 244 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) wherein similar evidence was found sufficient to support a finding of liability against the store.