214 So. 2d 776 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1968
Mr. and Mrs. Maury appeal from a summary final judgment for the appellee in an action for personal injuries sustained by Mrs. Maury in the appellee’s store.
The general rule is that the issue of negligence is to be determined by the jury rather than the judge. Strickland v. Bradford County Hospital Corp., Fla.App.1967, 196 So.2d 765. The only question, then, is whether the uncontroverted statements made by Mrs. Maury in her deposition establish without any genuine issue of material fact that her injury was not caused by any negligence of the appellee. Viewed in the light most favorable to Mrs. Maury, her deposition establishes the following facts. On the day of the injury she was a business invitee in the bedding department of the ap-pellee’s store examining beds consisting of mattresses placed on metal frames. The beds were displayed in a long row adjacent to an aisle. As Mrs. Maury walked down the aisle examining the mattresses, she came to what she believed was an open space, and turned in. Her leg then struck a metal bed frame ten to twelve inches high on which there was no mattress. She fell and suffered fractures of her arm and other injuries. She walked into the frame because she did not see a mattress on it; it was the only bed frame without a mattress. The frame did not project into the aisle; rather, it was approximately one foot behind the line established by the rest of the bedding equipment. The color of the frame contrasted with the color of the floor. The area was well lighted.
The appellants rely upon Carter v. Parker, Fla.App.1966, 183 So.2d 3, and Shell’s
The appellee company owed Mrs. Maury the duty of maintaining its premises in a reasonably safe condition. Moulden v. Jefferson Standard Life Ins. Co., 147 Fla. 36, 2 So.2d 302 (1941). But the law does not require the proprietor of a public place to maintain his premises in a condition such that no injury can be sustained by a customer. Matson v. Tip Top Grocery Co., 151 Fla. 247, 9 So.2d 366 (1942); Earley v. Morrison Cafeteria Co. of Orlando, Fla. 1952, 61 So.2d 477.
Under the circumstances of this case as described by Mrs. Maury in her deposition, it is clear that the appellee met the standard set by the Moulden case and was therefore not negligent towards Mrs. Maury.
Affirmed.