Plaintiff Deborah Beach Queen slipped and fell on grapes which had fallen to the floor in the produce department of defendant Kroger Company’s store. Two employees were standing nearby where the plaintiff fell but both employees had their backs to the place where she fell and were engaged in bagging and weighing produce. Both employees testified on deposition that they had not seen the grapes on the floor prior to plaintiff’s fall. One of the employees testified it was his duty to keep the produce department clean and to check every fifteen to twenty minutes to see if the area needed to be swept. He testified he had last swept the floor approximately ten to twenty minutes before plaintiff fell. Summary judgment was granted to defendant and plaintiff appeals.
1. “There are two different classes of [premises liability] cases which may be based on constructive knowledge. The first is that type where liability of the defendant is based on the fact that an employee of the defendant was in the immediate area of the dangerous condition and could have easily seen the substance and removed the haz
*250
ard. [Cits.] . . . The second type of case is that based on the duty of the defendant to exercise reasonable care in inspecting and keeping the premises in safe condition. [Cit.] To sustain plaintiff’s cause of action in the latter case it is necessary that he prove ‘a period of time the dangerous condition has been allowed to exist. Without such (proof) it would not be possible to determine whether the defendant had been afforded a reasonable time within which to inspect and remove the hazard.’ [Cit.]”
Winn-Dixie Stores v. Hardy,
2. One of defendant’s employees testified it was his practice to inspect and sweep the produce department floor every fifteen to twenty minutes. He also admitted he frequently found grapes which had fallen to the floor. Plaintiff argues that an issue remains as to whether defendant was negligent in failing to inspect the area more frequently given defendant’s knowledge that grapes fell to the floor. However, plaintiff’s argument assumes that the grapes on which she fell were on the floor for the full ten to twenty minutes since the employee had last swept the area. In fact, no evidence was presented to establish the period of time the hazard had existed. Even though grapes frequently fell to the floor, no evidence suggests that the grapes on which plaintiff fell had been on the floor for a sufficient period to afford defendant the opportunity to discover and remove the hazard. Moreover, the area where plaintiff fell was not immediately adjacent to the grape display case but was on a different aisle. The employee testified he did not usually find grapes on aisles other than the one where the grapes were displayed. “It is well settled that a proprietor is under no duty to patrol the premises continuously in the absence of facts showing that the premises are unusually dangerous.”
Mazur v. Food Giant,
3. Plaintiff also argues an issue remains as to whether the manner in which defendant displayed the grapes was unnecessarily dangerous. No evidence was presented which would support this notion. The grapes on which plaintiff fell were not immediately adjacent to the grape display, so it is obvious they did not fall from the display counter. It is common knowledge that most produce in a grocery store is offered loose and unpackaged for customer selection. The fact that defendant displayed the grapes in loose bunches, without more, does not create an issue of negligence.
4. Finally, the lower court did not err in basing its grant of summary judgment on the cases of
Mazur v. Food Giant,
supra, and
Mitchell v. Food Giant,
Judgment affirmed.