Summary Judgment: Seminole County, Florida (Premises Liability)

Melbourne Partner, Chad Leeper, and Associate, Bianca Taraschi, obtained final summary judgment in a premises liability case on behalf of a national membership retail warehouse club in Seminole County, Florida, last week.

Plaintiff claimed she slipped and fell on a piece of food in the warehouse near a sampling cart. She claimed injury to her neck, shoulder, and hip as a result of the fall, for which she underwent physical therapy, injections, and surgery.

Record evidence showed that Plaintiff’s fall occurred less than a minute after the condition was created, which did not afford the store a reasonable amount of time to resolve the condition. Plaintiff’s primary argument at the hearing was that the Defendant failed to warn Plaintiff of the fall in that an employee of the warehouse saw the food substance fall to the floor and was on his way to pick it up when the fall occurred.  Plaintiff argued the employee should have yelled out to customers in the area to warn them of the substance.  The Court agreed with our argument that Florida law does not require a store owner to yell out to customers who are in the vicinity of a transitory substance and that the situation did not create a triable issue for a jury considering the undisputed facts. As such, the Court entered summary judgment in our client’s favor.

Congratulations Chad and Bianca on this great result!