Angel v. Varsity, Inc.
| Decision Date | 20 April 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 41939,No. 2,41939,2 |
| Citation | 148 S.E.2d 451,113 Ga.App. 507 |
| Parties | Vivian ANGEL v. The VARSITY, INC |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Webb, Parker & Ferguson, John Tye Ferguson, Atlanta, for appellant.
Long, Weinbert & Ansley, Ben Weinbert, Jr., Gregg Loomis, Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Appellant in this 'slip and fall' case concedes that no cause of action is set out based on the theory that the defendant proprietor had actual knowledge of the presence of a slippery foreign substance on the floor of its restaurant, or that the substance had been there long enough so that the defendant should be charged with constructive notice of it. Jones v. West End Theatre Corp., 94 Ga.App. 299, 94 S.E.2d 135; Campbell v. H. L. Green Co., 76 Ga.App. 477, 46 S.E.2d 351; Ford v. S. A. Lynch Corp., 79 Ga.App. 481, 54 S.E.2d 320. Negligence is, however, sought to be predicated on the construction and maintenance of the premises through allegations that a large part of the food sales of the defendant were wieners, hamburgers and sandwiches; that counters were provided where catsup and other condiments were available for customers to use in seasoning their food, the customers squeezing the containers while standing at the serving bars and then carrying the food to seats, and that the defendant knew that customers regularly and habitually dropped catsup and other condiments on the floor, which was reddish brown in color and thus furnished no contrast to catsup which fell upon it, and was indistinguishable from it. The petition alleges negligence in maintaining a floor of this coloring under the circumstances, in providing catsup under these conditions, in failing to take necessary precautions, including 'constant patrol of the premises and inspection of the floor' to remove any catsup so dropped; in failing to warn customers of the likelihood of condiments falling to the floor; and in permitting so many customers on the premises that the plaintiff and others could not inspect the floor for themselves.
The duty of the proprietor is only to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises safe. Code § 105-401. What ordinary care is must be determined in part by the standards of care generally regarded as adequate in similar situations; in Gibson v. Consolidated Credit Corp., 110 Ga.App. 170, 138 S.E.2d 77 it is pointed out that everybody knows that entrance ways to stores are tracked over on rainy days and rendered more slippery, but there is no duty on the part of a...
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Jones v. Krystal Co.
...342, 344, 226 S.E.2d 142 (1976); Colonial Stores v. Turner, 117 Ga.App. 331, 334, 160 S.E.2d 672 (1968); Angel v. Varsity, Inc., 113 Ga.App. 507, 508-509, 148 S.E.2d 451 (1966). The record does show from plaintiff's evidence that, during the 20 minutes that plaintiff was in the Krystal prio......
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Food Fair, Inc. v. Mock
...making the premises unusually dangerous, the law does not require the proprietor to provide a constant patrol. Angel v. Varsity, Inc., supra (113 Ga.App. 507, 148 S.E.2d 451).' Emory University v. Williams, 127 Ga.App. 881, 883, 195 S.E.2d 464, The evidence contained in the aforesaid affida......
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Hartley v. Macon Bacon Tune, Inc.
...359 S.E.2d 178 (1987); Miscally v. Colonial Stores, 68 Ga.App. 729, 732-733, 23 S.E.2d 860 (1943); see generally Angel v. Varsity, 113 Ga.App. 507, 509, 148 S.E.2d 451 (1966). In the case sub judice, appellee does not present any evidence to contradict the reasonable inference that the pres......
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Bryant v. Rucker
...110 Ga.App. 170(2)(c), 138 S.E.2d 77; Card v. Chichester's Baconsfield Pharmacy, 111 Ga.App. 358, 141 S.E.2d 790; Angel v. Varsity, Inc., 113 Ga.App. 507, 148 S.E.2d 451. If a business proprietor is not required to be continually mopping up rainwater inside his store to protect a business i......