Campbell v. H. L. Green Co.

• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: FELTON, Judge.
• Citation: Campbell v. H. L. Green Co., 76 Ga.App. 477, 46 S.E.2d 351 (Ga. App. 1948)
• Decision Date: 14 February 1948
• Docket Number: 31866.
• Parties: CAMPBELL v. H. L. GREEN CO., Inc.

46 S.E.2d 351

76 Ga.App. 477

CAMPBELL v. H. L. GREEN CO., Inc.

No. 31866.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 1.

February 14, 1948

Syllabus by the Court.

Since the plaintiff failed to prove her case as laid, the court did not err in granting a nonsuit.

Janie Campbell brought an action for damages against H. L. Green Company, Inc. The allegations of her petition material to a determination of the case were substantially these: The defendant was on July 29, 1946 operating in the basement of its place of business a meat department and a grocery department to which the general public were invited; the meat department was located along a section of the south wall of the basement and the grocery department occupied the entire west end of the basement; the grocery department was separated from the meat department by a step-down extending from the south side of the basement towards the north side; the step-down consisted of two floor levels with one step midway between; the two floor levels and the step midway between them were of a neutral color of white and gray concrete with a smooth hard surface; the step-down did not have banisters or railings for customers to hold to in going up and down the steps; on July 29, 1946, two of the defendant's agents and servants were opening cardboard cartons of Miracle Whip salad dressing near the south end of the concrete step-down at a point about five feet from the line of travel usually followed by customers in going from the meat department to the grocery department; as the cartons were being opened a large group of customers was congregated around the cartons; each customer was milling, pushing shoving, and attempting to secure a glass of salad dressing one of the customers at that time, after securing a glass jar of salad dressing, dropped it on the concrete step-down at a point approximately ten feet from the place where the defendant's two agents and servants were opening the cardboard cartons of salad dressing, and upon hitting the concrete step-down, the glass container broke, splattering the oily and slick salad dressing over a four foot area on the step-down; the salad dressing, splattered on the step-down, was not noticeable except upon close examination since the light yellow color of the salad dressing blended with the neutral color of the concrete step-down; on the day in question the plaintiff made a purchase at the meat counter and started toward the grocery department; at the time the plaintiff started toward the grocery department she was approximately 20 feet from the point where the defendant's servants were unpacking the cartons of salad dressing and she was approximately 30 feet from the point where the jar of salad dressing had fallen to the floor and broken; as the plaintiff left the meat counter, she passed by the cardboard cartons of salad dressing and made her way through the group of customers congregated around the cartons of salad dressing; during the time which elapsed after the plaintiff left the meat counter she did not hear or see any one dropping a jar of salad dressing; had the jar been dropped during that period she would have seen and heard it; as the plaintiff stepped down on the concrete step-down she slipped on the splattered salad dressing which had been dropped and the jar broken at some time before she left the meat counter, and the plaintiff fell to the concrete step and floor with great force and violence the broken jar of salad dressing and the danger created by it were not seen or known by the plaintiff and were not obvious to her, nor could she by the exercise of ordinary care have discovered them; at the time the salad dressing was dropped, the defendant's two agents and servants, opening cartons ten feet away, either knew or through the exercise of ordinary care should have known that the jar had been dropped and broken; and under the allegations of the petition, the defendant's negligence consisted of the following: (a) failure to provide banisters or hand rails for the protection of its customers in going from one floor level to the other; (b) allowing cartons of scarce foodstuff to be unpacked on its sales floor, thereby attracting a throng of customers, producing confusion on the sales floor, and increasing the possibility of items being dropped, caused the salad dressing to be dropped to the floor and broken, and also obscured the vision of customers so far as the floor and stairway area were concerned; (c) failure to take immediate steps to remove the broken jar of salad dressing after the defendant knew, or should have known that it was upon the steps; and (d) failure of the defendant to take immediate steps to block off the floor and step area covered with the splattered salad dressing after the defendant knew or should have known of its presence on the floor by virtue of the facts stated in the petition. The defendant filed an answer of general denial. There were no demurrers to the petition. After the introduction of the plaintiff's evidence, the court, upon motion of the defendant,...