Florida Jitney Jungle Stores, Inc. v. Montgomery
| Decision Date | 14 September 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. Q--193,Q--193 |
| Parties | FLORIDA JITNEY JUNGLE STORES, INC., a corporation, and Globe Indemnity Company, Appellants, v. Dorothy I. MONTGOMERY and Elbert Montgomery, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert P. Gaines, of Beggs, Lane, Daniel, Gaines & Davis, Pensacola, for appellants.
Richard P. Warfield, of Levin, Warfield, Graff, Mabie & Rosenbloum, Pensacola, for appellees.
The defendants-appellants appeal a final judgment entered upon a jury verdict awarding plaintiffs-appellees $18,000.00 in damages sustained as a result of a fall in appellant's grocery store. It is contended by appellants that their motions for a directed verdict should have been granted inasmuch as there was no evidence from which a jury could conclude that negligence on the part of appellant caused appellee's fall.
This cause of action arises out of a typical slip and fall incident occurring while appellees were shopping in appellant's Jitney Jungle Store. Appellees had been in the store about fifteen minutes before Mrs. Montgomery slipped and fell near the table containing fresh collard greens. She had previously been to that table, selected some collard greens, returned them to her shopping cart, had gone after some other items and was returning to the section near the collard green table where she fell. Mr. Montgomery walked over to Mrs. Montgomery when she fell and found some collard leaf on her shoe and a black mark on the floor. He stated that he saw several wilted collard leaves lying on the floor.
Two store employees testified. One employee testified that within five or six minutes before the fall occurred, he had swept the produce aisle with a large, dry mop. The other employee testified that he had been in the aisle where the fall occurred two or three minutes before the fall checking the stock on the shelves. He saw no leaves or other foreign material on the floor and he had standing instructions to pick up any foreign material that he saw on the floor.
Appellants contend that their motions for a directed verdict should have been granted for the reason that there was no evidence from which the jury could lawfully conclude that the collard leaf or leaves were on the floor because they were dropped by an employee or that an employee knew they were there before appellee fell or that they had been there so long that an employee should have known they were there. As authority for this position, appellants cite the following cases: Food Fair Stores of Florida,...
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Owens v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc.
...it did not. The First District had used that premise in its opinion, but the supreme court reversed. Florida Jitney Jungle Stores, Inc. v. Montgomery, 267 So.2d 32 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972), quashed by 281 So.2d 302 (Fla.1973). The first district noted: The fact that Mr. Montgomery testified that......
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Montgomery v. Florida Jitney Jungle Stores, Inc.
...cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, First District, reported at 267 So.2d 32. Our jurisdiction is based upon conflict between the decision sought to be reviewed and Jenkins v. Brackin, 1 and Little v. Publix Supermark......