J.H. Harvey Co. v. Johnson
Decision Date | 02 February 1994 |
Docket Number | No. A94A0190,A94A0190 |
Citation | 440 S.E.2d 548,211 Ga.App. 809 |
Parties | J.H. HARVEY COMPANY v. JOHNSON. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Young, Clyatt, Turner, Thagard & Hoffman, James B. Thagard, Sherry S. Harrell, Valdosta, for appellant.
Beauchamp & Associates, William Eckhardt, Albany, for appellee.
The appellee, Sharon Johnson, slipped and fell to the floor in a puddle of water which allegedly accumulated from coolers defrosting in a supermarket owned and operated by the appellant, J.H. Harvey Company (Harvey). Johnson testified on deposition that there were no employees of Harvey's Supermarket in the vicinity at the time of her fall and she did not know of any employee with knowledge of the hazard at the time of the fall. In this action for damages against Harvey arising from the injuries Johnson sustained in the fall, Harvey moved for summary judgment, and the motion was denied by the trial court. We granted Harvey's interlocutory application to determine whether summary adjudication was warranted.
Lea v. American Home Equities, 210 Ga.App. 214, 215, 435 S.E.2d 734 (1992). (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Thompson v. Regency Mall Assoc., 209 Ga.App. 1, 3, 432 S.E.2d 230 (1993).
In the case sub judice, although management had knowledge of the periodic defrosting of the meat cooler, the record does not show that any employee or manager of the supermarket had actual knowledge of the alleged water leakage onto the floor prior to Johnson's fall. Inasmuch as the evidence of record appears to be sufficient to show that Harvey lacked actual knowledge of the hazard and no employee of the supermarket was in the immediate vicinity at the time of the fall, our inquiry must focus on whether Harvey has effectively negated Johnson's allegation that it failed to reasonably inspect its premises for the safety of invitees.
A manager testified on deposition that the store regularly and routinely inspected the floor in the area of the fall every day. In fact, the produce clerk specifically assigned to inspect the floor in the area of Johnson's fall testified by affidavit that he inspected the area 30 minutes prior to Johnson's fall and if there had been any foreign substance in the area at the time, he would have seen the substance and removed it. Morris v. Ryan's Family Steak Houses, 206 Ga.App. 369, 425 S.E.2d 362 (1992). Consequently, we must conclude that Harvey was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law because the record does not show that the supermarket had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard.
Moreover, "not only must the plaintiff show that the...
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