Jones v. Zayre, Inc.
| Decision Date | 17 January 1980 |
| Citation | 600 S.W.2d 730 |
| Parties | Minnie S. JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ZAYRE, INC., Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Appeals |
Charles P. Dupree, Chattanooga, for plaintiff-appellant.
Donald E. Warner and Joe E. Manuel, with Leitner, Warner, Owens, Moffitt, Williams & Dooley, Chattanooga, for defendant-appellee.
Plaintiff has appealed from a directed verdict in her suit for personal injuries received when she fell in Defendant's store.
The Plaintiff-Appellant, Minnie S. Jones, sued the Defendant-Appellee, Zayre, Inc. for personal injuries resulting from a fall when the Plaintiff was a customer in Defendant's store. The Defendant is the owner and operator of a large department store in Chattanooga. The Plaintiff had gone to the Defendant's store to purchase some merchandise. After she had selected the items she desired to purchase she was walking up an aisle on her way to the check-out counter when her feet suddenly slipped from under her and she fell to the floor. While sitting on the floor, following her fall, she discovered she had stepped on a small plastic clothes clip, which had caused her to fall. As a result of the fall Plaintiff sustained certain personal injuries for which she sued the Defendant. The complaint alleges the Defendant was negligent in not properly maintaining its premises, and Defendant knew or should have known of the dangerous condition of the premises, resulting in her injuries.
The Defendant, in its answer, denied the allegations of the complaint.
A jury was empaneled to try the case but at the conclusion of the Plaintiff's proof the Defendant moved for a directed verdict. The motion was granted and the Plaintiff has appealed, insisting this was error.
It is an often-quoted rule that before directing a verdict it is the duty of the trial court to examine the entire record to determine if there is any evidence to support a verdict and in so doing to consider only the facts proved in support of the party against whom such motion is made. The court shall draw all reasonable inferences from the supporting proof and disregard all countervailing evidence and, after doing this, if there is any competent evidence about which the minds of reasonable men could disagree, it is the duty of the trial court to overrule such motion.
On appeal to this court we are governed by the same rule in passing upon the judgment of the trial court. D. M. Rose & Co. v. Snyder, 185 Tenn. 499, 206 S.W.2d 897; Colonial Baking Co. v. Acquino, 20 Tenn.App. 695, 103 S.W.2d 613; Monday v. Millsaps, 37 Tenn.App. 371, 264 S.W.2d 6, 14; McMahan v. Tucker, 31 Tenn.App. 429, 216 S.W.2d 356, 360; Tennessee Central Ry. Co. v. McCowan, 28 Tenn.App. 225, 188 S.W.2d 931; Lowe v. Irvin, (1963) 52 Tenn.App. 356, 373 S.W.2d 623; Perry v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, 49 Tenn.App. 662, 359 S.W.2d 1.
The facts in the case are not in dispute. The plastic clip on which the Plaintiff slipped is made of a clear substance and was about the size of an ordinary conventional paper clip. It is used by the manufacturers of clothing to hold the clothing in place on clothes hangers. Many items of clothing come into Defendant's store with these clips attached and remain on the clothing until it is sold. It appears that in the course of business in...
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