Kenny v. M & M Supermarket
| Decision Date | 04 June 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 74319,74319 |
| Citation | 183 Ga.App. 225,358 S.E.2d 641 |
| Parties | KENNY v. M & M SUPERMARKET. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Steven E. Scheer, H. Press Smith, Savannah, for appellant.
Jordon D. Morrow, Savannah, for appellee.
Summary Judgment--Slip and Fall. The facts are not in dispute in this case, only the conclusions to be drawn from those facts. Ms. Kenny went to M & M Supermarket to purchase some groceries. She said that as she walked down an aisle, she felt like she stepped in a liquid substance, some water. It must have been water, she posits, because she slid so far, approximately ten feet. Ms. Kenny conceded she did not know what it was that caused her fall for she did not see a foreign substance, her shoes were not wet nor were her clothes. All she knew was that she fell and it must have been water that caused the fall. In opposition to Ms. Kenny's supposition, an agent of the store affirmed that he had mopped and buffed the floor during the morning hours. In accordance with store policy, he had inspected the area where Ms. Kenny fell approximately five minutes before her slip and found no foreign substances on the floor. Immediately after Ms. Kenny fell, the employee looked for and found no foreign or slippery substance to cause Ms. Kenny's slip and fall.
The conclusion is inescapable that Ms. Kenny slipped and fell for an unexplained reason and the fall caused her to believe she slipped in water, especially because she slid so far. To presume that because a customer falls in a store the proprietor has somehow been negligent would make the proprietor an insurer of his customer's safety, a status not imposed by the law of this state. Key v. J.C. Penney Co., 165 Ga.App. 176, 299 S.E.2d 895. This record is silent as to why or how Ms. Kenny slipped, or upon what, other than by pure supposition. See McGauley v. Piggly-Wiggly Southern, 170 Ga.App. 851, 852, 319 S.E.2d 15. Her supposition is rebutted by actually observed facts that there was no water or other wet slippery substance on the floor to cause her fall. In passing upon a motion for summary judgment, a finding of fact which may be inferred (as by Ms. Kenny) but is not demanded by circumstantial evidence, has no probative value against positive and unrebutted evidence that no such facts as sought to be inferred do exist. Ussery v. Koch, 115 Ga.App. 463(1)(a), 154 S.E.2d 879.
Ms. Kenny seeks to invoke a conclusion that because M & M employees were present...
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Robinson v. Kroger Co.
...could not establish that the defendant had knowledge of the hazard superior to that of the invitee. See, e.g., Kenny v. M & M, 183 Ga.App. 225, 358 S.E.2d 641 (1987); DeGracia v. Huntingdon Assoc., 176 Ga.App. 495(1), 336 S.E.2d 602 (1985); Player v. Bassford, 172 Ga.App. 135, 322 S.E.2d 52......
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Adams v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.
...were maintained. That is not the law in this state. Alterman Foods v. Ligon, supra at 624, 272 S.E.2d 327; Kenny v. M & M Supermarket, 183 Ga.App. 225, 226, 358 S.E.2d 641; Key v. J.C. Penney Co., 165 Ga.App. 176, 299 S.E.2d 8. "This Court also cannot do away with the obligation of plaintif......
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Moore v. Teague, A02A1011.
...actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition by the owner to avoid summary judgment. See Kenny v. M & M Supermarket, 183 Ga.App. 225, 226, 358 S.E.2d 641 (1987) (constructive knowledge not shown and no direct evidence of slick or foreign substance on the floor); DeGracia v. H......
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Johnston v. Grand Union Co.
...to the plaintiff's injury and that its lack of such knowledge was reasonable under the circumstances. Accord Kenny v. M & M Supermarket, 183 Ga.App. 225, 358 S.E.2d 641 (1987); Mazur v. Food Giant, 183 Ga.App. 453, 359 S.E.2d 178 (1987). While this case is concededly a very close one, I do ......
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Robinson v. Kroger: a Leveling of the Field or Fatal Fall for Summary Judgment? - Morgan W. Shelton
...at 332. 18. Id., 272 S.E.2d at 330. 19. Id. at 624-25, 272 S.E. at 331. 20. 268 Ga. at 736-37, 493 S.E.2d at 406 (citing Kenny v. M & M, 183 Ga. App. 225, 358 S.E.2d 641 (1987); DeGracia v. Huntingdon Assoc., 176 Ga. App. 495, 336 S.E.2d 602 (1985); Player v. Bassford, 172 Ga. App. 135, 322......