Lee v. Southland Corp.

Citation253 So.2d 268
Decision Date08 September 1971
Docket NumberNo. 70--701,70--701
CourtCourt of Appeal of Florida (US)
PartiesLillie Mae LEE and Lonnie E. Lee, her husband, Appellants, v. The SOUTHLAND CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation, Appellee.

George W. Phillips, Tampa, for appellants.

Scott Charlton, of Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler, Tampa, for appellee.

PIERCE, Chief Judge.

In this case Lillie Mae Lee and Lonnie E. Lee, her husband, appeal to this Court from a judgment entered against them by the Hillsborough County Circuit Court in a case wherein they were suing The Southland Corporation, a Delaware corporation, appellee here and defendant below, for injuries sustained when Mrs. Lee slipped and fell at the front entrance of a 7-Eleven store owned and operated by Southland, and an accompanying cost judgment against the Lees.

At the trial, the Lees testified that Mrs. Lee slipped on a piece of gummed tape. She stated that at the time she did not know what caused her to fall but assumed it was the piece of paper in question. Mr Lee testified that the Store Manager after the accident picked up a piece of brown tape 4 to 6 inches long, from her foot. Neither knew, of course, how long the gummed tape had been on the floor, nor directly how it got there. The Store Manager stated that the only tape the 7-Eleven stores normally carried for sale was cellophane or scotch tape and that groceries and other products were normally unloaded in front of the store but that no deliveries were received on Sundays, which was the date of the accident.

The Lees tendered testimony of a former employee of 7-Eleven, one Bexley, who had worked in approximately ten different 7-Eleven stores and was familiar with their operating procedures, although he had never worked in this particular store. He stated that the uniform procedure at 7-Eleven stores was for merchandise to be unloaded at the front of the store and that gummed tape was used in packaging certain merchandise coming into the stores. The trial Court excluded the testimony of Bexley and at the conclusion of plaintiffs' case granted Southland's motion for directed verdict, later entering final judgment and the cost judgment. The Lees appeal to this Court and contend that the case should not have been peremptorily taken from the jury. We agree and reverse.

It would serve no good purpose here to further attempt to analyze the evidence in more detail. In a tort action the trial...

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8 cases
  • Strickland v. Roosevelt County Rural Elec. Co-op.
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of New Mexico
    • January 17, 1980
    ...485 P.2d 1309 (1971). In a tort action the trial court should always be extremely chary in directing a verdict. Lee v. Southland Corporation, 253 So.2d 268 (Fla.App.1971). He deals with one of the most tricky situations in the administration of the law, Garcia v. San Gabriel Ready Mixt., 15......
  • United Servs. Auto. Ass'n v. Rey, Case No. 2D18-5120
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • August 5, 2020
    ...cautious manner." (citing Phillips v. Van's Elec. of Lake Worth, Inc., 620 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) )); Lee v. Southland Corp., 253 So. 2d 268, 269 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971) ("In a tort action the trial [c]ourt should always be extremely chary in directing a verdict at trial ...."); MasTec N......
  • Marlowe v. Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc.
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • October 9, 1973
    ...Jenkins v. Brackin, Fla.App. 1965, 171 So.2d 589; Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Burse, Fla.App. 1969, 229 So.2d 266; Lee v. The Southland Corporation, Fla.App. 1971, 253 So.2d 268; Montgomery v. Florida Jitney Jungle Stores, Inc., Fla. 1973, 281 So.2d 302. The power to direct a verdict in a sl......
  • Schmidt v. Bowl America Florida, Inc.
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • May 31, 1978
    ...long enough so that the exercise of reasonable care would have resulted in discovery. Jenkins, supra. In Lee v. The Southland Corporation, 253 So.2d 268 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1971), the plaintiff was injured when she slipped and fell in front of the defendant's store. The District Court of Appeal r......
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