Moulden v. Greenbelt Consumer Services, Inc.

• Decision Date: 08 June 1965
• Docket Number: No. 337,337
• Citation: 210 A.2d 724,239 Md. 229
• Parties: Pauline H. MOULDEN v. GREENBELT CONSUMER SERVICES, INC.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 229

239 Md. 229

210 A.2d 724

Pauline H. MOULDEN v. GREENBELT CONSUMER SERVICES, INC.

No. 337.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 8, 1965.

Robert C. Heeney, Rockville (Heeney, McAuliffe & McAuliffe, Rockville, on the brief), for appellant.

Edward B. Layne, Jr., Bethesda (McInerney, Latham & Layne, Bethesda, on the brief), for appellee.

Before HAMMOND, HORNEY, MARBURY, SYBERT, and BARNES, JJ.

MARBURY, Judge.

Appellant, Pauline H. Moulden, sued for damages resulting from an injury she sustained from a fall in appellee's store. At the conclusion of her case, appellee moved for a directed verdict, which was granted by Judge Moorman, and a judgment was entered in favor of the appellee for costs.

On December 7, 1960, at approximately 6:00 p. m., the appellant, then unmarried, went to the food supermarket owned by the appellee, located in Rockville. Accompanying her were her fiance and her ten year old daughter, Donna. The finance took a food cart to the frozen food department while appellant, with her daughter, walked to aisle No. 7 where the bread and cookies were located. She was not carrying anything in her hands, and while walking along the aisle looking at the cookie display, she suddenly slipped. She tried to balance herself and swung her arms to keep from falling. She felt a numbness in her back and went to the front of the aisle to tell the assistant manager of the store, Lawrence Arnold, what had happened. He went to the location of the accident where he found a mashed, dry, green string bean, approximately six inches long.

Arnold testified that a janitor worked at the store until 3:30 p. m., and before departing each day, he would sweep the floor. He examined the floor to see that it was swept before 3:30 p. m. on the day of the accident, although he could not recall whether he walked down aisle No. 7 just prior to the accident. He stated that the store was selling string beans loose, but not in the area where the accident occurred. In the produce department, customers would put the beans in a bag and take it to one of the employees who would weigh them.

The daughter, who was ten years old at the time of the accident, testified that her mother did not fall but caught herself after she slipped. She held Donna's arm and said she had hurt her back. Donna saw the bean on the floor which she described as '* * * a gob of something. It smashed up and you couldn't tell what it was.'

At the conclusion of the plaintiff's evidence, the defendant moved for a directed verdict on the ground that the plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case sufficient to permit the court to submit the case to the jury. The court granted this motion.

The appellant contends that the trial court erred in taking the case from the jury because the coloring of the bean and its location were sufficient to make a prima facie case which required the appellee to go on with its evidence.

It is established law in this State that a proprietor of a store owes a duty to his customers to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition, and he will be held liable for injuries sustained by a customer in consequence of his failure to do so. Nalee, Inc. v. Jacobs, 228 Md. 525, 180 A.2d 677; Evans v. Hot Shoppes, Inc., 223 Md. 235, 164 A.2d 273. However, the proprietor of a store is not an insurer of the safety of his customers while they are on the premises and no presumption of negligence on the part of the owner arises merely from a showing that an injury was sustained in his store. To recover in an action for damages, the plaintiff must show that the defendant was guilty of negligence which produced the particular injury alleged. Appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to permit this case to go to the jury, and that in doing so, it failed to consider the evidence with the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. It is true that a trial judge must assume the truth of all...