Ohlson v. Safeway Stores, Inc.
| Decision Date | 02 September 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 14969,14969 |
| Citation | 568 P.2d 753 |
| Parties | Ramona OHLSON, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. SAFEWAY STORES, INC., Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Scott J. Daniels and Merlin R. Lybbert, of Snow, Christensen & Martineau, Salt Lake City, for defendant and appellant.
Robert A. Echard and Robert V. Phillips, Ogden, for plaintiff and respondent.
Defendant appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict by the District Court for Weber County, awarding plaintiff $3,680 for injuries resulting from a slip and fall on dry spaghetti on the floor of a grocery store owned and operated by defendant. Affirmed. Costs to plaintiff.
Defendant argues that it was error for the District Court to deny Defendant's motion for a directed verdict and its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict in the absence of evidence showing the length of time the debris was on the floor, and in view of the fact that the condition of this debris itself did not indicate how long it had been on the floor.
Defendant cites six cases decided by this Court in support of its argument. 1 However, we believe those cases are distinguishable from this one. In none of those cases was evidence presented which would show from the condition of the debris on the floor that it had been there for any appreciable time.
Here, the testimony was that the spaghetti was dirty, crushed, broken into small pieces, and that it extended from aisle ten around the end of that aisle into the main aisle for five or six feet toward the cash register at the front of the store.
The only inspection of the area made by defendant's employees in the 45 minutes prior to plaintiff's injury was a casual glance down the aisle made by defendant's manager as he came on duty, even though defendant knew that the time at which the injury occurred was the busiest time for the store; that more customers were present during that time; that debris was more likely to find its way to the floor during this time; and that the debris caused the kind of injury suffered by the plaintiff here. The main aisle in which some of the spaghetti was strewn was visible from the positions of employees at the cash register.
It is a question of fact for the jury whether under all these circumstances the defendant had actual or constructive notice, of the presence of the debris on the floor for such a length of time that it would have been discovered by an owner who exercised reasonable care. 2 Considering the area over which the spaghetti was strewn and the dirty and broken condition it was in, coupled with other evidence recited above, the jury could reasonably find as it did.
The jury was properly instructed that the defendant could not be held liable for any injury suffered by plaintiff, a business invitee, resulting...
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Berrett v. Albertsons Inc.
...id. ¶ 17, based on a combination of witness testimony and floor inspection logs, see id. ¶ 14. Similarly, in Ohlson v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 568 P.2d 753 (Utah 1977), the supreme court concluded that a plaintiff presented sufficient evidence of constructive knowledge of spaghetti spilled on......
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Cochegrus v. Herriman City
...omitted). This means that under the circumstances, the condition existed long enough to be noticed. See, e.g. , Ohlson v. Safeway Stores, Inc. , 568 P.2d 753, 754–55 (Utah 1977). ¶27 Whether the unsafe condition existed for an "appreciable" amount of time implicates both the length of time ......
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Price v. Food
...evidence that ‘would show ... that [the condition] had been there for an appreciable time.’ ” Id. ¶ 19 (quoting Ohlson v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 568 P.2d 753, 754 (Utah 1977)).2 Our courts have thus “imputed constructive notice to a store owner only when there is some evidence of the length ......
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Wood v. Salt Lake City Corp.
...for the [fact-finder] whether under all these circumstances the defendant had actual or constructive notice.” Ohlson v. Safeway Stores, Inc. , 568 P.2d 753, 755 (Utah 1977). “[A] challenge to the findings of fact must show that the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the trial cou......
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Premises Liability
...color, evidence of decay and the like. Fontanille v. Winn‑Dixie L.A., Inc., 260 So.2d 71 (La. App. 1972); Ohlson v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 568 P.2d 753 (Utah 1977). ii. Improper inspection or insufficient maintenance supports inference that substance was present for extended period of time, ......