Rives v. Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co., 8310SC113

• Decision Date: 05 June 1984
• Docket Number: No. 8310SC113,8310SC113
• Citation: 68 N.C.App. 594,315 S.E.2d 724
• Parties: Ethel Lee RIVES v. GREAT ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC TEA COMPANY.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

Page 724

315 S.E.2d 724

68 N.C.App. 594

Ethel Lee RIVES v. GREAT ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC TEA COMPANY.

No. 8310SC113.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

June 5, 1984.

Michaels & Jernigan by Leonard T. Jernigan, Jr., Raleigh, for plaintiff-appellant.

Patterson, Dilthey, Clay, Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog by Ronald C. Dilthey, Raleigh, for defendant-appellee.

WEBB, Judge.

We believe the trial court erred in directing a verdict for the defendant. It is well established that the owner or proprietor of a business is not an insurer of the safety of his customers, however, the proprietor has the duty to exercise ordinary care to keep the aisles and passageways of his store, where customers are expected to go, in a reasonably safe condition so as not to expose customers unnecessarily to danger, and to give warning of hidden dangers and unsafe conditions of which he knows or, in the exercise of reasonable supervision and inspection, should know. See Long v. Food Stores, 262 N.C. 57, 136 S.E.2d 275 (1964); Powell v. Deifells, Inc., 251 N.C. 596, 112 S.E.2d 56 (1960); Lee v. Green and Co., 236 N.C. 83, 72 S.E.2d 33 (1952). A proprietor is charged with knowledge of an unsafe condition on his premises created by his own negligence, or the negligence of his employee acting within the scope of his employment, or of an unsafe condition of which his employee has notice. Long, supra, 262 N.C. at 60, 136 S.E.2d at 278.

Plaintiff contends defendant's employee, Mr. Franks, negligently created an unsafe and hazardous condition when he left the shopping cart containing the tilted, open box of grapes in the middle of the produce aisle unattended and failed to promptly inspect the area for fallen grapes and remove the cart from the produce aisle after the customer had selected her grapes. The evidence tends to show that the grapes on which plaintiff slipped came from the open box in the shopping cart rather than from the produce counter. Most likely, the grapes were dropped on the floor by a customer though it is conceivable that the grapes fell out of the box as Mr. Franks pushed the cart down the aisle or when he stopped the cart. Either way, the jury could reasonably infer that Mr. Franks' action in putting the cart in such a position caused the ultimate hazard of grapes on the floor and thus proximately caused plaintiff's accident.

Mr. Franks was aware that customers rummage through produce looking for the freshest items, which can cause produce to fall on the floor, and he knew that produce on the floor can cause serious accidents. He knew at least one customer, the customer requesting the freshest grapes, would be handling the grapes that were in the shopping cart, and should have realized that other people were likely to handle the grapes also because the store was having a special on grapes that day, and the grapes on the display counter were not as fresh as those in the shopping cart. It was the busiest day of the week for the store and the beginning of its rush hour; therefore, it was foreseeable that numerous people might handle the grapes.

Given such circumstances, we believe a reasonable man would have foreseen that there was a substantial risk that customers would accidently drop some grapes on the floor around the shopping cart and that someone might slip on them. It was also...