Robinson v. U.S.
| Decision Date | 09 August 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-CV-00842C.,00-CV-00842C. |
| Citation | 330 F.Supp.2d 261 |
| Parties | Charles ROBINSON, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of New York |
Paul William Beltz, P.C., Buffalo, NY (Terrence P. Higgins, of Counsel), for Plaintiff.
Michael A. Battle, United States Attorney, Buffalo, NY (Mary K. Roach, Esq., and Monica J. Richards, Assistant United States Attorneys, of Counsel), for Defendant.
Plaintiff Charles Robinson brings this action under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b) and 28 U.S.C. § 2671, et seq., to recover money damages for injuries he claims to have sustained when he slipped and fell on a service area floor at the United States Postal Service ("USPS") Buffalo Processing and Distribution Center, located at 1200 William Street, Buffalo, New York, on December 10, 1999.
A non-jury trial was held before this court in December 2003. Plaintiff testified at trial, and offered the testimony of John B. Abram, Nancy Berry-Laporta, Charles L. Johnson, Kathleen Skeide, Richard Widmer, Gerald Tadak, Cameron Huckell, M.D., and Andrew Matteliano, M.D. Defendant offered the testimony of Niema Erving, Dawn Szczechowiak, Kenneth Murray, and Thomas Pastore, M.D. Efforts to settle after trial failed, and the court considered briefing and summations. The following constitutes the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
There is no dispute that plaintiff slipped and fell on the service area floor of the cafeteria at the USPS William Street facility on December 10, 1999 between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. (Tr. 84).1 At the time of the accident, plaintiff was an employee of the Eurest Corporation (Eurest), which provided cafeteria services at the William Street facility. However, the maintenance of the premises is the responsibility of the USPS. At the time of the accident, plaintiff had worked for Eurest at the William Street Post Office cafeteria for about two or three weeks. Before that, he had worked for Eurest at other facilities since June or July of 1998 (Tr. 322-24).
The cafeteria at the William Street facility is open 24 hours a day to postal workers only. It consists of a kitchen area used only by Eurest employees, a service area with tables where the food was laid out along the side of the room, a salad cart in the middle of the room, a cashier's station, and beyond that tables and chairs for customers of the cafeteria. There is a door between the kitchen and the service area which had a small window at eye level, measuring approximately 2 ½ feet high by 6 inches wide (see plaintiff's Ex. 8). If a person looked through the window approaching the door, he could see someone on the other side of the door, but he could not see the floor.
In the center of the service area there is a salad cart measuring approximately 10 feet long by 4 feet wide. Beyond that and away from the door at a distance of about 15 or 20 feet is the cashier's station. The hot service entree area was only a few feet from the door leading from the kitchen to the service area. The floor of the service area has a ceramic tile and concrete surface (Tr. 47, 78).
It was the practice of Richard Widmer and Gerald Tadak, who were maintenance employees of the Postal Service at the time of plaintiff's accident, to start mopping the cafeteria area at some time between 12:05 and 12:15 a.m. after the customers in the cafeteria area had thinned out. They followed their usual practice on the morning of December 10, 1999. At the time of plaintiff's fall, Mr. Widmer had already mopped the area near the door between the kitchen and the service area. When plaintiff fell, Mr. Widmer was on the other side of the salad cart where he could not see the door or plaintiff coming into the service area.
On the night of the accident, plaintiff began work at his usual shift about midnight. Shortly thereafter, his supervisor, Niema Erving, asked him to take a case of coffee, which was stored in the kitchen, into the service area. The coffee was in a box described as 20 inches by 13 inches by 10 inches, weighing between 24 and 30 pounds (Tr. 341-42; Ex. 15). Plaintiff obtained the box from the kitchen and entered the service area, where he slipped on the wet floor and fell.
Several USPS employees were in the service area at the time plaintiff slipped and fell: Charles Johnson, Nancy Berry-Laporta, Kathleen Skeide, Richard Widmer, and Gerald Tadak. Eurest employee Niema Erving was also present. These witnesses testified at the trial. Their testimony with respect to their observations of the circumstances of the accident, along with that of the plaintiff, is summarized below.
Plaintiff testified that at the time Ms. Erving made a request for him to bring a case of coffee from the kitchen into the service area, she was at the cash register (Tr. 427). Plaintiff was in the kitchen "panning up bacon" (Tr. 337). He proceeded to the dry storage area in the kitchen, obtained a case of coffee, and carried it to the door. As he approached the door, he pulled the door inward while continuing to hold the box. He held the door open with his left foot and walked through it (Tr. 344-45, 433).
As he walked into the service area, he was carrying the box in both hands (Tr. 435). He took "[t]wo or three steps" into the service area, and then turned left toward the cupboard where he intended to place the coffee (Tr. 345). He testified that at that point "[his] feet just flew out from under [him], and [he] went down" (id.). He did not observe the condition of the floor before he fell, and did not become aware that the floor was wet until after he fell (Tr. 347, 437, 513). It is not disputed that there were no warning signs anywhere in the immediate area at the time.
Plaintiff testified that he had been in the service area earlier in his shift, and the floor was dry (Tr. 360). As he was lying on the floor after he fell, he observed the condition of the floor and later stated that "it was like someone had put five gallons of water on the floor" (Tr. 446). His whole back and side were soaked, and his head was wet (id.). He was wearing black slip-resistant hiking boots at the time. He had worn these boots at work on a regular basis, and no one ever told him the boots were not in compliance with Eurest requirements (Tr. 375-76). He had never had any other slipping incidents before while wearing them (Tr. 517).
Richard Widmer is a USPS maintenance employee who was on duty on the night of the accident. He and fellow maintenance worker Gerald Tadak were assigned to clean the cafeteria and service area at the William Street facility. The cafeteria and service area were cleaned every night after midnight and before 1:00 a.m., after customers had thinned out (Tr. 20, 42, 46-47, 79-80, 84).
Mr. Widmer testified that USPS maintenance procedures required "wet floor" signs to be placed in the area to be mopped prior to mopping. The signs are required to be left in place until the floors are dry (Tr. 69). It was common practice for custodians at the William Street facility to place the "wet floor" signs at the general entrances and exits to and from the service area of the cafeteria, but not within the service area itself (Tr. 42-44). The mopping procedure involved dispensing water and cleaning solution into the bucket (in the "slop room"), wheeling the bucket and mop to the area to be cleaned, placing the mop in the bucket, and "wring[ing] it out good" before mopping in a "circle 8" (Tr. 47-48, 69).
At the time of the accident, Mr. Widmer had already mopped the area near the door where plaintiff later fell (Tr. 54-56). Mr. Widmer testified that the condition of the floor in that area was "damp" (Tr. 55). He was mopping the floor in the middle of the service area, between the movable salad cart and the stationary beverage counter, when he heard a sound "like a body hitting the ground" (Tr. 30, 33-34; Ex. 12). He did not see plaintiff fall (Tr. 30). Mr. Widmer walked to his right, around the salad cart, and saw plaintiff lying on the floor, turned to the right and more or less up on his right elbow (Tr. 60-61, 80). Plaintiff's clothes did not appear to be wet (Tr. 81-82). Mr. Widmer asked plaintiff if he was okay. Plaintiff "seemed to be okay, except for rubbing his arm, he hurt his elbow" (Tr. 62). Mr. Widmer "apologized for the mopping, but not that [he] did anything wrong" (Tr. 81), and went back to work.
Charles Johnson, a USPS employee, was in the service area on the night of the accident (Tr. 93-94). He usually started work at 11:30 p.m., and went to the cafeteria to get coffee between 12:20 and 12:40 a.m. (Tr. 103). USPS maintenance personnel were usually in the cafeteria area when Mr. Johnson got his coffee (Tr. 105, 114).
On the night of the accident, between 12:20 and 12:40 a.m., Mr. Johnson entered the service area, got a cup of coffee, and proceeded to the cashier's station (Tr. 95, 103, 115, 116). He did not notice any signs posted at the cafeteria entrance, although he had observed "wet floor" signs there on previous occasions (Tr. 95-96). As Mr. Johnson entered the service area, he noticed that the entire floor of the service area was "very wet" (Tr. 97, 100). There was more water on the floor than he had observed on other occasions (Tr. 100-01). He changed his manner of walking because he was concerned he would slip and fall on the wet floor (Tr. 99).
After he got his coffee, Mr. Johnson walked to the cash register, but there was no cashier (Tr. 95, 106). While he was waiting at the cash register, he saw Kathy Skeide and Nancy Berry-Laporta at the hot entree area (Tr. 101, 115). As he turned to speak to them, he saw the door from the kitchen open and he saw a...
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