Sledge v. Wagoner, 526

Citation104 S.E.2d 195,248 N.C. 631
Decision Date30 June 1958
Docket NumberNo. 526,526
PartiesWillard Robert SLEDGE v. Bryce WAGONER, P. E. Hodges and J. Bernard Parker, T/A Bus Terminal Restaurant and Modern Grill.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

Ottway Burton and Don Davis, Asheboro, for plaintiff-appellant.

James B. Lovelace, High Point, for defendants-appellees.

JOHNSON, Justice.

This is a civil action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff as a result of falling on the floor of the defendants' restaurant.

The case comes here on appeal from judgment as of nonsuit entered on motion of the defendants at the close of the plaintiff's evidence.

The defendants' restaurant is located in the Union Bus Terminal in the City of High Point. The plaintiff entered the restaurant for the purpose of making a purchase. He entered through a swinging door leading from the waiting room into the grill. An upright magazine rack was standing with back to the wall just inside the door on the plaintiff's right as he entered. The rack was made of wire rod material. It stood not more than four inches back from the door facing where the door pushed open. A table and some chairs close behind the swinging door kept it from opening full width and required the plaintiff to enter by stepping sidewise through the small opening of the door. After doing this, and upon taking his first step forward toward the serving counter, a snag on the magazine rack caught in the plaintiff's trouser leg, causing him to trip and fall and sustain a painful, disabling injury to one of his knees. While lying on the floor the plaintiff discovered the snag which caused him to trip: it stuck out from the bottom of the rack about half an inch, and was only about four inches up from the floor.

This in material part is the plaintiff's narrative of the occurrence: 'After getting off work, I went from the furniture shop to the bus terminal in High Point * * * and went into the bus terminal grill for a little lunch around 12:30. * * * There is a door from the waiting room into the restaurant which is on the east side of the restaurant. * * * The door * * * is a hinged door which swings both ways, i. e., if one is inside the grill, he pushes to enter the waiting room, and vice versa to enter the grill from the waiting room. * * * On the north jamb of the door along the wall north of the door there is a combination magazine and newspaper rack sitting along the wall. This * * * rack is made of a sort of heavy wire rod material with frames upright. The wire rods are about a quarter or three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. In the newspaper rack on the day in question there were newspapers and magazines both located in the rack. I would estimate the magazine and newspaper rack to be 3 feet. The magazine and newspaper rack was not over 4 inches at the most back from the door facing. (Italics added.)

'* * * I came into the grill from the east side, went in, ordered some coffee and drank a couple of swallows. I then asked the manager, Mr. Wood, if I might check my bus schedule. I went to check the bus schedule at the ticket office and about that time a bunch of buses came in and there was a crowd in the waiting room and I started to enter back into the grill, using the swinging hinge door. I opened the door, pushing in, * * *. Something behind the door hit, I sidled around to get in and as I went to make my step that magazine and newspaper rack caught my trousers, tripped me, and throwed me on my right knee.

'The floor of the bus terminal grill is a concrete floor and my whole weight fell on my right knee on the concrete floor. What had caught my trousers was a snag on the magazine and newspaper rack. The little snag which caught my trousers was about one-half an inch down on the bottom of the magazine rack as I entered in, going into the grill. As I went to make my step, it caught me in the cuff of my overalls leg and tripped me over and caused the injury to my knee. I fell, grabbed my leg, and turned over on my left hip; then I looked to see what had tripped me * * *. The magazine rack * * * was pulled into the path of the door. Mr. Wood then came out and wanted to know if I was hurt. I told him my leg was hurt, that my knee was hurting me pretty badly. He told me he ought to have moved that magazine rack before somebody got hurt. He then moved the magazine rack and carried it out--that is the last time I saw the magazine rack. Mr. Wood said he was going to dispose of the magazine rack. ' (Testimony as to nature and extent of the injury omitted as not being pertinent to decision.) (Italics added.)

Cross Examination: '* * * This is not the first occasion I had been in the restaurant; I have been in there every day. I went through both the doorway that leads from the hall as well as the doorway that leads from the waiting room; on different occasions. * * * I never noticed what type of lights there were in the Bus Terminal Restaurant; however, it was well lighted. * * * The rack located in the Bus Terminal Restaurant on September 3, 1955, had a snag on it on the end which caught my trouser leg. The table behind the door (hinged swinging door) which I used to enter the grill after checking on my bus schedule was a table fixed for two people but there were three chairs around it on that day. * * *

'I did notice the magazine and newspaper rack because I turned around as I grabbed my leg (after falling) and I turned on an angle and saw it. It was as far as from the witness chair to the jury box, which is about 8 feet. At the time I was sitting up at an angle on my elbows, and I could see the rack 8 feet away from me, and from that distance I saw a little snag. The snag extended beyond the upright, the main upright outside the frame and I saw it with the good eyes I have. * * * I did not notice any newspapers extending over the end of the rack, they were all inside the rack.

'After I had been to see the ticket agent, I pushed on the swinging hinged door, opening toward...

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  • Garner v. Atlantic Greyhound Corp., 380
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • April 29, 1959
    ...& Co., [198 N.C. 559, 152 S.E. 625].' See also Little v. Wilson Oil Corp., 249 N.C. 773, 776, 107 S.E.2d 729, and Sledge v. Wagoner, 248 N.C. 631, 635, 104 S.E.2d 195. 'The proprietor of a place of business which is kept open to public patronage is obligated to keep the approaches and entra......
  • Hedrick v. Tigniere, 281
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • April 13, 1966
    ...317; Norris v. Belk's Department Store, 259 N.C. 350, 130 S.E.2d 537; Goldman v. Kossove, 253 N.C. 370, 117 S.E.2d 35; Sledge v. Wagoner, 248 N.C. 631, 104 S.E.2d 195; Revis v. Orr, 234 N.C. 158, 66 S.E.2d 652, 28 A.L.R.2d 609; Coston v. Skyland Hotel, 231 N.C. 546, 57 S.E.2d 793; 78 C.J.S.......
  • Sledge v. Wagoner, 529
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • June 12, 1959
    ...the same as his testimony at the trial at November Term, 1957, set forth in detail by Johnson, J., in the opinion in Sledge v. Wagoner, 248 N.C. 631, 104 S.E.2d 195. Variations in small particulars need not be At the first trial, pertinent to his contention that the passageway was obstructe......
  • Wegner v. Delly-Land Delicatessen, Inc.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • April 12, 1967
    ...there cited. This duty extends to the proprietor of a restaurant or other establishment serving meals for compensation. Sledge v. Wagoner, 248 N.C. 631, 104 S.E.2d 195. As a corollary to or application of this rule, proprietors of such establishments have been held liable to invitees therei......
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