Trottier v. Neisner Bros., Inc.

• Decision Date: 02 November 1933
• Citation: 284 Mass. 336,187 N.E. 619
• Parties: TROTTIER v. NEISNER BROS., INC.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

284 Mass. 336

187 N.E. 619

TROTTIER

v.NEISNER BROS., INC.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester.

Nov. 2, 1933.

Exceptions from Superior Court, Worcester County; W. A. Burns, Judge.

Action of tort by Salome Trottier against Neisner Bros., Inc. On exceptions saved by the plaintiff to an order directing the entry of a verdict for the defendant after the recording, with leave reserved, of a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $100.

Exceptions sustained. Judgment for the plaintiff on the verdict.

S. Lurier, of Worcester, for plaintiff.

J. C. McDonald, of Worcester, for defendant.

PIERCE, Justice.

This is an action of tort in which the plaintiff seeks to recover damages for injuries sustained by falling upon a slippery and greasy floor on the premises maintained by the defendant, a department store in Worcester, as a result of the alleged negligence of the defendant in maintaining the premises. The defendant filed a general denial, and further answered that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence. On March 15, 1932, the case was referred to an auditor with directions to hear the parties and their evidence ‘and report his findings to the court, together with such questions of law, * * * as any party may request.’ The auditor filed his report on May 9, 1932. At the trial to a jury on October 7, 1932, at the conclusion of all the material evidence, now shown in the plaintiff's bill of exceptions, the defendant presented a motion for a directed verdict in its favor. The judge denied this motion, reserving leave to direct a verdict for the defendant after the jury's verdict and the defendant excepted. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $100 and thereupon the trial judge ordered a verdict for the defendant. To this order the plaintiff duly excepted.

The only testimony for the plaintiff, shown by the record, came from the plaintiff hereself. Her testimony is uncontradicted that on August, 2, 1929, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, ‘a beautiful day,’ she entered the premises of the defendant for the purpose of purchasing some stockings for her children. She gave the clerk money for them and after they were wrapped up and handed to her by the clerk, ‘she went to turn around’ and as she turned around ‘she slid and slipped and went down * * * on the floor between the two counters.’ As she got up ‘she noticed that the floor was oily and greasy and [had] a big skid mark’ on it. She ‘fell near the counter in the middle aisle.’ She ‘noticed the color of the spot where she fell and the color of the floor,’ and, when she got up, ‘this long line, and * * * the sides were dark and the center was light,’ and that ‘the floor where she slipped was very oily and greasy’; ‘near the edges [of the] counters it was very dark and the center was light.’ She ‘slipped on the side near the counter’ and the ‘color of the floor there was dark but it was light in the center of the aisle.’ She further testified, in response to a request ‘to describe how the center aisle looked’; that ‘the center aisle was a lot lighter than the edges; that the edges were slippery. That she meant the edges near the counter. That the skid mark that she observed as a result of slipping was about a foot or a foot and one-half.’ When asked ‘how, if she knew, the skid mark got there or what caused it, she said, ‘Well, it was oil or grease that I slipped on, I presume.’' She testified as to her physical injuries and as to injuries to her clothing, and exhibited to the jury a coat torn in two places on the sleeve and very greasy in front. She further testified that the place where she fell was a wooden floor and that she weighed at the time of the accident two hundred and thirty pounds.

At the close of the plaintiff's testimony the auditor's report was introduced in evidence by the defendant and was the only evidence offered by it. The report as respects the fall of the...