Werner v. Gimbel Bros., Inc.
| Decision Date | 01 December 1959 |
| Citation | 8 Wis.2d 491,99 N.W.2d 708 |
| Parties | Alfons WERNER et al., Appellants, v. GIMBEL BROTHERS, INC., a Wis. Corporation et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
Stephen R. Miller, Milwaukee, for appellants.
Wickham, Borgelt, Skogstad & Powell, Milwaukee, Kurt H. Frauen, Milwaukee, of counsel, for respondent Gimbel Bros., Inc.
Moore & Moore, Milwaukee, for respondent Froedtert Enterprises, Inc. BROWN, Justice.
In deciding defendants' motions for a directed verdict the trial court stated as facts that the scene of the accident is a place of employment and comes under the safe-place statute (sec. 101.06, Stats.); that the area is under the control of Froedtert; the lease to Gimbel Brothers required Gimbel's to remove ice and snow from the premises at the point where the accident occurred and to indemnify Froedtert against loss by reason of Gimbel's occupancy.
The trial court determined as a matter of law that neither defendant Froedtert nor defendant Gimbel's had actual or constructive notice a sufficiently long time before Mrs. Werner's fall to impose a duty on either or both defendants arising from the safe-place statute to discover and remedy the slippery condition which caused the accident.
The only issue for this appeal is the question of fact whether the defendants' actual or constructive notice of the unsafe condition of the walk warned them in time to require them to take reasonable precautions to prevent such an accident. We consider that the evidence bearing on that issue presents a jury question not to be determined as a matter of law.
Witness Sokol testified that he is maintenance engineer for Froedtert's. He comes to work at 6:00 A.M. It is his duty to see that the walks and parking places are cleaned from snow and ice and are sanded so...
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...to be a jury question. Burmek v. Miller Brewing Co., 12 Wis.2d 405, 413, 107 N.W.2d 583 (1961); see also Werner v. Gimbel Bros., Inc., 8 Wis.2d 491, 493, 99 N.W.2d 708 (1959) (“The only issue on this appeal is the question of fact whether the defendants' actual or constructive notice of the......
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Megal v. VISITOR & CONVENTION BUREAU
...constructive notice exists presents a jury question not to be decided by appellate courts as a matter of law.6 Werner v. Gimbel Bros., 8 Wis. 2d 491, 493, 99 N.W.2d 708 (1959); see Rosenthal v. Farmers Store Co., 10 Wis. 2d 224, 227-28, 102 N.W.2d 222 (1960); see also Gerdmann v. United Sta......
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...to maintain a place of employment. Nor do cases on the subject require ownership as a requisite of liability. Werner v. Gimbel Brothers, 1959, 8 Wis.2d 491, 99 N.W.2d 708, 100 N.W.2d 920. Thus, control and custody of the premises need not be exclusive, nor is it necessary to have control fo......
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Filipiak v. Plombon
...private walk constituted a place of employment within the meaning of the Safe Place Statute, sec. 101.06, Stats. Werner v. Gimbel Bros. (1959), 8 Wis.2d 491, 493b, 99 N.W.2d 708, 100 N.W.2d 920. Accumulations of ice and snow on a walk or driveway constituting a place of employment may subje......