DocketNumber: A12A0107
Citation Numbers: 316 Ga. App. 115, 728 S.E.2d 761, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 1828, 2012 WL 2017587, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 496
Judges: Adams
Filed Date: 6/6/2012
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/18/2024
Rosemary Hiner filed this slip and fall suit against El Ranchero Mexican Restaurant, No. 10, Inc. (the “Restaurant”). We granted the Restaurant’s application for interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s
Viewed in the light most favorable to Hiner,
The Restaurant’s busboys arrived every morning at around 9:00 and mopped the floor with a degreaser at that time.
“The threshold point of inquiry in a slip and fall case is the existence of a hazardous condition on the premises.” (Citation omitted.) Flagstar Enterprises v. Burch, 267 Ga. App. 856 (600 SE2d 834) (2004).
Proof of a fall, without more, does not create liability on the part of a proprietor or landowner. It is common knowledge that people fall on the best of sidewalks and floors. Additionally, causation is always an essential element in slip or trip and fall cases. Where the plaintiff does not know of a cause or cannot prove the cause, there can be no recovery because an essential element of negligence cannot be proven. Amere possibility of causation is not enough and when the matter remains one of pure speculation or conjecture, it is appropriate for the court to grant summary judgment to the defendant.
(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Pinckney v. Covington Athletic Club &c., 288 Ga. App. 891, 893 (655 SE2d 650) (2007). Hiner, therefore, was required to prove more than that the floor was slippery; she “had to prove that the condition of the floor constituted an unreasonable hazard and that [the Restaurant] had superior knowledge of that hazard.” (Citation omitted.) Flagstar Enterprises, 267 Ga. App. at 858. In other words, to establish liability, “[t]here must be proof of fault on the part of the owner and ignorance of the danger on the part of the invitee.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Belk Dept. Store &c. v. Cato, 267 Ga. App. 793, 794 (600 SE2d 786) (2004).
Hiner admitted that she did not know what caused her to fall, although she claims to have seen a “film” on the floor. But she argues that the floor was hazardous and the Restaurant was aware of this hazard as evidenced by the busboy’s routine of mopping the floor with a degreaser every morning to clean up grease tracked from the kitchen and her encounter with a film on the floor on a previous visit.
But pretermitting the issue of whether this evidence was sufficient to create an issue of fact that her fall was caused by grease accumulating on the floor, Hiner’s claim fails because she cannot prove that she lacked equal knowledge of the hazard. It is well settled that “[t]he fundamental basis for a defendant’s liability [in a slip and
The Hudson panel also refused to impute constructive knowledge of the floor’s condition to the restaurant in light of its daily routine of cleaning and degreasing every morning, which the court found to be a reasonable cleaning/inspection procedure. Id. at 840-841. The Restaurant in this case followed a similar procedure, along with charging employees to keep their eyes open for any problems and to either fix or report them. Given this reasonable cleaning/inspection procedure, no constructive knowledge of the floor’s condition at the time of Hiner’s fall can be imputed to the Restaurant.
Accordingly, the Restaurant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and we reverse the trial court’s denial of the Restaurant’s motion for summary judgment.
Judgment reversed.
“A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant or denial of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.” (Punctuation omitted.) Carter v. Moody, 236 Ga. App. 262, 263 (511 SE2d 520) (1999).
One witness testified that the busboys also applied degreaser after the Restaurant closed and allowed it to sit overnight.
Compare Taylor v. Golden Corral Corp., 255 Ga. App. 860 (567 SE2d 109) (2002) (summary judgment improper where patron fell on “soapy,” “greasy” tile in area where restaurant recently mopped a spaghetti spill and factual issues remained as to whether restaurant properly cleaned spill and whether wet floor signs gave patron equal knowledge of greasy, slippery condition); Ray v. Restaurant Mgmt. Svcs., 230 Ga. App. 145 (495 SE2d 613) (1998) (summary judgment improperly granted where defendant admitted knowledge of the hazard and could not prove plaintiff traversed the area before her fall); Gourley v. Food Concepts, 229 Ga. App. 180 (493 SE2d 587) (1997) (summary judgment reversed where restaurant charged with knowledge of hazard from floor it recently mopped and factual issues remained as to whether patron had equal knowledge of hazard from son’s statement that floor was slick, her observation that other areas of floor were slippery and her successful negotiation of such other areas).