Case Name: Carson LOFTON et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellants
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1968-03-27
Citations: 208 So. 2d 739
Docket Number: No. 2288
Parties: Carson LOFTON et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellants.
Judges: Before HOOD, CULPEPPER, and LEAR, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 208
Pages: 739–745

Head Matter:
Carson LOFTON et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellants.
No. 2288.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. Third Circuit.
March 27, 1968.
Rehearing Denied April 22, 1968.
Stafford & Pitts, by James A. Bolen, Jr., Alexandria, for defendants-appellants.
Howard N. Nugent, Jr., Alexandria, for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before HOOD, CULPEPPER, and LEAR, JJ.

Opinion:
LEAR, Judge.
The plaintiff, Mrs. Carson Lofton, seeks damages for personal injuries sustained when she slipped and fell while a customer of the defendant, K-Mart Food Stores, Inc., in Alexandria. Her husband sues for medical expenses. The district judge awarded $1,000.00 in general damages plus medical expenses. Defendants appealed. Plaintiffs answered the appeal asking an increase in the award.
The substantial issue on appeal is whether the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is applicable.
K-Mart Food Store in Alexandria is a large self-service store employing about 20 persons. On Fridays and Saturdays between 4,000 and 6,000 customers are accommodated each day.
On Friday, November 25, 1966, at about 10:30 or 11:00 a. m., Mrs. Lofton was purchasing groceries in the store. She was pushing a shopping basket along aisle No. 4, looking for lemon juice displayed there. She stepped in a puddle of clear water, about the size of a basketball, and slipped and fell to the floor.
The evidence does not show how the water came to be on the floor or how long it had been there. There were no water fountains, water pipes or other sources of water in the immediate vicinity. Only fruit juices and canned goods are on display along that part of aisle No. 4.
Defendant introduced evidence as to its cleaning and inspection procedures. The janitor and the porter came to work every morning at 6:30 a. m. and swept and rhopped all of the floors. The store manager testified that every morning, including this particular morning, he inspected the floors before the store opened at 9:00 a. m. As to inspection during the rest of the day, all of the employees generally had been instructed to report any hazardous foreign substances on the floors. Also, the porter, Jessie Powell, was specifically instructed to make inspections during the day, but not at any particular time.
Neither the janitor nor the porter could testify that they had made any inspections of the floors between the time the store opened at 9:00 a. m. and the time that Mrs. Lofton fell. Furthermore, the evidence shows that on busy weekends the porter is used as a bag boy. The manager admitted that on this particular Friday morning the. porter was possibly working as a bag boy. Defendant was unable to show any specific inspections of the floor during the period from the time the store opened until the time Mrs. Lofton fell. Thus, the district judge found as a fact that the store's inspection procedures were inadequate for a store with this great number of customers and the consequent likelihood of hazardous conditions being created by customers and employees.
This holding indicates that the burden of proof rests upon the defendant to prove to the court's satisfaction that an adequate inspection procedure was used and that, in spite of the inspection procedure, the accident occurred. This in essence is an application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. This doctrine was urged in the case of Joynes v. Valloft & Dreaux, Inc., La.App., 1 So.2d 108, wherein the court held that the doctrine could only apply where it is shown that the accident would not have occurred in the ordinary course of events without intervention of negligence.
The court is aware of the many problems which face a plaintiff in proving a slip and fall action. Rarely will the plaintiff have the names and addresses of any independent witnesses. The facts concerning the accident and the existing conditions will almost always lie within the knowledge of persons who, because of adverse interests, are reluctant to make disclosures. However, the fact that these problems exist does not relieve the plaintiff from carrying the burden of proof throughout the trial. He is not aided by any presumption from the mere fact of a fall and a resultant injury. He cannot rely on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.
The rules concerning slip and fall cases in our jurisprudence have been stated many times. Where the storekeeper's employee creates the hazard, the storekeeper is liable under the principle of respondeat superior. However, where the hazard is created by a third person, for whose acts the storekeeper is not legally liable, the basis of liability is the storekeeper's failure to remedy or to warn of the hazard created, after the storekeeper has actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard so created. A storekeeper is held to have constructive knowledge of the hazard when it is shown that the hazard remained on the premises for an unreasonable length of time. Dever v. George Theriot's, Inc., La.App., 159 So.2d 602.
The common law doctrine of "res ipsa loquitur" which has been adopted by our jurisprudence is not a substitute for proof of negligence. The doctrine furnishes a rule of evidence, the applicability of which is to be determined on the conclusion of the trial, and it is appropriate where plaintiff cannot be expected to have any information as to the cause of the accident, whereas defendant must be assumed to be fully informed on the subject and the accident is the kind which ordinarily does not occur when due care has been exercised. Plunkett v. United Electric Service, 214 La. 145, 36 So.2d 704, 3 A.L.R.2d 1437.
As previously stated, the record does not indicate knowledge on the part of anyone as to how the water happened to be on the floor or how long it had been there. Without such evidence, there can be no constructive knowledge of the hazard on the part of the storekeeper.
For the above reasons, the judgment of the trial court will be reversed and judgment will be entered in favor of the defendant, rejecting plaintiff's demands; plaintiff to pay all costs.
Reversed and rendered.