Opinion ID: 756439
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wal-Mart's Cross-Appeal.

Text: 23 On its cross-appeal, Wal-Mart argues that a new trial is required because the district court erroneously declined to instruct the jury that it needed to find that Wal-Mart had actual or constructive notice of the specific defect in the malfunctioning door that caused Chylinski's injury. We review de novo a claim of error in the jury instructions. Anderson v. Branen, 17 F.3d 552, 556 (2d Cir.1994). A jury instruction is erroneous if it misleads the jury as to the correct legal standard or does not adequately inform the jury on the law. Id. 24 Wal-Mart's challenge rests on the rule that a landowner cannot be liable for failing to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition unless the defendant had actual or constructive notice of the unsafe condition. See Monahan v. Montgomery, 153 Conn. 386, 390, 216 A.2d 824, 826-27 (1966). This rule applies in so-called premises liability cases. See, e.g., Morris v. King Cole Stores, 132 Conn. 489, 492, 45 A.2d 710, 711 (1946); Claveloux v. Downtown Racquet Club Associates, 44 Conn.App. 691, 693, 691 A.2d 1112, 1113 (using the term premises liability), appeal granted, 243 Conn. 917, 701 A.2d 327 (1997). Wal-Mart argues that this rule applies with equal force to an ordinary negligence action. We disagree. To prove ordinary negligence, Chylinski needed to prove only the elements of a cause of action in negligence: duty, breach, causation, and injury. See RK Constructors, Inc. v. Fusco Corp., 231 Conn. 381, 384, 650 A.2d 153, 155 (1994). For reasons already stated in this opinion, proof of proximate cause did not require proof of actual or constructive notice that the safety devices were malfunctioning. Chylinski's ordinary negligence action is grounded in Wal-Mart's negligence in placing her in the swing path of the automatic door, not the dangerous condition created by the malfunctioning safety devices.