Court Opinion

ID: 9573268
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:51:17.753746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:39:15.466509
License: Public Domain

HODGES, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority opinion states that this action is based upon the contention of the plaintiff that the defendant “negligently failed to inspect the premises” and that a question of fact was presented for the jury and that the instructions given were sufficient. I agree that the case should have been submitted to the jury, but I am unable to agree that the instructions were sufficient. The opinion appears to hold that because there was a failure of inspection by the defendant, a dangerous condition was created and under such circumstances a requested instruction setting forth the requirement of actual or constructive notice to the defendant of the presence of a foreign substance on the floor was not necessary.
The plaintiff alleged in his petition that the defendant “failed to inspect its floor at reasonable intervals, so as to discover the banana on the floor, and remove it.” Based upon this allegation the defendant requested the court to give the following instruction which was refused:
“ * * * If you should find that the substance on the floor was not placed there by the defendant but was dropped or placed on the floor by some other customer or person, then you must find, before the defendant can be liable, that the defendant knew of its presence there and failed to remove it, or that such substance had been there for so long that the defendant, in the exercise of reasonable and ordinary care, should have known of its presence and taken steps to remove it.”
The defendant was entitled to such an instruction to inform the jury that the burden of proof was on the plaintiff to show that the defendant knew, or should have known, of the presence of the foreign substance. It is a question of fact for the jury to decide whether defendant’s negligence in failing to inspect the premises was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury. Inherent in such a question is the matter of actual or constructive notice to the defendant. In Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Criner, Okl., 380 P.2d 712, we held:
“Unless it is established that customer slipped on store floor through negligence of store owner’s employees, or because of condition of which owner had actual or constructive notice, there can be no recovery.”
We also held in Owen v. Kitterman, 178 Okl. 483, 62 P.2d 1193, that:
“In order to impose liability for injury to an invitee by reason of the dangerous condition of the premises, the condition must have been known to the owner or occupant or have existed for such time that it was the duty of the owner or occupant to know of it.”
The majority of the court apparently feel that these cases are not in point because there is evidence in the instant case which shows that the defendant failed to police the area subsequent to 8:30 a. m. on the day of the accident. While this is true, it does not remove the requirement that the defendant must have notice, actual or constructive, of the dangerous condition, or that the jury should be so informed. The instructions given by the trial court in this case omit any reference to the necessity *898of notice to the defendants of the existence of the dangerous condition in its store.
Paraphrasing the instructions as to this issue, the jury was told that the plaintiff alleged his injuries were proximately caused by the negligence of the defendant in that it failed to inspect its floor at reasonable intervals, so as to discover the banana on the floor and remove it; that the burden of proof is upon the plaintiff to establish such fact by a preponderance of the evidence; that the defendant owes a' duty of providing a reasonably safe place and must use reasonable care under the circumstances to provide a reasonably safe place for its customers; that the defendant owed the plaintiff the duty of exercising reasonable and ordinary care to keep its premises, including the aisles and passageways of the store, in a reasonably safe condition.
From these instructions, the jury could find the defendant was responsible for the plaintiff’s injury simply because it failed to conduct an inspection and discover the presence of the foreign substance. This is error. If diligent and timely inspections would not have revealed the presence of the dangerous condition, the failure to make such inspections would not be the proximate cause of the accident.
It is quite possible from the evidence in this case that the banana fell from the produce counter only a short time prior to the occurrence of the accident, and would not have been discovered by the exercise of due diligence on the part of the defendant. On the other hand, there is circumstantial evidence from which reasonable men could conclude that the banana had been present in the aisle for a sufficient length of time to have been discovered by the defendant through the exercise of reasonable prudence. This is an issue of fact upon which the jury should have been instructed.
Contrary to the majority, I am unable to perceive what the verdict of the jury would have been, had it been instructed that the defendant must have actual or constructive notice of the presence of the foreign substance. The parties are entitled to a trial by jury based upon proper instructions. To preserve this right, I would reverse this case for a new trial. I therefore respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that JACKSON, V. C. J., concurs in the views herein expressed.