Court Opinion

ID: 9616424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:46:48.576459+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:07.827594
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent with respect to Division 2. There is no evidence, either direct or circumstantial or reasonably inferable, that Sears had actual knowledge of the hazardous malfunction for as much as 10 to 15 minutes before plaintiff’s fall.
Her husband Joe only testified that it was “at least 15 minutes” from the time he told the Sears employee about the malfunction and the time he went up the escalator again and discovered plaintiff had *800been injured. Her fall occurred “within that 15 minutes,” he affirmed. He did not have any difficulty with the escalator when he went up it the second time, and he did not know whether the left handrail was working properly then or not.
The Sears employee whom Joe testified he informed was not called as a witness. There is no evidence of who the employee was or what he could have done.
George Ellis, who was with plaintiff when she fell, simply stated that he sat on the couch on the lower floor near the escalator “anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes” before he went up it with plaintiff and others and she fell. George’s period of time is not connected by any evidence to the time Joe said he gave actual notice to the Sears employee. There is no evidence that he sat down on the couch at the same time (or before or after) Joe was informing the Sears employee.
The jury could only find as fact that Sears had actual knowledge for a period of less than 15 minutes before plaintiff’s fall, given that she fell some time after Joe advised the employee and some time before Joe returned to find her already injured.
The proprietor must have a reasonable opportunity, timewise, to take corrective action once it learns of an unsafe condition on the premises. Fulton-DeKalb County Hosp. Auth. v. Estes, 187 Ga. App. 120 (369 SE2d 262) (1988); Mitchell v. Food Giant, 176 Ga. App. 705 (337 SE2d 353) (1985). Plaintiff has the burden of showing that the defendant she seeks to place blame on had such a reasonable opportunity. Housing Auth. of Atlanta v. Famble, 170 Ga. App. 509, 530 (4a) (317 SE2d 853) (1984). As stated succinctly in the latter case: “Where a dangerous condition is not permanent but must have existed for only a limited time prior to the occurrence, the rule is applicable that the defective condition must be shown to have existed for a sufficient period of time for the defendant to have discovered and remedied it. [Cits.] . . . The burden [is] on the plaintiffs to show that it was in existence a sufficient period of time for the defendant to have discovered it and taken appropriate action. For, unless there was such a time span then the defendant’s nonaction would be inconsequential.” (Emphasis supplied.) Id. at 530, 531.
Here, as a matter of fact, Sears had less than 15 minutes, so as a matter of law, it did not have such an opportunity as to allow the jury to find that it breached its duty to keep the premises safe. The proprietor is not required to patrol the premises continuously in the absence of facts showing the premises are unusually dangerous. Alterman Foods v. Ligon, 246 Ga. 620 (272 SE2d 327) (1980); Winn-Dixie Stores v. Hardy, 138 Ga. App. 342 (4) (226 SE2d 142) (1976). Since it appears that Sears had knowledge of this hazardous condition for less than 15 minutes before the incident complained of, there is no actionable negligence on its part in failing to provide a remedy so as *801to prevent plaintiff from succumbing to the hazard. Mazur v. Food Giant, 183 Ga. App. 453 (1) (359 SE2d 178) (1987).
Decided December 4, 1989.
McKenney & Froelich, William J. McKenney, David R. Moore, for appellant.
Alston & Bird, Ronald L. Reid, Lokey & Bowden, Glenn Frick, for appellees.
Consequently, a directed verdict was proper. Smith v. Morico, 166 Ga. App. 737 (305 SE2d 465) (1983); Halligan v. Underwriters at Lloyd’s, 102 Ga. App. 905 (118 SE2d 107) (1960); Johnson v. Dallas Glass Co., 183 Ga. App. 584 (359 SE2d 448) (1987). The trial court was correct, but for the reason explained above rather than for the reason it gave. See Lee v. Porter, 63 Ga. 345, 346 (1879); Coker v. City of Atlanta, 186 Ga. 473, 475 (1) (198 SE 74) (1938); Adams v. Emory Univ. Clinic, 179 Ga. App. 620, 621 (347 SE2d 670) (1986).
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Deen and Judge Sognier join in this dissent.