Court Opinion

ID: 9605387
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:35:16.693109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:27.816032
License: Public Domain

Judge Walkek
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that summary judgment in favor of defendant was properly granted.
*370Plaintiff’s evidence tended to show that employees of Food Lion began arriving to work at approximately 6:00 a.m. Plaintiff arrived at Food Lion a short time before her fall in aisle 12 at 8:45 a.m. In answer to interrogatories, defendant stated that Customer Service Manager Cathy Myers inspected aisle 12 at approximately 7:34 a.m. However, according to plaintiff, a surveillance videotape shows Myers walking along aisle 12 on two occasions at approximately 7:30 a.m. and 7:34 a.m. She does not appear to be looking at the floor where there is a loaf of bread, but instead she passes by twice without picking it up. This was an admitted violation of store policy. Plaintiff further asserts the videotape also shows that at 8:16 a.m., another employee, Kelly Chatman, was in aisle 12; however, she detours to her left to avoid the bread man and does not appear to inspect the aisle at the point where the fall occurred. Further, there is no evidence that Food Lion had an aisle inspection policy in place at that time. Plaintiff testified that she saw the grape after her fall and that there was “black juice” smeared on the floor which indicated to her that the floor was dirty.
This evidence, coupled with evidence of the lack of a reasonable aisle inspection that morning, leads to the permissible inference that the smashed grape in aisle 12 was a dangerous condition which had existed for such a length of time that the “defendant knew or by the exercise of reasonable care should have known of its existence and given warning.” Carter v. Food Lion, Inc., 127 N.C. App. 271, 274, 488 S.E.2d 617, 619, disc. review denied, 347 N.C. 396, 494 S.E.2d 408 (1997).
Therefore, I conclude that there is a genuine issue of material fact concerning the negligence of defendant.