Court Opinion

ID: 9454345
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:43:58.966097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:04.986330
License: Public Domain

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge
(dissenting)-
Although I agree completely with the conclusion and the reasoning set forth in Judge McLaughlin’s dissenting opinion, I do not find it necessary to reach such a result by relying exclusively on the concept that state precedents governing sufficiency of evidence must control in diversity cases.
Viewed from either state or federal tests, there was insufficient evidence to support a logical or rational inference that the lettuce was on the floor long enough to charge the defendant with constructive notice. I perceive no difference in the quantum of evidence requirements, whether measured by state standards, Sleek v. J. C. Penney Co., 324 F.2d 467 (3 Cir. 1963) or by federal standards, Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 389 F.2d 507 (5 Cir. 1968). Similarly I comprehend no difference between the expressions of the Pennsylvania court in Smith v. Bell Telephone Co., 397 Pa. 134, 153 A.2d 477 (1959) and the federal court in Moore v. Guthrie Hospital Inc., 403 F.2d 366 (4 Cir. 1968) that where there is a rational choice of competing inferences the case must go to the jury,
Using the yardstick set forth in the Smith case, relied upon by the majority, it is appropriate to note that there the court said: “It is the duty of the plaintiff to produce substantial evidence * * upon which logically (the jury’s) conclusion may be based.” (153 A.2d 480) Substantial evidence has been defined by the Supreme Court in Universal Camera Corp. v. N. L. R. B., 340 U.S. 474, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1940) as more than a scintilla, more than that which would create a suspicion of the existence of the fact to be established, but relevant evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Pennsylvania courts share this interpretation. Penna. L. R. B. v. Kaufmann Dept. Store Inc., 345 Pa. 398, 29 A.2d 90 (1942).
The color and the shape of the lettuce particles on the floor created, at best, a mere suspicion that a foreign substance was on the floor long enough to charge the defendant with notice. This was not “substantial evidence” as enunciated by the Pennsylvania case of Smith or as defined by state or federal courts.
I would affirm the judgment of the district court.
VAN DUSEN, J., joins in this dissent.