Court Opinion

ID: 9545668
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:17:10.720042+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:19.767894
License: Public Domain

Smith, J.
(dissenting): I find myself unable to concur in the opinion of the r> .ajority. ' The majority opinion states that ordinarily the question of negligence is for the jury. The opinion further states, however, that “where upon the undisputed testimony no facts or circumstances are shown which in the minds of reasonable men can be said to constitute a cause of action based on negligence, it becomes a question of law to be determined by the court when the sufficiency of such evidence is properly challenged.” I agree with the above as a statement of the law. There is another equally potent rule, however, to the effect that in considering a demurrer to the evidence, the evidence of the plaintiff must be taken as true and all reasonable inferences drawn and presumptions indulged which tend to support the position of the plaintiff, and that the question must be submitted to the jury if the facts are such that reasonable minds might reach different conclusions thereon. (See Harral v. Kent Corporation, 168 Kan. 322, 212 P. 2d 356; Revell v. Bennett, 162 Kan. 345, 176 P. 2d 538; Campbell v. Weathers, 153 Kan. 316, 111 P. 2d 72; and Jones v. McCullough, 148 Kan. 561, 83 P. 2d 669.)
Now let us examine the evidence of the plaintiff. When she inquired about a place to try on the dresses, the clerk said “Certainly, right there in the back,” pointing. The evidence is undisputed that as she went to the 'rear of the store there was a curtain across a door to her right and a curtain across a door directly in front of her. The curtain at her right was across the entrance to the dressing room. She entered the doorway across which the curtain directly in front of her was drawn. Upon passing the curtain she found herself in a room, apparently an office, because there was a desk there. In my opinion, she did what an ordinary, reasonable person would have done. Obviously this was not a dressing room. The natural thing for her to do was to look around for the dressing room, to which she had been directed. The only door besides the one by which she *83had entered was ajar. She stepped through it; took two steps and fell down these stairs. True, there was no light in the room into which she stepped. Neither was there any warning sign on the door. The absence of a light was, in my opinion, a want of due care since the steps down which plaintiff fell were so readily accessible. The door was aj ar and a presumption might well be drawn by a reasonable man that its being ajar was an invitation to the customer that the dressing room to which she had been directed lay just beyond it.
To me it is not unreasonable to presume that due care on the part of the defendant required its clerk to accompany the customer to the dressing room or at least to indicate with more particularity and definiteness just where the dressing room was. Courts should deal realistically with questions such as this. I doubt if there is any person connected with this case but knows such to be the usual practice of clerks. Instead of that, the clerk in this case with the vague direction “Certainly, right there in the back” left plaintiff to wander around the rear of the store alone. I think reasonable men’s minds might well differ as to whether this was due care when considered in connection with the open door, the absence of warning signs and no lights at the head of the stairs.
The cases cited in the opinion holding the merchant not liable for injuries to a customer incurred in the place to which the customer was not invited are not in point here. The customer not only was invited to the place where she was injured, but she was directed to it as a part of the service the store was furnishing. I cannot distinguish this case in principle from Harral v. Kent Corporation, supra, and the opinions cited there, especially Buck v. Miller Amusement Co., 166 Kan. 205, 200 P. 2d 286; also Donaldson v. Kemper, 149 Kan. 330, 87 P. 2d 535.
On the question of whether the plaintiff was guilty' of contributory negligence as a matter of law, her general location in the store was where the clerk of the store had directed her to be. Finding herself in a room, obviously not a dressing room, she stepped through a door which was ajar. There was some light, although it was dim. She only took two steps and fell down the stairs. Did the taking of the second step constitute contributory negligence as a matter of law? I hold not. The question of contributory negligence, as well as negligence, where the minds of reasonable men might differ, is a matter for the jury.
Wertz J., joins in the foregoing dissenting opinion.