Court Opinion

ID: 9736776
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:06:13.380935+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:08.819576
License: Public Domain

KAUFMAN, P. J.
I dissent: It is my view that the judgment for the defendant should he affirmed. I do not feel that a storekeeper has any duty to keep its floor clean toward a person employed by an independent contractor, who in turn, had a contract with the storekeeper to keep the floor clean. If this is not so, then the storekeeper would have to hire a janitor to keep the floor clean before the regular janitor working for the independent contractor, whose duty it was to keep the floor clean under the contract, came on the job, and this could go on ad infinitum. I think, basically, there was no legal duty on the part of the storekeeper toward the employee of the independent contractor. Before there can be negligence on the part of the storekeeper, there must be a legal duty on his part to perform in favor of the injured party. The only negligence in this ease was the negligence of the plaintiff employed by the independent contractor by failing to see an object in clear view on the floor.
Furthermore, there is no substantial evidence in the record to show that the alleged dangerous condition had existed long enough for the owner, in the exercise of reasonable care, to have discovered it and remedied it. Speculation, conjecture and surmise as to the length of time the banana peel was on the stairs are not enough. The fact alone that a dangerous *267condition of business premises has resulted in an injury will not warrant an inference that the owner was negligent. (See Girvetz v. Boys’ Market, Inc., 91 Cal.App.2d 827 [206 P.2d 6].)
Respondent’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied December 5, 1962. White, J.,* participated therein. Schauer, J., and McComb, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted..

Retired Justice of the Supreme Court sitting pro tempore under assignment by the Chairman of the Judicial Council.