Court Opinion

ID: 9580123
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:02:07.669578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:03.147819
License: Public Domain

Eggleston, C. J.,
dissenting:
In my opinion, the undisputed evidence submitted by the plaintiff presented a question for the jury as to whether these cans had been stacked in a hazardous and negligent manner.
The majority opinion states: “The only evidence here is that the cans fell, and this in itself does not give rise to the presumption that they were negligently stacked.” I agree that the fact that the cans fell raises no presumption that they were negligently stacked and the plaintiff makes no such contention. But her evidence goes beyond proving merely that “the cans fell.” She not only proved that, but also that they were “stacked four and five tall, one on top of the other,” and that they extended above her head. She also introduced in evidence one of the cans, which the majority opinion states is 4 inches tall and has a base diameter of only 2.2 inches.
*918The plaintiff further testified that she “never touched” the stack of cans from which the dislodged can fell. Nor is there any evidence to support the suggestion in the majority opinion of the “possibility” that when she “braced” herself she caused the can to fall.
As I read the plaintiff’s pleadings and brief she does not make the contention attributed to her in the majority opinion that the fact that the cans were stacked in the manner described and that they fell, gives “rise to the presumption that they were negligently stacked.” Her case is not grounded on a presumption of negligence. As stated in her brief, her case is that an inspection of the can introduced in evidence “is enough to satisfy reasonable minds that the stacking of such cans four and five in height constitutes a hazardous and dangerous condition as to innocent customers passing nearby.” I agree with the plaintiff that the jury had the right to determine from an inspection of these cans and a consideration of their size, type and character whether it was negligence on the part of the storekeeper to stack them in the manner described by her. This is a simple issue which may be easily resolved by jurors endowed with average intelligence and common sense.
It is a matter of common knowledge that articles of this size, character and type may not be securely “stacked four and five tall, one on top of the other.” Juries as well as courts take judicial notice of such matters of common knowledge and hence they need not be proven. 20 Am. Jur., Evidence, § 28, p. 55.
I would reverse the judgment and remand the case for a trial on the merits.
Justice I’Anson joins in this dissent.