Court Opinion

ID: 9582731
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:30:44.353493+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:16.845153
License: Public Domain

Pannell, Judge,
dissenting. I disagree with the majority opinion for the following reasons: “Only in clear and palpable cases, where it appears that one recklessly tests an observed and clearly obvious peril, or voluntarily assumes a position of imminent danger, will he be barred from recovery as a matter of law; otherwise, the question of what negligence, as well as whose negligence is responsible for the injury is a jury question. Atlanta Transit System v. Allen, 96 Ga. App. 622 (101 SE2d 134); Southern Stages v. Clements, 71 Ga. App. 169 (30 SE2d 429).” Beck v. Wade, 100 Ga. App. 79, 83 (110 SE2d 43).
The petition alleges that defendant was negligent in several particulars, one of which was set out in paragraph 6 (h) as follows: “In constructing said floor of smooth tile which became slippery when wet and in not constructing same with non-skid abrasives built therein so that the same would not become slippery and dangerous when wet.” The majority opinion holds, in effect, that an invitee who knowingly walks upon a wet tile floor, in so doing does “recklessly tests an observed and clearly obvious peril, or voluntarily assumes a position of imminent danger” and is barred from recovery against the owner whose negligence permitted the condition to exist, or, in effect, holds that water on a tile floor is patently slippery and dangerous. I do not believe that this court can say, as a matter of law, that mere knowledge that water is on a tile floor without more is the notice of and a compensation of, the danger involved in walking on the particular floor. There is a difference between mere knowledge of a defect and full appreciation of the risk involved. Burns v. Great A. & P. Tea Co., 105 Ga. App. 823 (125 SE2d 687); Scott v. Rich’s, Inc., 47 Ga. App. 548, 551 (171 SE 201).
We are not concerned in this case solely with the question of maintenance as was the court in Hill v. Davison-Paxon Co., 80 Ga. App. 840 (57 SE2d 680); Lebby v. Atlanta Realty Corp., 25 Ga. App. 369 (103 SE 433); Maloof v. Blackmon, 105 Ga. App. 207 (124 SE2d 441); Bessman v. Greyhound Bus Depot of *182Atlanta, 81 Ga. App. 428 (58 SE2d 922); McCrory Stores Corp. v. Ahern, 65 Ga. App. 334 (15 SE2d 797). “The presumption of the law is that the owner of a lot is acquainted with the condition of his own property, if a natural person, and if an artificial one, that it has such knowledge through its agents and employees.” Nelson v. Central R. &c. Co., 48 Ga. 152. And “In case of defective construction, notice to the landlord or occupier is conclusively presumed.” Tybee Amusement Co. v. Odum, 51 Ga. App. 1 (1b) (179 SE 415). Charged with this knowledge that the tile floor would get slippery when wet, was the defendant in the exercise of ordinary care when it permitted water to remain on such a floor for several hours? The majority opinion appears to be based on the premise that as long as it rains, the landlord or occupier of premises, is free from the exercise of ordinary care for condition of his premises due to slick conditions caused by wet floors. We ask, how about protracted rains?
No one thinks that landlords should continuously mop under all conditions, but we maintain it is a jury question, and not one of law, as to what precautions were necessary under the facts of this case, for defendant to have been in the exercise of ordinary .care required of him. The allegation that said water remained on the floor for “several hours” was equivalent to alleging that it had existed for at least two hours. See Belk-Gallant Co. v. Cordell, 107 Ga. App. 785 (131 SE2d 575), and American Legion Dept. v. Simonton, 94 Ga. App. 184 (94 SE2d 66).
This “smooth tile which became slippery when wet” was at an entrance way. The question as to whether or not this type of tile should have been used at this place was a question of fact and not of law. I believe that the common knowledge as discussed in the majority opinion should state that though tile is an accepted building material, some of them may be so finished or constructed as to at least make it a question of fact as to where and how they should be used. The question is not whether this court should take judicial notice that tile is an accepted building material, but rather whether or not this court should say as a matter of law that all tile is reasonably safe for entrance ways. To say they are all safe is, in my opinion, equivalent to saying “no dog will bite.”
*183The case of Holloman v. Henry Grady Hotel Co., 42 Ga. App. 347, 348 (156 SE 275) in which the court held that we should take judicial notice that marble was a proper substance for the construction of a stairway, and that even when polished was not naturally slick and dangerous, and the case of Maloof v. Blackmon, 105 Ga. App. 207, supra, in which it was held that brick was a proper material for construction, are distinguishable. There are many different tiles in existence, and one composed of material which becomes dangerously slippery when wet would fall under the ruling in Cox v. Bay M. Lee Co., 100 Ga. App. 333, 338 (111 SE2d 246). In that case the court held that “while concrete may be manufactured so that it is not naturally slick and dangerous, this court cannot take judicial cognizance that such a slick and dangerous finish cannot be placed on concrete.”
While it is true that “in cases of personal injuries, the plaintiff as a conscious human agent is bound to exercise ordinary care to avoid the consequences of the defendant’s negligence, by remaining away, going away, or getting out of the way of a probable or known danger,” Mansfield v. Richardson, 118 Ga. 250 (3) (45 SE 269), the mere possibility of sustaining a fall does not meet the requirements of this rule, and the statement in Conaway v. McCrory Stores Corp., 82 Ga. App. 97, 101 (60 SE2d 631), to the contrary should not be followed. A plaintiff is not required to guard against possible or contingent calamity. Western &c. R. Co. v. Ferguson, 113 Ga. 708, 713 (39 SE 306, 54 LRA 802). Mere knowledge of a defect, even though patent, is not equivalent to the knowledge or comprehension of the risk or danger involved. Glover v. City Council of Augusta, 83 Ga. App. 314, 316 (63 SE2d 422). “An invitee is not obliged to inspect the premises to discover latent defects nor even to observe all patent defects.” Lane Drug Stores v. Brooks, 70 Ga. App. 878 (29 SE2d 716). Misenhamer v. Pharr, 99 Ga. App. 163, 166 (107 SE2d 875). In Banks v. Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, 79 Ga. App. 313 (53 SE2d 595), cited by the majority opinion, it appears that there was ice on steps. Certainly, anyone who walks on ice knows he is walking on a slippery and dangerous substance. It does not necessarily follow that water on a floor is as patently slippery and dangerous as ice. *184The case of Ford v. S. A. Lynch Corp., 79 Ga. App. 481 (54 SE2d 320) is, in our opinion, erroneously decided and unsound. This case was decided by a full bench of six judges, two judges dissenting. Bessman v. Greyhound Bus Depot of Atlanta, 81 Ga. App. 428, supra (citing Banks v. Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, Ford v. S. A. Lynch Corp. and Hill v. Davison-Paxon Co.), is distinguishable from the present case in that the plaintiff in that case was guilty of contributory negligence such as would bar her recovery for the reason that she, as the plaintiff in the present case, could see the water and mud and (as is not true in the present case) “in walking thereupon in the manner that she alleges she did, in her anxiety to get out of the rain and inside the bus depot.”
In our opinion, the petition sets forth a cause of action and the trial judge erred in sustaining the general demurrer to the petition.
I am authorized to say that Felton, C. J., Nichols, P. J., and Russell, J., join me in this dissent.