A court dismissed a plaintiff’s Complaint filed against ShopRite for a fall due to debris in the main walkway of ShopRite’s parking lot in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Karten v. ShopRite, Inc., No. 4416 CV 2016, (C.P. Dec. 3, 2018). ShopRite’s summary judgment was granted and the case against it was dismissed. The court held that ShopRite had no actual or constructive notice of the condition to find liability as it was a transitory spill.
A possessor of land can be liable for a dangerous condition on its premises if it created the condition, knew of the condition or should have known of the condition by the exercise of reasonable care. Restatement (Second) of Torts §343. A transitory spill is one that was created only moments before causing harm. Therefore, a possessor of land may not be liable for a transitory spill that it did not create, have an opportunity to rectify, or warn invitees of the condition.
In Karten, the plaintiff had just left the ShopRite and was walking on the main walkway of its parking lot when she slipped and fell on what she described as, “dark, slippery and smelled of rotten banana.” The plaintiff was unable to state how the substance got on the ground, or how long it had been there. ShopRite moved for summary judgment arguing the condition was a transitory spill and it had neither actual nor constructive notice to warrant liability.
The plaintiff argued that ShopRite had actual notice of the condition, because it had received prior complaints regarding debris in the parking lot. The court disagreed. The court held that general knowledge of a similar condition is not akin to actual knowledge of a transitory spill.
The plaintiff then attempted to argue that ShopRite had constructive notice of the spill. The plaintiff was also unsuccessful in this argument. The court dismissed any of the plaintiff’s arguments on constructive notice. The court found that the plaintiff had no evidence of constructive notice and the argument was just manufactured in opposition to ShopRite’s motion.
Ultimately, the court granted ShopRite’s motion for summary judgment. The plaintiff was unable to identify sufficient evidence to find that ShopRite had actual or constructive notice of the transitory spill. The plaintiff failed to meet her burden and the Complaint was dismissed.
ShopRite was protected from liability, because the court held that the condition was transitory. The spill could have occurred only seconds before the plaintiff fell. Therefore, it would be unjust for ShopRite to be responsible for something it could not have had control over.
Lack of notice is a powerful defense in a slip and fall case. A possessor of land is not the ultimate insurer of any injury that occurs on its property. The law still requires that a possessor of land be aware of a potential dangerous condition, or should have been aware of it for it to be held liable. Therefore, a possessor of land may not be liable for damage caused by a transitory spill if there is no evidence that could prove how long the condition existed before causing harm. Therefore, proper questioning during discovery is necessary to determine whether a plaintiff is able to prove how long a dangerous condition existed, or if a possessor of land should have been aware of the condition by the exercise of reasonable care.
