MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court has given slip-and-fall plaintiffs a boost, ruling that they don’t need to pinpoint the exact moment a liquid is spilled – only that it was there long enough that the defendant had constructive notice of the spill.
The court issued its ruling May 19 in a lawsuit against Woodman’s Food Market, where Jose Correa slipped on an unknown substance. Filing an amicus brief in the case was the Wisconsin Association for Justice, which is the state’s plaintiffs lawyers’ group.
Correa’s fall was caught on tape and resulted in an injury to his wrist. The store argued he couldn’t prove it knew the liquid was on the floor.
The video showed a Woodman’s employee walking past the spot twice. It wasn’t a high enough resolution to show the liquid but it caught an employee wiping the liquid off Correa’s shoe following the fall.
A jury ruled for Correa, but the Court of Appeals reversed because there was no indication as to how long the liquid was on the floor.
“(D)etermining the point in time at which an unsafe condition commenced is not necessarily (essential) in establishing constructive notice,” wrote Justice Daniel Kelly.
“Instead, the plaintiff’s responsibility is simply to demonstrate that the unsafe condition lasted long enough to allow a reasonably diligent store owner to discover and remedy the condition.”
The court also ruled the jury could infer from the security tape, which began 10 minutes before the fall, that the condition existed long enough to give Woodman’s constructive notice.
Gruber Law Offices represented Correa.