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Littleton v. Wal-Mart Stores12/6/1999
AFFIRMED
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. appeals a judgment for damages sustained by Vicki Littleton, a customer, when a case of paper towels being stacked by store employees fell upon her. It raises three assignments of error regarding: (1) the summary judgment finding it liable; (2) the amount of general damages awarded by the trial court; and (3) the denial of its demand for a trial by jury. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment.
FACTS
On the morning of June 13, 1996, Vicki and her five-year-old son went to a Wal-Mart store in Pineville, Louisiana, to buy an item he needed for day-care. Curtis Williams, a Wal-Mart employee, was stacking cases of paper towels on a pallet in an aisle. While Vicki was walking down the aisle with her son trailing her, a case stacked on the pallet fell toward her. She reached out with her left hand to try to stop the box and push it away from herself and her son. It struck her anyway. As a result of the accident, Vicki sustained a ruptured disc in her neck which required surgery. Vicki and her husband sued Wal-Mart.
The Littletons filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of Wal-Mart's liability. The motion was granted by the trial court. Wal- Mart requested a trial by jury as to damages. This was denied because the required cash deposit had not been posted timely. The amount of damages was tried. The trial court awarded Vicki $32,238 for lost wages, $22,291.88 for medical expenses, and $150,000 in general damages.
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Wal-Mart contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the Littletons on the issue of liability. It claims that there was no evidence presented that its employee, Williams, failed to make a reasonable effort to keep the premises free of a hazardous condition that reasonably might give rise to damage, the duty required of merchants by La.R.S. 9:2800.6(A). Wal-Mart also claims that there was insufficient evidence under the general negligence standard for negligence because all that was presented was evidence that a box fell. Wal-Mart admits that it did not oppose the Littletons' motion for summary judgment, but claims that the evidence presented by the Littletons in support of their motion was not sufficient to establish the absence of a genuine issue of material fact as to its liability.
Summary judgment procedure is designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action, except those disallowed by La.Code Civ.P. art. 969 and is favored in Louisiana. Taylor v. Rowell, 98-2865. (La. 5/18/99); ___ So.2d ___. Making a de novo review of the pleadings and documentation supporting the motion, we find that there is no genuine issue of material fact as to the liability of Wal- Mart and that the Littletons were entitled to judgment as a matter of law for the following reasons. Id.; La.Code Civ.P. art. 966.
We agree with the Littletons that the law of merchant liability found in La.R.S. 9:2800.6 does not apply to every accident on a merchant's premises. The burden of proof instruction found in La.R.S. 9:2800.6(B) applies when there is a claim for a fall due to a condition in or on a merchant's premises. The statute is aimed at "slip and fall" or "trip and fall" cases. It is meant to apply to customers falling in stores, not to customers being hurt by falling merchandise. Moreover, if a customer slips or trips and falls because of the direct and simultaneous negligence of a store employee, the burden of proof under ordinary negligence principles is applicable and not the burden of proof under La.R.S. 9:2800.6. Crooks v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 620 So.2d 421 (La.App. 3 Cir.), writs denied, 629 So.2d 391,
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