Facts

Artik Avanessians sued Lumber City Corp. d/b/a Virgil's Hardware, in connection with a trip and fall incident that allegedly occurred on Jan. 15, 2014 at defendant's store in Glendale.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff allegedly tripped and fell over a floor mat at the front entrance of defendant's store. Plaintiff sued defendant, alleging negligence and premises liability. Plaintiff claimed he would not have been injured absent defendant's negligence. Additionally, plaintiff denied defendant's claim that he allegedly kicked and flipped the subject floor mat.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
In support of defendant's argument regarding constructive notice, defendant provided evidence via defendant's store surveillance video. Defendant asserted that another customer kicked and flipped the floor mat, as captured by defendant's surveillance video, approximately 28 seconds prior to plaintiff's fall. The surveillance video showed that, another customer kicked up the second mat farthest from the entrance. The store surveillance video clearly depicts that a bulge at the edge of the mat was created when the customer kicked up the mat. When plaintiff tripped over the mat, the store surveillance video showed that the two mats did not overlap since a white patch can be seen between the two mats. There is a strong inference that plaintiff's fall was caused by the bulge in the mat that was created by the preceding customer.

Defendant contended that plaintiff's claims were without merit. Defendant denied plaintiff's allegations and moved for summary judgment.

Result

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Lumber City. The court found that there was no triable issue of material fact and that the preceding customer caused the bulge in the mat 28 seconds before plaintiff's fall. The court also found that "the existence of the dangerous condition for less than a minute and a half affords no basis, as a matter of law, for an inference that such condition existed long enough that defendant or its employees in the exercise of due diligence should have discovered and remedied it. (Girvetz v. Boys' Market (1949) 91 Cal.App.2d 827, 831-32.)" The court also found that even though defendant's employees were within feet of the condition it still did not alter defendant's liability.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Sept. 10, 2014.