Wal-Mart Shopper Cannot Escape Her Burden of Proof
Lisa Taylor filed suit against Wal-Mart seeking to recover for injuries she allegedly sustained after she slipped on a wet substance on the floor near the checkout area of the Wal-Mart in New Orleans. Ms. Taylor’s lawsuit is governed by the Louisiana Slip and Fall Statute (pdf). Under this statute, Ms. Taylor is required to prove the following: (1) that a condition presented an unreasonable risk of harm to her and that risk of harm was reasonably foreseeable; (2) that Wal-Mart either created or had actual or constructive notice of the condition that caused the damage, prior to the accident; and (3) that Wal-Mart failed to exercise reasonable care. The Louisiana Slip and Fall Statute clearly imposes the burden of proof on Ms. Taylor. Therefore, she is required to show that either Wal-Mart actually knew of the existence of the liquid on which she allegedly slipped or that the liquid existed for some time period prior to her fall such that had Wal-Mart been exercising reasonable care, it would have discovered the liquid.
Wal-Mart filed a motion for summary judgment relying on the fact that, at her deposition, Ms. Taylor testified that she did not see a clear liquid on the floor and that she did not know how long the substance was on the floor before she slipped on it. Wal-Mart further relied on the fact that Ms. Taylor otherwise had no evidence that a liquid on the floor caused her to slip; nor did she have evidence demonstrating the length of time that the alleged liquid had been on the floor prior to her fall.
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Ms. Taylor filed her own motion for summary judgment relying on a video recording of the location in which she fell covering the hour before she allegedly slipped and fell. Ms. Taylor argued that the video conclusively showed that for the hour prior to her fall, Wal-Mart made no effort to clean the liquid substance on which she slipped. She further argued that because the video doesn’t reflect the occurrence of a spill, the spill must have been in place before the commencement of the video recording, which would be over an hour before her fall. By making this argument, Ms. Taylor attempted to shift the burden of proof to Wal-Mart to prove that a liquid was not located on the ground. This burden shifting is a clear contravention of the Louisiana Slip and Fall Statute.
The court denied Ms. Taylor’s motion for summary judgment and granted Wal-Mart’s motion for summary judgment relying on the following facts: (1) the recording did not show visual evidence of a wet substance on the floor, (2) the recording only showed the passage of time, (3) the recording did not show other people slipping or taking care to avoid a liquid, and (4) the recording did not reflect that any person attempted to clean or secure the area. Accordingly, the court determined that Ms. Taylor’s argument would require the court to draw a conclusion that is not reasonably supported by the evidence, and, therefore, failed to satisfy Ms. Taylor’s burden of proving that the liquid existed. Because Ms. Taylor failed to meet her burden of proof, Wal-Mart was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
Take-Away: In a slip and fall action, the plaintiff always bears the burden of proving that an unreasonable risk of harm existed. The plaintiff cannot attempt to shift the burden of proof by forcing the defendant to prove that an unreasonable risk of harm was not present.
This article was co-authored by Lizzi Richard, an associate at Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore LLC.
