Civil Litigation
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Owens v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., Alvarez v. Food Lion
26 Fla. L. Weekly, S756
(Fla. Nov. 15, 2001)
The Florida Supreme Court determined that the existence of an unsafe condition caused by a transitory foreign substance on the floor of a business premises creates a rebuttable presumption that the premises owner did not maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition. Once the plaintiff establishes that he or she fell as a result of a transitory foreign substance, a presumption of negligence arises and the burden shifts to the defendant to show by the greater weight of evidence that it exercised reasonable care in the maintenance of the premises under the circumstances. If the evidence establishes a specific negligent mode of operation such that the premises owner could reasonably anticipate that dangerous conditions would arise as a result of this mode of operation, whether the owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the transitory foreign substance is not an issue. A dispositive issue in such case is whether the specific mode of operation was negligent and whether the accident occurred as a result of that negligence. Thus, the court found that it was error to grant a directed verdict for the defendant supermarket when the evidence showed that the plaintiff had slipped and fallen after stepping on a discolored banana. The condition of the banana raised the basis for establishing the store
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