The California Court of Appeal recently found that a man who fell in a restaurant gave a probable explanation for why the floor was wet: a worker had spilled liquid while taking dishes to the kitchen for washing.
In the case of Perez v. Hibachi Buffet, the plaintiff left his lunch table at Hibachi Buffet to go to the restroom. The hallway going to the restroom ended in the kitchen. As he was heading to the restroom, the plaintiff noticed no moisture on the hallway’s floor. He stayed in the restroom for 45 to 60 seconds. On his way back, he slipped and fell on the hallway’s wet tiles. The wetness did not come from or enter the restroom.
The plaintiff sued Hibachi Buffet. In the legal proceedings, the parties disagreed over how the floor became wet. According to the plaintiff, the liquid’s source was an employee at the buffet who carried dirty dishes from the dining area, through the hallway, and toward the kitchen and who spilled liquid on the way.
The restaurant disagreed. It said that, because there was no evidence showing its employees spilling liquid on its floor, blaming them would be impermissibly speculative. The restaurant presented two witnesses who discounted the possibility that the liquid came from a dish cart in the hallway.
The first was a manager at the buffet who became an owner. She made the following claims:
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