Surveillance video shows an employee walking past the spill minutes before customer's fall
Surveillance footage showed that employees walked past a spill on the floor several minutes before a customer fell and sustained injuries, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, Division One said in a recent case.
In Hassaine v. Club Demonstration Services, Inc., a customer – the plaintiff in this case – was shopping at Costco Wholesale Warehouse Corporation’s Carmel Mountain Ranch location in San Diego. She slipped on a slippery substance on the floor of the aisle, fell flat on her back, and sustained injuries.
The plaintiff sought compensatory damages from Costco and San Diego-based Club Demonstration Services (CDS), the independent contractor that operated sample tables of food and non-food merchandise within Costco’s warehouses, based on negligence and premises liability.
The store’s surveillance video showed that, seven minutes before the plaintiff’s fall, a CDS employee twice walked past a dark spot that the spill made on the floor. Several Costco and CDS employees testified that CDS employees usually notified Costco of visible spills.
CDS filed a motion for summary judgment. It argued that it had no duty to inspect or to maintain the location of the accident, and that the plaintiff failed to prove the essential elements of duty, breach, or causation, which were required to establish negligence and premises liability.
The trial court granted summary judgment in...
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