Shareholder Justin T. Woods has successfully argued a Traditional and No Evidence Motion for Summary Judgment, resulting in a dismissal of all claims against the Defendants, a large, national convenience store chain.
The suit involved a Plaintiff who tripped and fell over an empty pallet on the floor in front of the check-out counter and sued the store and related entities for claimed personal injuries. Relying on several appellate court decisions which have held a pallet on the floor of a convenience or grocery store is not an unreasonably dangerous condition, the Motion argued that the Plaintiff’s trip was not caused by any dangerous condition and Defendants, therefore, had no duty to either move the pallet or warn Plaintiff of its presence. Moreover, the presence of the pallet was readily apparent, and the Plaintiff should have seen and avoided tripping over it. The Court agreed and granted the Motion, dismissing the suit in its entirety.
