In applying Pennsylvania law, federal district court held that property owner does not owe duty to business invitee if actual or constructive notice of dangerous condition was not established.

The plaintiff, a business invitee, slipped and fell on a “slime” substance located on the floor of a Walmart. In their motion for summary judgment, the defendant argued they did not have actual or constructive notice of the spill. 

Using Pennsylvania case law, the federal district court found that a “possessor owes a duty to an invitee when the possessor has ‘actual or constructive notice’ of the dangerous condition.” Noting the absence of facts that the defendants had actual notice of the condition, the court focused on constructive notice. The court ruled that the mere presence of an employee near the hazard did not establish constructive notice. The court found that in order for an employee’s presence to establish notice, a plaintiff must also “present evidence that the spill was there long enough for an employee to notice it.” 

The court also ruled that failure and adequacy of store policy did not establish a breach of duty. The court reasoned that the adequacy of a store’s policy is only considered after it has been established that a defendant had notice of the alleged hazard. 

The court further ruled that, while tracking evidence may be used in conjunction with other evidence to establish the duration of the spill, if there is no evidence of tracking prior to a fall, any such evidence is speculative. The court held that “the record cannot support a finding that [defendants] had constructive notice of the conditions at issue and therefore owed a duty to [Plaintiff].”
 

^{Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter, October 2021 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2021 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}