Robin Austin v. Walgreen Company
Opinion
Robin Austin sued Walgreen Co. after she slipped and fell at a Walgreens store in northwestern Indiana, breaking her knee. A magistrate judge, presiding by consent, granted summary judgment to Walgreen. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
*1087 I. Background
On a cold January day, Robin Austin went to a Walgreens store in Hebron, Indiana. When she arrived, a snowplow was leaving the parking lot. After spending some time in the store, she was walking toward the registers when she slipped and fell. Austin did not see anything on the floor that would have caused the fall. At her deposition, she described her experience this way: "I-walking towards the cash register, my right foot hit something wet, and all of my weight landed on my left knee. I went down, all my weight on my left knee, and then immediately fell backwards on my back." She assumes she slipped on water.
Amber Parsons, another customer at the Walgreens that day, was the first to come to Austin's assistance after the fall. She does not recall seeing anything on the floor. Others who arrived at the scene shortly after the fall also did not see anything on the floor. Gabriel Luna, the assistant store manager, also testified that he was not aware that there was any water on the floor prior to Austin's fall.
Stella Vanderhere, Austin's friend, arrived at the store approximately seven minutes after Austin fell. Vanderhere observed "water everywhere," and she took several pictures showing puddles of water in the general area where Austin had fallen and where people had gathered after the fall.
Sometime after Vanderhere's arrival, paramedics arrived to take Austin to St. Anthony Medical Center. The paramedics recorded that Austin told them she "was walking and slipped on wet floor." At St. Anthony Medical Center, the doctor noted that Austin told him "she was walking in Walgreens ... when she slipped on water, and fell onto her left kneecap." Austin was diagnosed with a broken kneecap.
Austin subsequently brought suit against Walgreen in Indiana state court. Citing diversity jurisdiction, Walgreen removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. The parties consented to the assignment of their case to a magistrate judge. Walgreen moved for summary judgment. In response to the motion, Austin submitted her statements to the paramedics and the doctor at St. Anthony Medical Center. Walgreen moved to strike those statements as inadmissible hearsay. In a single order, the magistrate judge granted the motion to strike and the motion for summary judgment. The judge concluded that the statements did not fit within an exception to the rule against hearsay and that Austin had failed to show that Walgreen's negligence caused her injury. Austin now appeals.
II. Discussion
We review the grant of summary judgment
de novo
, construing all facts and drawing all inferences "in the light most favorable to the non-moving party."
Zuppardi v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
,
The Supreme Court instructs that Rule 56"mandates the entry of summary judgment ... against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear
*1088
the burden of proof at trial."
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett
,
As this is a diversity case, we "apply state substantive law."
Gasperini v. Ctr. for Humanities, Inc.
,
The status of a person who comes onto land is key in determining the duty a landowner owes to that person.
Allowing the existence of a hazardous substance on the floor of a business can be a breach of the duty to exercise reasonable care.
See
Barsz v. Max Shapiro, Inc.
,
Knowledge can be either actual or constructive.
Austin argues that Walgreen had knowledge of a hazard because the store's assistant manager admitted that when there
*1089
was snow outside, as there was on the day in question, customers could track snow into the store and create potentially hazardous situations. But just because the assistant manager knew that hazards were
possible
does not mean that he knew they had actually materialized at the place where Austin fell. There are many potential hazards that can exist in a store like Walgreens: soda bottles can fall off a display stand and leak, glass cosmetics jars can shatter on the floor, or toys could clutter an aisle. That any of those hazards and many others
could
occur at any given moment probably ought to be on the mind of a person charged with managing a store, but that does not automatically impute instantaneous knowledge of when those hazards come about. The law does "not hold [a storeowner] strictly liable for a fall occurring before [it] even had a chance to remove the foreign substance from the floor."
Barsz
,
Even if we were to accept that Austin has shown a dangerous condition, she presented no evidence that Walgreen was or should have been aware of that condition in time to address it. Consequently, she has failed to establish that Walgreen breached its duty of care. 1 The failure to support that element of her claim dooms it. 2
III. Conclusion
The magistrate judge did not err in granting summary judgment to Walgreen. Accordingly, we AFFIRM.
This result conflicts with the two Indiana cases upon which Austin primarily relies:
Barsz
,
Austin also appeals the magistrate judge's ruling that her statements to the paramedics and to the doctor at St. Anthony Medical Center did not fall within an exception to the rule against hearsay. Those statements went to the existence of a hazard on the store's floor. As we have concluded that summary judgment is appropriate regardless of the condition of the floor, we need not address that evidentiary issue.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robin AUSTIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WALGREEN COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.
- Cited By
- 271 cases
- Status
- Published