Pulda v. Target Stores Incorporated et al
Filing
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ORDER that Target's 37 Motion for Summary Judgment is granted. The Clerk is directed to terminate this matter. Signed by Judge David G Campbell on 6/4/2014.(LFIG)
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
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Deedra Pulda,
No. CV-13-00399-PHX-DGC
Plaintiff,
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v.
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ORDER
Target Stores, Inc., a Minnesota
Corporation dba Target Corporation, John
Does and Jane Does 1-10, ABC
Corporations 1-10 and XYZ Partnerships 110,
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Defendant.
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Defendant Target Stores, Inc. (“Target”) has filed a motion for summary
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judgment.
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argument. The Court will grant the motion.
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I.
Doc. 37.
The motion is fully briefed and no party has requested oral
Background.
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On January 25, 2011, Plaintiff Deedra Pulda was injured while shopping with her
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adult daughter, Candace Dodd, and grandson at a Target store in Ahwatukee, Arizona.
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After completing her purchases, Plaintiff slipped and fell on a trail of clear liquid near the
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registers. At the time Plaintiff fell, she was following directly behind Ms. Dodd, who
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was pushing a shopping cart that was carrying a case of water underneath the main
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basket. Neither Plaintiff nor Ms. Dodd saw anything on the floor prior to Plaintiff’s fall,
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and neither woman knew how the liquid got on the floor or how long it had been there.
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At the time of the incident, there were at least three Target employees in the
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vicinity, including two cashiers and an employee at the customer service desk. Video
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surveillance footage shows several guests and employees passing through the area
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approximately ten seconds before Plaintiff’s accident. No employees or guests reacted to
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any liquid on the ground or experienced a slip or fall.
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II.
Legal Standard.
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A party seeking summary judgment “bears the initial responsibility of informing
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the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of [the record]
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which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex
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Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate if the
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evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, shows “that there is
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no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a
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matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Only disputes over facts that might affect the
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outcome of the suit will preclude the entry of summary judgment, and the disputed
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evidence must be “such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving
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party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986).
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III.
Analysis.
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Under applicable Arizona law, a business owner “is not an insurer of the safety of
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a business invitee, but only owes a duty to exercise reasonable care to his invitees.”
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Walker v. Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc., 511 P.2d 699, 702 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1973)
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(citations omitted). “The mere occurrence of a fall on a floor within business premises is
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insufficient to prove negligence on the part of the proprietor.” Id. To impose premises
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liability, Plaintiff must prove that the dangerous condition was a result of Target’s acts or
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that Target had actual or constructive knowledge of the condition. Id.
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Plaintiff does not argue that Target or any of its employees created or had actual
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knowledge of the hazardous condition. The only possible basis for Target’s liability,
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therefore, is Target’s constructive notice of the dangerous condition.
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Plaintiff argues that there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury
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could find that Target had constructive notice of the dangerous condition. Doc. 39 at 4-5.
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She argues the following facts: Plaintiff slipped and fell in an area immediately adjacent
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to store registers that were occupied by Target employees; the area had heavy customer
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and employee traffic and should have been under constant inspection by Target
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employees; after Plaintiff fell, a trail of water approximately 15 feet long and one foot
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wide was observed on the floor; and surveillance video shows the water trail could have
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been on the ground for at least ten seconds while employees were working within a few
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feet of its location. Doc. 39 at 5. Plaintiff argues that even if Target’s employees did not
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see the water trail, “it is reasonable to infer that they could or should have seen it (or
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recognized water was being spilled) if they had been [exercising reasonable care].” Id.
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“One of the most important questions that must be answered in establishing
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constructive notice of a dangerous condition is the [l]ength of time that a given foreign
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substance has been present.” Walker, 511 P.2d at 702. “Only if [a dangerous condition]
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had been [present] for a sufficient length of time for the defendant, in the exercise of
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reasonable care, to find and remove it, could the defendant be found negligent.”
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McGuire v. Valley Nat’l Bank of Phoenix, 381 P.2d 588, 590 (Ariz. 1963).
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In Walker, the plaintiff brought suit when she slipped on a “wet, yellowish
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substance” determined to be a peach, or a piece of a peach. 511 P.2d at 701. The trial
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court granted summary judgment in the defendant’s favor because the plaintiff was
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unable to show how long the hazard had been on the floor. Id. at 703. The Arizona
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Court of Appeals affirmed, ruling that a plaintiff “must show that the defective condition
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had been in existence for a sufficient length of time prior to the injury for the defendant,
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in the exercise of reasonable care, to find and correct it, or take remedial action.” Id. at
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703; see also Contreras v. Walgreens Drug Store No. 3837, 149 P.3d 761, 762 (Ariz. Ct.
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App. 2006) (affirming trial court’s grant of summary judgment for Walgreens where
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plaintiff “presented no evidence that Walgreens’ employees either caused or knew of the
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dangerous condition” nor any evidence “as to the length of time that the spill existed.”).
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In this case, Plaintiff has produced no evidence of when the liquid appeared on the
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floor or how long it was there before she slipped. Indeed, Plaintiff and Ms. Dodd each
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testified that they do not know how long the liquid was on the ground or how it got there.
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Doc. 38 at 19, 22-23. Although Plaintiff points to the store video as evidence that no
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person walked through the area in the ten seconds before her fall, the video does not
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show the liquid, and Plaintiff does not present evidence that the liquid was on the floor
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before the ten-second period began. One possibility from the evidence is that Plaintiff
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slipped on water that leaked from the case of water beneath the shopping cart Ms. Dodd
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was pushing in front of Plaintiff. The evidence presented by Plaintiff does not rule out
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this possibility.
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Under Walker and subsequent Arizona cases, Plaintiff must produce evidence that
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the liquid was on the floor long enough for Target and its employees, in the exercise of
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reasonable care, to find and remedy the hazard. Plaintiff has not done so, and summary
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judgment must therefore be entered in favor of Target. See Walker, 511 P.2d at 703;
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Contreras, 149 P.3d at 762; see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986)
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(summary judgment is appropriate against a party who “fails to make a showing
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sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on
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which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.”).
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IT IS ORDERED that Target’s motion for summary judgment (Doc. 37) is
granted. The Clerk is directed to terminate this matter.
Dated this 4th day of June, 2014.
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