A Gas Station Store Was Not Liable for a Slip and Fall When There Was No Evidence as to the Duration of the Alleged Dangerous Condition

The plaintiff slipped and fell in the defendant’s gas station store. The plaintiff parked his tractor trailer in the parking lot to purchase gas and fuel. Prior to the incident, the plaintiff entered and exited the store without any problem and did not see any type of liquid on the floor of the store. After fueling his tractor trailer, the plaintiff reentered the store (using the same entrance as before) and fell. 

The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiff could not identify the cause of his fall and that there was no evidence that it had actual or constructive notice of any dangerous conditions on its premises. 

In deciding the defendant’s motion and in applying Pennsylvania law, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania reasoned that there was no evidence that the slippery substance on the floor of the store caused the plaintiff to fall or was a frequently recurring condition. The district court held that “[e]vidence that a defendant could have known a hazardous condition on its premises . . . is insufficient to establish actual notice.” The district court further held that, since there was no evidence as to how long the substance was on the floor prior to the incident, the plaintiff failed to establish constructive notice. 

The district court was unpersuaded by the plaintiff’s argument that evidence of the defendant’s alleged failure to inspect its premises was enough to establish liability. Noting Comment b to Section 343 of the Second Restatement of Tort, the district court reasoned that the plaintiff was required to establish the duration of the hazard on the defendant’s premises because “if a hazard only existed for a very short period of time before causing any injury, then a possessor of land, even by the exercise of reasonable care, would not discover the hazard.” The district court held that as there was no evidence regarding the duration of the dangerous condition on the defendant’s premises, “a jury would have no basis from which to conclude that [the d]efendant could have prevented [the plaintiff’s injury].” As such, the district court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.
 

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