Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed December 22, 2021.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D20-1027
Lower Tribunal No. 18-17039
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Manuel Vargas,
Appellant,
vs.
Dolphin Mall Associates, LLC, et al.,
Appellees.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Martin Zilber,
Judge.
Steinger, Greene & Feiner P.A., and Ron Vinograd (Fort Lauderdale),
for appellant.
Marcos Rothman Scharf Valdes Nguyen & Goldstein, P.L., and David
M. Goldstein, and Katharine T. Healey (South Hollywood); Cooney Trybus
Kwavnick Peets, and Warren B. Kwavnick (Fort Lauderdale), for appellees.
Before SCALES, MILLER, and LOBREE, JJ.
MILLER, J.
Appellant, Manuel Vargas, challenges a final order granting summary
judgment in favor of appellees, Dolphin Mall Associates, LLC, and Federal
Cleaning Contractors, Inc., in his negligence lawsuit arising out of a slip and
fall. Considering the length of time the purportedly dangerous condition
existed before the accident occurred, in conjunction with “the size, nature,
and inherent risks of the area in question,” McCarthy v. Broward Coll., 164
So. 3d 78, 81 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015), we discern no error in the conclusion by
the lower tribunal that the evidence of record was insufficient to establish
appellees had sufficient “actual or constructive knowledge of [a] dangerous
condition” to take remedial action. § 768.0755(1), Fla. Stat. (2021); see
Dominguez v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 187 So. 3d 892, 894 (Fla. 3d DCA
2016) (“In transitory foreign substance cases, courts look to the length of
time the condition existed before the accident occurred.”); Gaidymowicz v.
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 371 So. 2d 212, 214 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979) (concluding
that, with only one minute of actual notice and insufficient evidence of
constructive notice regarding the spill, the store did not have sufficient time
to correct the dangerous condition and therefore could not be liable); De Los
Angeles v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 326 So. 3d 811, 812 (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)
(affirming summary judgment finding the store did not have actual or
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constructive notice of the dangerous condition where the customer had been
in an aisle alone for three to five minutes before slipping and an employee
had checked the aisle five minutes before the incident occurred); Walker v.
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 160 So. 3d 909, 912 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (affirming
summary judgment in favor of the grocery store and noting that, at most, the
substance was on the floor no more than four minutes before the fall, which
was insufficient to satisfy the statute’s actual or constructive notice
requirement). Accordingly, we affirm the order under review.
Affirmed.
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