Case Number: 04-00-00578-CV 12/02/2002 Case stored in record room 11/27/2002 Notice sent to Court of Appeals 11/27/2002 Record returned to Court of Appeals 10/10/2002 Petition for Review disposed proceeding denied 08/09/2002 Motion for Extension of Time disposed. Granted 08/08/2002 certification (various) in case received 08/06/2002 Phone call from Clerk's Office 08/05/2002 Reply brief 08/05/2002 Motion for extension of time to file brief. 07/18/2002 Brief filed. 07/01/2002 Motion for Extension of Time disposed. Granted 06/28/2002 Motion for extension of time to file brief. 06/28/2002 Brief filed. 06/07/2002 Record Received (See Remarks) 05/28/2002 Record Requested in Petition for Review 05/28/2002 Brief on the Merits Requested 05/22/2002 Reply filed 05/03/2002 Response to Petition for Review filed 04/05/2002 Response to petition, motion, etc. due 04/05/2002 Motion for Extension of Time disposed. Granted 04/04/2002 M/E/T to file response 03/05/2002 Supreme Court of Texas Requested Response; mailbox rule does not apply 03/05/2002 Response to petition, motion, etc. due 02/26/2002 Case forwarded to Court 02/25/2002 Response to Petition for Review waived 02/14/2002 Petition for Review filed 02/14/2002 Appendix Filed
AFFIRMED
Mass. Marketing, Inc. d/b/a Super S Foods (Super S Foods) appeals the trial court's judgment in Josie Gaines's premise liability suit. After she slipped and fell in the Super S Foods store, Gaines brought a negligence suit against Super S Foods; the jury awarded damages of $65,000.00. Super S Foods contends there is no evidence to support the jury's finding and the trial court erred in overruling its motions for a directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and new trial. We affirm.
Moments before Gaines fell, store manager Manuel DeLeon was assisting a female customer with her groceries. The customer had a child sitting in the shopping cart eating grapes out of a bag. The grapes were hanging out of the bag, but DeLeon saw no grapes fall to the ground. After bagging the female customer's groceries, DeLeon moved her basket and "glanced" to see if any grapes were on the floor. He saw no grapes. After assisting the customer to her car, DeLeon returned and looked at the floor two more times for the presence of any grapes. DeLeon stated that he "glanced" three times to check for any presence of fallen grapes. DeLeon testified that his use of the word "glance" is synonymous with looking for a reasonable amount of time.
Also present before the fall was the cashier, Evarista Esqueda. Esqueda testified that she remembered the customer and her child eating grapes. Esqueda never saw a grape on the ground prior to Gaines' fall. While Esqueda stated that the grape was "probably" dropped by the child, she did not see any fall. No witnesses testified that they had seen or were aware of any grapes on the floor.
Keetch v. Kroger Co., 845 S.W.2d 262, 264 (Tex. 1992). Super S Foods argues there is insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that Super S Foods had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition in the store. Gaines was an invitee on Super S Foods's property. Super S Foods owed Gaines a duty to exercise ordinary care to protect her from risks of which Super S Foods was actually aware, and also from risks that it should have been aware of after a reasonable inspection. Motel 6 G.P., Inc.v. Lopez, 929 S.W.2d 1, 3 (Tex. 1996) (per curiam). Constructive knowledge can be found if a reasonably careful inspection would have revealed an unreasonable risk. Corbin v. Safeway Stores,Inc., 648 S.W.2d 292, 295 (Tex. 1983).(1) Actual or constructive knowledge of some condition on the premises by the owner/operator; (2) that the condition posed an unreasonable risk of harm;
(3) that the owner/operator did not exercise reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk; and
(4) that the owner/operator's failure to use such care proximately caused the plaintiff's injuries.
Id. (citing Robert W. Calvert, "No Evidence" and"Insufficient Evidence" Points of Error, 38 Tex.(a) there is a complete absence of evidence of a vital fact;
(b) the court is barred by rules of law or of evidence from giving weight to the only evidence offered to prove a vital fact;
(c) the evidence offered to prove a vital fact is no more than a mere scintilla; or
(d) the evidence conclusively establishes the opposite of the vital fact.
L. Rev. 361, 362-63 (1960)).
If there is more than a scintilla of evidence to support the finding, the legal sufficiency challenge must fail. Kindred v.Con/Chem, Inc., 650 S.W.2d 61, 63 (Tex. 1983). There is less then a scintilla of evidence when the evidence "is so weak as to do no more than create a mere surmise or suspicion" of a vital fact.Id. There is more than a scintilla of evidence if the evidence "rises to a level that would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to differ in their conclusions." Havner, 953 S.W.2d at 711 (quotation omitted).
The question then becomes whether a few brief moments was a sufficient amount of time to charge Super S with notice. In this case, it was. Both DeLeon and Esqueda saw the child eating the grapes as the grapes dangled out of the bag. Both DeLeon and Esqueda were aware of the danger posed by the presence of any grapes on the floor. Indeed, knowledge of this potential danger is why DeLeon "glanced" at the floor. The jury was free to judge DeLeon's credibility and take his testimony at face value when he stated that he "glanced" at the floor several times and found no grapes. The jury could have believed that DeLeon did not look for a reasonable amount of time for any grapes on the floor. Rather, the jury could have determined that on this busy day when DeLeon was called to the front checkout line to help bag groceries, he merely "glanced" at the floor — he merely took "a quick or cursory look." Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 519-20 (9th ed. 1991).
The jury evidently found that DeLeon's cursory look was insufficient, and there is more than a scintilla of evidence to support their conclusion.
Accordingly, we overrule the point of error and affirm the trial court's judgment.