Slip-and-fall lawsuits against mall stores are common throughout California and are typically brought by store customers. One recent slip-and-fall lawsuit brought against a Sacramento mall store is slightly unusual because it involves an area of the store under the exclusive control of store employees.
The premises liability lawsuit was filed by a jewelry repair specialist who worked at the Rogers Jewelry store in Sacramento’s Arden Fair Mall. The jewelry repair specialist was an independent contractor who slipped in the store’s employee break room. The store sought to have the contractor’s case dismissed because he failed to establish that the store had actual or constructive notice of the jewelry cleaning solution on its break room floor.
The contractor opposed the store’s motion and claimed that the store did in fact have adequate notice of the spill because it was the store’s own employees who created the dangerous condition that caused his fall. Employee liability would have provided constructive notice to the business, which was essential for the contractor to establish liability in this case.
In our next post, we will discuss how a court evaluated the contractor’s legal argument and whether he was able to move forward with his premises liability case.
Source: Getchell v. Rogers Jewelry, 203 Cal.App.4th 381, Feb. 7, 2012
